Sylvana Brannon, managing director of Smart Cells (Malta) Ltd., has won the third edition of JCI Malta’s The Outstanding Young Person of the Year Award (TOYP).

The TOYP Award was held in collaboration with HSBC Bank Malta plc., KPMG Malta and the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, and with the support of the Education, Youth and Employment Ministry.

This award, presented by Junior Chamber International Malta (JCI Malta), recognises those young people who excel in their chosen field and exemplify the best attributes of Malta’s young people.

This award gives credit to people who managed to make other people’s lives better through their exceptional skills. JCI wants to recognise not just people who are behind some of the amazing stories we often hear about, but also the ones which we do not hear about at all.

Ms Brannon is the founder of Smart Cells (Malta) Ltd and successfully launched a franchise of Smart Cells in Malta in 2005, despite encountering scepticism and objections due to lack of information on the subject. She has herself trained local midwives in the collection procedure, liaised with the UK for education campaigns and organised Malta’s first Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Conference.

The winners in the other categories are:

•Business, Economic, and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment: Sylvana Brannon

•Political, legal, and/or governmental affairs: MEP Joseph Muscat.

•Cultural Achievement: Andrew Alamango

•Moral, and/or environmental leadership: Ing. Marco Cremona

•Humanitarian, and/or voluntary leadership: Josette Falzon

•Scientific, and/or technological development: Dr. Connie Bezzina

•Personal improvement, and/or accomplishment: Amy Joan Zahra

These award winners will be nominated as Malta’s entries for the international JCI competition for The Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World. Winners of this international award will be honoured next year during the JCI World Congress to be held in Antalya, Turkey.