Darko Budec named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst&Young

(Darko Budec and Verica Kalanovic)

Darko Budec, electrical engineer and the founder of the Buck company, has won the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award, which was presented to him by the international audit-consulting company Ernst&Young on Wednesday night. The awards ceremony was organized at Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Belgrade.

Darko Budec pointed out on that occasion that that award represented a stimulus for him to continue his work, adding that the company Buck, engaged in industrial design and the production of lamps, operated in line with global quality standards and exported its products to 24 countries worldwide. Buck has so far won 12 design awards.

The name of the winner of this award, which has been presented in Serbia for the first time ever, was announced by Minister of Regional Development and Local Self-Government Verica Kalanovic, who stressed on that occasion that the awards ceremony had gathered people who shared the same vision of progress and successful entrepreneurs who had showed they had both quality and competence.

Aside from the main award - Entrepreneur Of The Year, Ernst&Young also presented awards in two subcategories - Innovative Entrepreneur Of The Year and Fastest-Growing Entrepreneur of the Year.

The award for best innovations in production went to Sava Marinkovic, founder of the company Teleskin, which offers solutions for diagnosing melanoma and other health care solutions. The Fastest-Growing Entrepreneur Of The Year Award was presented to Branko Milutinovic, one of the founders of the Nordeus company, which is engaged in computer technologies and is famous for releasing the football management simulation game Top 11 - the most popular sports online game in the world with more than 2.5 people playing it every day.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year Award was established 26 years ago. It is considered the world's most prestigious award for entrepreneurial achievements and is presented in more than 50 countries across the world. The Ernst&Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program was established in 1986 in the United States of America.

Serbia is the first country from the territory of ex-SFRY to have its own representative - Darko Budec, at the final Entrepreneur Of The Year competition, which Ernst&Young organizes in Monte Carlo.

Other finalists for the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award were Milovan Kocic from Yumis, Mila Litvinjenko (Aura), Vaso Lekic (Foodland), Branka Radovanovic and Goran Stevanovic, (PSTech), and Branko Milikic and Petar Ulic (Execom).