- The 14 finalists have been nominated for this year’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
- Companies from the canton of St. Gallen and, in the startup sector, also Western Switzerland are strongly represented
- The awards will be presented in four categories at a gala event on October 28 in the multi-purpose building “The Hall” in Dübendorf
ZURICH, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 – The 14 entrepreneurial personalities for this year’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year have been announced today in Switzerland. A total of 43 companies applied for this program in 2022 and the independent jury has now decided who will be in the final in the various entrepreneurial categories for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 on October 28.
Sascha Stahl, Program Partner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Switzerland comments: “We are proud to have been promoting outstanding entrepreneurship in Switzerland for a quarter of a century. For months, we and the independent jury have been working to designate the finalists. We are impressed by the innovative and committed entrepreneurial personalities and it is striking that this year the canton of St. Gallen is particularly prominently represented – four companies from this canton are among the finalists.”
Frédéric Tissot, Director Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise Suisse romande at EY, adds: “This year, two innovative entrepreneurs from the canton of Vaud are among the finalists in the Emerging Entrepreneur category. This shows that Western Switzerland, especially Lausanne with EPFL, is becoming a fertile ecosystem for startups.”
The awards are presented in four categories: Service & Retail, Industry, High-Tech & Life Sciences, Family Business, and Emerging Entrepreneur. The following personalities and companies are nominated for the final on October 28:
Service & Retail category
Aurel Greiner & Laurenz Ginat, revendo AG, Basel (BS)
Even at school, Aurel Greiner and Laurenz Ginat were already trading in everything from the playground, which is why they founded revendo AG in Basel in 2013. Their sustainable idea is to upcycle electronic devices such as mobiles and laptops, which they repair, refurbish, and resell as “nearly new devices”. With 120 employees, they have been able to expand their business model to four countries and serve the EU market with an online platform. Aurel Greiner & Laurenz Ginat are honored as finalists because they redefine sustainability and show that it can enable economic success.
Renat Heuberger, South Pole, Zurich (ZH)
Renat Heuberger was studying environmental technologies at the ETH, where he and his co-founders found that environmental protection could only be improved professionally if the subject were approached with an objective eye and holistically. In 2006, South Pole emerged from its predecessor foundation MyClimate, rapidly expanded globally, and today operates in 18 countries with over 1,000 employees. South Pole is not a consultant, but a project implementer with solutions, tools, and strategies for environmental and climate protection and emission reduction. In Renat Heuberger, the jury is honoring an entrepreneur who has managed to move from being a forward thinker to a game changer in an eminently important market of the future.
Carsten Koerl, Sportradar AG, St. Gallen (SG)
As an engineer at the University of Konstanz, Carsten Koerl was passionate about using data to make successful predictions, resulting in two startups. Matured by experience, he founded Sportradar AG in 2001 with a partner because he noticed that everyone in sports wanted accurate data that no one was able to provide. Since then, he has been collecting sports data in real time for sports clubs, media houses, bookmakers, and sports organizations. The company employs 3,000 people in over 20 countries, with a 2021 IPO on Nasdaq. With Carsten Koerl, the jury honors a man full of passion who has created an empire from a niche that hardly anyone noticed for a long time.
Industry, High-Tech & Life Sciences category
Patrick Rieben, Mosmatic AG, Necker (SG)
In 2008, Patrick Rieben took over a workshop for cleaning equipment from his father with 40 employees in the idyllic Neckertal valley. Today, Mosmatic AG is the world market leader for high-pressure cleaning technology with over 100 employees and generates 98% of its sales in exports to over 50 countries. High-pressure cleaning technology includes everything that goes into professional cleaning equipment and vehicle washes, especially highly specialized rotary feedthroughs. Patrick Rieben is being honored as a finalist because, as a Swiss medium-sized company, he has managed to become a world market leader.
Andreas Wälti, Evatec AG, Trübbach (SG)
Evatec was created in 2004 from a management buyout of the former Unaxis, which in turn emerged from Balzers Gerätebauanstalt founded in 1946. Andreas Wälti and Marco Padrun are turning the conglomerate into a global innovation leader for process solutions and mechanical engineering for thin films. These films are so thin that they are in the nano range and are used in semiconductor technology, precision optics, and optoelectronics. Andreas Wälti is being honored for his irrepressible entrepreneurial strength, which makes him indispensable on global markets as a Swiss high-tech brand.
