Winners of the 2015 EY entrepreneur awards

Ajen Sita, CEO for EY Africa says, "In celebrating 18 years of the World Entrepreneur Awards Programme, we have seen diverse examples of high-growth businesses, all of whom have innovated and achieved remarkable feats within their lines of business. This year's finalists are playing a vital role in creating and sustaining economic growth. As a group they contribute a combined 31 000 jobs to the economy and have grown their businesses by an average of 23% over the last three years - well in excess of GDP growth rates."

EY's Lifetime Achievement Award was also awarded on the night to one of South Africa's legendary and truly iconic entrepreneurs, Jannie Mouton of PSG Group. Mouton's vision and dream to start PSG Group, together with his deep commitment to developing high-impact entrepreneurial businesses is an inspiration to many.

Category winners

The winner in the Master category of Southern Africa World Entrepreneur Award, Johann Vorster (centre).

• Master entrepreneur category winner of the EY World Entrepreneur Awards 2015: Johann Vorster of Clover. He came from an entrepreneurial background, successfully turning dozens of small, under resourced companies into flourishing concerns. He saw the opportunity to change National Co-Operative Dairies (NCD) from a co-op that had many limitations into a major company equipped with flexibility. Convincing the shareholders that the business needed a new structure was not easy, but he did so and in 2003, it ceased to be a co-op and took the name Clover. In 2010, Clover listed on the JSE, and the group has grown in leaps and bounds since then. Vorster will now compete against winners from 51 other countries for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 in Monaco, 7-12 June 2016.

• Exceptional entrepreneur category winner of the EY World Entrepreneur Awards 2015: Nadir Khamissa and Shaazim Khamissa who created the Hello Group, which has grown rapidly in the 10 years since the company was founded. Leveraging technology for the benefit of people at the lower end of the socio-economic food chain is the heart and soul of Hello Group. It has a presence in the telecoms industry, in distribution, financial technology, travel and media. Its focus for the next five years is on their rapidly growing international money transfer business.

• Emerging entrepreneur category winner of the EY World Entrepreneur Awards 2015: Khudusela Pitje, CEO of New GX Capital Holdings, an established black owned and controlled investment company, established in 2005 and formed on strong entrepreneurial principles. New GX prides itself on the identification of exceptional investment opportunities, acting as both an equity partner and a management consultant. Khudusela believes in making social and economic transformation happen and is proud of the employment and value to poorer communities his investments bring, particularly in the township in which he grew up.

CJ Kujenga, Strategic Growth Markets Leader for Africa says, "The achievements of the winners should serve as encouragement to budding entrepreneurs and the award clearly demonstrates that Southern Africa can produce entrepreneurs that can compete with the best in the world whilst having a significant impact on their communities. These entrepreneurs have demonstrated that beyond adversity, there is prosperity. The arduous road they have travelled in stoically building their companies is very humbling and inspirational."