Finalists and winners

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The team

Sascha Stahl

Sascha Stahl

Partner, Head of Family Enterprise Switzerland & Liechtenstein and Head of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ | EY Switzerland

Frédéric Tissot

Frédéric Tissot

Director, Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise | EY Switzerland

To become an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ one needs entrepreneurial spirit and leadership. Strong entrepreneurs have had the upper hand in the competition from the beginning.

Entrepreneurs are risk-takers. They weigh the options, invest in their vision and have an optimistic mindset. Of the average of 40 nominees per year, only four will become an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. The following entrepreneurial leaders will have a shot at joining this exclusive circle.

Winners 2023

Luca Santarelli, VectivBio AG (BS)
Winner Industry, High-Tech & Life Sciences
Paul Fritz, Home Instead Holding AG (BL)
Winner Services & Commerce
Daniel Bossard, Bossard Group (ZG)
Winner Family Business
Judith Häberli & Robert Ruttmann, Urban Connect AG (ZH)
Winner Emerging Entrepreneur

Finalists 2023

Industry, High-Tech & Life Sciences Category

  • Olivier Gaudin, SonarSource SA (GE)

    Olivier Gaudin is co-founder and CEO of SonarSource, a technology provider that enables developers to write intuitive “clean codes” that are highly stable and easily maintainable. With its unique "Clean as You Code" methodology, the company has enabled seven million developers and 400,000 organizations around the world to systematically develop better software.

  • Emile de Rijk, SWISSto12 SA (VD)

    Emile de Rijk is co-founder and CEO of SWISSto12, a spin-off from EPFL and today a leading manufacturer of components for the telecommunications industry. The company manufactures a whole new generation of telecommunication satellites with state-of-the-art 3D printers. In addition to its aerospace portfolio, the company offers telecommunications, surveillance and radar applications for the aerospace industry.

  • Luca Santarelli, VectivBio AG (BS)

    Luca Santarelli is CEO and founder of VectivBio in Basel. This biotech company focuses on the discovery and development of therapies for serious rare diseases. After a period as head of the neuroscience and rare diseases department of Roche Holding AG, Luca founded Therachon and successfully sold it to Pfizer. He has since founded yet another highly successful biotech company, VectivBio, that is now listed on NASDAQ.

Services & Commerce Category

  • Anel Alsenova & Almaz Alsenov, Harvest Group SA (VD)

    Siblings Anel Alsenova and Almaz Alsenov are founders of Harvest Group, an international trader and distributor of agricultural products. One of the outstanding strengths of the company is the management of supply chains through personalized logistics, financial and risk mitigation services, as well as the creation of strategic partnerships with a limited number of well-known growers and logistics providers.

  • Paul Fritz, Home Instead Holding AG (BL)

    Paul Fritz is the owner and managing director of Home Instead Holding in Rheinfelden. This company is the largest retirement care organization in the world and, as a result, a real alternative to retirement homes. Home Instead was founded in 1994 in the USA. Paul Fritz initially bought Switzerland out of the franchise. Today, the Home Instead Group of Switzerland also includes France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

  • Marcin Pietrzyk, Unit8 SA (VD)

    Marcin Pietrzyk is the founder and CEO of Unit8. The company is a leading digital transformation service provider with a mission to help non-digital companies, institutions and industries accelerate their digital transformation and meet their commitments to business and society with data, advanced analytics and AI.

Family Business Category

  • Daniel Bossard, Bossard Group (ZG)

    Daniel Bossard is CEO and representative of the seventh generation of the Bossard Group in Zug. The company is a leading global provider of solutions in industrial connection and assembly technology. Daniel combines exemplary leadership of family and company in a highly competitive market and across generations.

  • Matteo Alberto Centonze, Emanuele Centonze Holding AG (TI)

    Matteo Centonze is Group CEO of Emanuele Centonze Holding AG in Balerna. The Ticino company is an international distributor of chemical raw materials, petroleum and energy products. Matteo represents the fourth generation of a widely networked entrepreneurial family that can look back on a long tradition in the trade of raw materials from southern Switzerland.

  • Camille Vial, Mirabaud Group (GE)

    Camille Vial is managing partner of the Mirabaud Group, an international banking and financial group with two hundred years of history. Mirabaud has been pursuing a long-term vision since 1819, while at the same time cultivating its entrepreneurial spirit and staying true to its roots. Camille represents the seventh generation of the founding families.

Emerging Entrepreneur Category

  • Majbritt Byskov-Bridges & Mine Uran, Alver World SA (FR)

    Majbritt Byskov-Bridges and Mine Uran are founders of Alver World, a Swiss food tech company that makes SuperFood from its unique Golden Chlorella microalgae. Majbritt and Mine are committed to the resource-efficient development of food for the population of the entire world and the future of our planet.

  • David Gugelmann, Exeon Analytics AG (ZH)

    David Gugelmann is the founder and CEO of Exeon Analytics in Zurich. This ETH spin-off is an award-winning developer of products to combat cyber attacks. David and his team are fully dedicated to protecting companies' IT through AI-driven security analytics. Its solutions detect and prevent cyber attacks and insider threats.

  • Judith Häberli & Robert Ruttmann, Urban Connect AG (ZH)

    Judith Häberli and Robert Ruttmann are the founders of the first truly CO2-neutral mobility platform, Urban Connect in Zurich. They offer an ecosystem of low-emission, shared vehicles such as e-scooters, e-bikes and e-cars, with access to public transport.

Find out more about EY Entrepreneur Of The Year:


Further information:
Program and benefits | Jury | Hall of Fame

Related documents:
Program brochure | Latest winners (media release)

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