Thomas Wüst, ti&m AG, Zurich (ZH)
Thomas Wüst is one of those entrepreneurs who could not stand by and watch where the IT landscape was heading, and is therefore setting a good example and countering it with his own company. In 2005, he founded ti&m AG in Zurich, which stands for technology, innovation & management, and does almost everything a little differently from the way customary in this industry. ti&m helps clients digitize their processes, develop appropriate software, and integrate it into the existing system landscape. With Thomas Wüst, the jury honors a doer in the shadows who has digitally developed our banks, insurers, and government platforms into a top league worldwide.
Family Business category
Only two companies are nominated in this category this year. One candidate withdrew for personal reasons.
Michael and Andrea Lüthi, Sanitized AG, Burgdorf (BE)
Their father was a finalist back in 2007, and now the fourth-generation boys have taken the helm and are once again leading the company, founded in 1953, to the finals. Sanitized started with technologies for odor elimination, for brands such as Timberland or Reebok, and expanded the spectrum for machines, such as Franke or V-Zug. Today, with 75 employees, the company is the market leader in integrated hygiene functions for textiles, plastics, and consumer goods, which are available in over 100 countries. The jury honors Michael and Andrea Lüthi for a successful generation change that redefines an established top company and successfully positions it worldwide.
Franziska Tschudi Sauber and Daniel Tschudi, Weidmann Holding AG, Rapperswil-Jona (SG)
In 2001, Franziska Tschudi Sauber and her brother Daniel Tschudi took over the heritage of the extremely traditional Weidmann Holding in Rapperswil-Jona as the fifth generation. The company is the world market leader for electrical insulation of transformers and specializes in high-quality plastic components for medical and pharmaceutical technology. With 2,700 employees at 30 locations worldwide, the Weidmann Group is one of the few industrial groups to maintain its market dominance internationally. With Franziska Tschudi Sauber and Daniel Tschudi, the jury honors two representatives of a family tradition who have maintained and further developed the Swiss pioneering spirit in industry.
Emerging Entrepreneurs category
Léa Miggiano, Carvolution, Bannwil (BE)
Carvolution was founded in March 2018 by Léa Miggiano and Peter Schüpbach with the idea of a car subscription as an alternative to buying or leasing a car. In addition to purchase and resale, the startup offers an all-inclusive package that includes insurance, registration, taxes, servicing, maintenance, tires, initial toll sticker, and fuel/charging card – in other words, everything related to the car. With 80 employees, Carvolution today has the largest vehicle fleet in Switzerland that is independent of brands and plants. Léa Miggiano is honored by the jury for making a disruptive service widely available through clever marketing, resulting in fantastic growth since its inception.
Yann Cotte, Nanolive SA, Tolochenaz (VD)
Yann Cotte and Fatih Toy founded Nanolive in 2013 at the EPFL Innovation Park in Lausanne with the idea of revolutionizing the cell research industry. Today, Nanolive offers a globally unique technology to observe living cells in 3D without destructive dyes, which is of unheard-of value for research. The technology, 95% of which is exported worldwide, is modularly scalable for hardware and software, which promises great future potential. The jury recognizes Yann Cotte as a visionary in the high-tech medical field, but one who understands how to implement a promising business model.
Cyrus Fazel, SBorg SA, Lausanne (VD)
Cyrus Fazel noticed that he only reached 0.1% of the population in his job as an asset manager, which was why he founded SwissBorg in Lausanne in 2017 as a platform for crypto technologies. Blockchain, machine learning, and the swarm intelligence of 80 fintech experts are the basis of a trusted and accessible ecosystem for crypto investors. An ICO in 2018 enabled Cyrus Fazel to expand the platform in a stable way, which is why today half a million clients around the globe are able to use this type of asset management. With Cyrus Fazel, the jury not only honors a representative of a highly topical issue in the fintech sector, but at the same time an entrepreneur who pursues the issue with a great human concern.
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Gala on October 28, 2022 will again be held as a physical event this year, with 500 invited guests in the multi-purpose building “The Hall” in Dübendorf.
About the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2022 Award:
- An eleven-member jury is responsible for evaluating the finalists and awarding the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 award. It examines the candidates itself and independently of EY.
- The award ceremony for the 25th Swiss edition of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year will take place on Friday, October 28 in Dübendorf.
- EY Switzerland’s 2022 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program is supported by Credit Suisse as program partner and AMAG, Bucherer, HDI and SWISS as sponsors.
- More details are available at https://www.newrealityblog.com/eoy/.
- You can find the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 brochure at Druck EOY2022_CH_Brochure_EN_170x235.indd (ey.com)
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