Imperial's Lynch hailed World Entrepeneur

Imperial Holdings chief executive Bill Lynch this weekend joined the ranks of many celebrated business leaders to become this year's Ernst and Young World Entrepeneur of the Year.

Imperial Holdings chief executive Bill Lynch this weekend joined the ranks of many celebrated business leaders to become this year's Ernst and Young World Entrepeneur of the Year.

The glittering award ceremony was held in Monaco, where Lynch defeated entrants from 31 countries to be voted the overall winner. It was the first time a South African businessman had scooped the win in its 20-year history (six of which have been contested on globally).

Bidvest's Brian Joffe came close in 2004, and past winners include Google founders Larry Page and Sergy Brin, Amazon's Jeff Bizos, auction site eBay's Pierre Omidyar and Starbucks' founder Howard Schultz.

This year, Lynch's competition included a Taiwanese whose company produces a third of all laptop computers sold globally, and an American co-founder of The Home Depot group of retailers. However, it was the South African entrant's extraordinary career, which saw him join a struggling Johannesburg dealership and transform it into a multi-billion multinational, that swung the vote in his favour.

In true rock star fashion, Lynch was mobbed by photographers and television camera crews after the announcement, to whom he enthused, "I see a great future for South Africa".

Lynch and wife Ann arrived in South Africa from Ireland in 1971 with barely enough money to survive the first few months in their new home. After cold calling a few potential employers, Lynch was hired by a failing motor dealership, Imperial, which has transformed into one of the country's leading industrial groups, employing 36 000 people, under his leadership.

Ernst and Young and Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) staged the South African chapter of the global contest last November. Celebrating those who build and lead successful, growing businesses, the Ernst and Young entrepreneur programme is hosted in over 115 cities in more than 30 countries around the world.