Alfred Pisani, chairman of the Corinthia Group, is the first recipient of EY's first Malta Entrepreneur of the Year award. In June, he will go to Monaco to compete in EY's World Entrepreneur of the YearTM award. He will be joined by some of the world's key game changers and innovators from over 70 countries. Previous winners in Monaco have included trail-blazing entrepreneurial drivers from a wide range of fields - Amazon to Cirque du Soleil to LinkedIn.
David Vella, CEO and co-founder of Altaro Software won EY's Rising Star award. Altaro Software is a fast growing software development company, with around 15,000 clients around the globe.
Commenting on this first Maltese edition of these awards, Ronald Attard, EY Malta's Managing Partner said: "We at EY Malta are very proud to bring this strong and globally recognised tradition to Malta. I augur that this tradition takes root and continues to flourish in the coming years.
"I must say that the signs are already extremely promising. Initially we were impressed by the interest this initiative generated. When we looked at the nominations, however, we were even more impressed - by their quality, their volume and depth of their response.
"Each of the nine men and women who made it to the finals have come to us with their own unique story. Each and every one of them is exceptional in their own way."
EY has been holding these awards for three decades. They have now spread to over 70 countries, created a global network of 50,000 entrepreneurs, and are the global benchmark for capturing today's and tomorrow's entrepreneurial spirit. Over half of today's top 100 NASDAQ companies have won EY's Entrepreneur of the Year award, and most received the award before they achieved top 100 status.
There was stiff competition between the nine shortlisted finalists from the total of 20 nominations received. The panel of judges had a tough time selecting the two winners. Apart from the winners, the other finalists were Diane Izzo (DIZZ Group of Companies Ltd), Kristoff Zammit Ciantar (Aqubix), Shane Hunter (AquaBioTech Limited), Steven Mercieca (Dowdall Real Estate), Peter Grech (BRNDWGN Co Ltd), Andrew Mangion (EC Global Ltd) and Anton Cristina (CSL Data Services Ltd).
The judging panel was chaired by Joseph A Gasan, Chairman, Gasan Group. The members were Anton Borg, President Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, Bernie Mizzi, Director Chiswick House School and St Martin's College, Joseph Portelli, Chairman, Malta Stock Exchange and Prof. Juanito Camilleri, Professor, University of Malta.