Nominations open for EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 awards

[SINGAPORE] Nominations for the annual EY Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) awards in Singapore are now open until Apr 10.

The awards celebrate entrepreneurs who have created and sustained successful business ventures. This is the 25th anniversary of the awards since the inaugural edition in 2002.

EY Singapore said that nominees will be assessed by an independent judging panel across four globally benchmarked criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, impact and growth.

The individual who ranks highest across all four criteria will be selected as the overall EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2026 Singapore winner, and will represent the country at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year award next year. 

This year’s theme, “The Shapers”, reflects how entrepreneurs shape the future by “skillfully moulding their businesses to realise bold ambitions”, EY Singapore said. 

Members of the public and the business community may nominate entrepreneurs for the award at the official website.

Nominees must be an owner-manager primarily responsible for the recent performance of a Singapore-based company that is at least two years old; or a founder of a listed Singapore-based company who remains active in senior management. 

Liew Nam Soon, EY Solutions’ Singapore and Asean managing partner and EY Asia East deputy regional managing partner, said: “We remain committed to fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship, as Singapore seeks to strengthen our entrepreneurship ecosystem with recommendations from the Economic Strategy Review.”

He added: “We believe that the programme can be a galvanising force in bringing together like-minded entrepreneurs to amplify impact, inspire future generations and grow the Singapore brand internationally.”

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EY Impact Award Of Excellence

To mark the awards’ 25th year, a special-mention award has also been introduced. The EY Impact Award Of Excellence focuses on the purpose and impact of entrepreneurship, reflecting the “importance of how business excellence and social impact can go hand in hand”, said the group.

The recipient of this award will be selected from the pool of nominees based on how well they excel in the two judging criteria of purpose and impact. 

Unless the individual is also a category award winner of the main awards, the recipient of the special award will not compete for the overall Entrepreneur Of The Year Singapore winner title.

EY is collaborating with the National Council of Social Service and the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, which will jointly serve as Impact Partners in this initiative to develop the evaluation criteria and select the award recipient. 

“We believe this award will inspire more entrepreneurs to embed social purpose into their business models, showing that doing good and doing well are not just compatible but essential for sustainable success in today’s world,” Liew said.

Last year’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Singapore winner was Chin Wei Jia, group chief executive officer of HMI Medical. She was selected from among four EOY category award winners drawn from the education services, healthcare, real estate and hospitality services sectors.

Chin will represent the country at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year award this May, competing with winners from about 50 countries and territories. She said that she was honoured to represent her country by sharing how HMI Medical builds integrated, patient-centred healthcare ecosystems across South-east Asia.

For the third consecutive year, Bank of Singapore is the platinum sponsor of the EOY awards. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will also continue its partnership with the awards for the seventh year. 

The Business Times, The Edge Singapore and Portfolio magazine are the awards’ official media partners. The awards are also supported by the Action Community for Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Business Federation.