Awards for South Australian Entrepreneurs
26 July 2013 at 10:37 am
The founder of a Cancer Foundation is among six South Australian entrepreneurs to receive top accolades from the 2013 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Central Region awards ceremony in Adelaide over night.
The award for Social Entrepreneur went to Nicholas Lee, the founder of The Jodi Lee Foundation.
Following the death of his wife, Jodi, from bowel cancer in 2010, Nicholas Lee left his role as director of a multi-national consumer goods company, to set up The Jodi Lee Foundation and promote the prevention of bowel cancer in Australia.
The Jodi Lee Foundation runs initiatives across the country to increase awareness and raise funds. Over 2,000 screening kits have already been distributed through the Foundation’s Corporate Bowel Screening program.
The awards ceremony was told that Lee has recently secured a $2.5 million Federal Government grant to run a national awareness campaign over the next three years – with a number of unique elements which make it the first of its kind for bowel cancer in Australia.
EY Adelaide Office Managing Partner Chris Sharpley congratulated the winners, saying they represented the high quality and diversity of the region’s entrepreneurial talent.
The winners of the 2013 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Central Region awards, by category, were:
- Emerging – Aaron Superina, Outside Ideas
- Industry – Anthony Romeo, Romeo’s Retail Group
- Services – Kim McNamara, KJM Contractors
- Technology – Anthony Kittel, Redarc
Also recognised in the non-competitive regional award categories were:
- Social entrepreneur – Nicholas Lee, The Jodi Lee Foundation
- Champion of Entrepreneurship – Frank Seeley AM, Seeley International
“Entrepreneurs believe in a better way of doing things. They are inspirational, passionate, calculated risk takers who find opportunities where others only see obstacles,” Sharpley said.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is considered the world’s most prestigious business award with entrepreneurs participating in 145 cities in more than 60 countries. Over 1,200 outstanding entrepreneurs have been recognised through the Entrepreneur Of The Year program in Australia since 2001.
The 2013 Central region winners and award recipients will travel to Sydney in November to contend for the title of 2013 Australian EY Entrepreneur OfThe Year at the national awards.
The overall Australian winner will then go on to compete in the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year awards in Monte Carlo next year.
For more information on the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program go to
