A delegation of more than 100 of Ireland’s top entrepreneurs, including five from Galway travelled this week to South Africa, for the annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ CEO Retreat. Running until this Sunday 26th May, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ CEO retreat is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. The aim of the retreat is to support, inspire, and challenge the entrepreneurs to take their businesses to the next level.
The travelling delegation includes this year’s three Galway-based EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ finalists Ruth Mackey, David Mackey and John Mackey of Mbryonics Limited, Dr Barry Flannery of Xerotech and Kenneth Fox of Channel Mechanics. They are joined by programme alumni representing a broad spectrum of industries as well as representatives from Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland.
The Irish entrepreneurs will spend the week in South Africa where they will participate in a comprehensive programme of networking, executive coaching, and education. The itinerary includes meetings with some of South Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders as well as inspirational talks by global thought leaders on a variety of topics.
This year’s retreat will also feature visits to University of Cape Town Graduate Business School, township development hub, Philippi Village, start-up incubator, Innovation City, and a host of successful companies based in the region.
Roger Wallace, Partner Lead for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ said the annual CEO retreat is one of the highlights of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme. This year’s retreat takes place in South Africa and 100 of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs are attending, joined by Invest NI and Enterprise Ireland.
“South Africa is the gateway to Africa for investment and global trade. It’s a significant player in the global mining, manufacturing, and agricultural industries, with a flourishing technology sector. It’s also become a thriving hub of entrepreneurial talent with investment in many innovative start-ups based there increasing in recent years. Our group of Irish entrepreneurs will have the chance to experience a melting pot of cultures in South Africa’s capital city, Cape Town, and meet with local entrepreneurs and learn more about the incredible opportunities that exist to trade and thrive in this region.
“Our annual CEO Retreat is designed to help entrepreneurs to think differently, to embrace new ideas and to push themselves even further as they see past conventional boundaries and limits. We hope the retreat will inspire and energise our entrepreneurs and maybe even be the spark that ignites some great new and exciting business possibilities for this talented group of trailblazers.”
Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland™ community has grown to a tight-knit network of more than 600 alumni who harness each other’s wealth of experience, with three quarters (75% ) conducting business with one another. Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €23bn, and employs more than 250,000 people across the island of Ireland.
