At a glittering awards ceremony held at Summer Place on 2 November, Brandon Leigh, CEO of Leaf Wireless, was announced as the Emerging Entrepreneur winner for the South African leg of the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards sponsored by Ernst & Young in partnership with Rand Merchant Bank.
Entrants were judged on their entrepreneurial spirit, personal integrity and influence, and on their business` financial performance, strategic direction, innovation as well as community and global impact.
After receiving the award, Leigh declared: "It is a huge honour to receive this award, especially because the judges looked at far more than just financial results. At Leaf we have prided ourselves that we have built more than a business: we have built a team, people have grown, we`ve dreamt big dreams and made them happen, and we believe we have made a positive contribution to South Africa."
Leaf Wireless was started in 1999 as a one-customer R&D company, and has grown to an R85 million turnover business recognised as a market leader in mobile technology, delivering state-of-the-art solutions to South African giants such as First National Bank and MTN, and now successfully competing in the international arena with customers like Virgin. Leaf also distributes mobile communications products from Sierra Wireless and the leading-edge Smart Phones and PDAs from i-mate built around Microsoft`s Windows Mobile platform.
Innovation has been a key driver in Leaf`s success. Leigh noted: "One evening on TV I saw six adverts in a row for products we had developed!" Leigh believes that while there is always an element of luck, entrepreneurial success rests on the three pillars of having confidence in yourself and your team, holding on to your confidence when times get tough, and keeping on learning because knowledge combats the fear of the unknown.
At the same event, Bill Lynch, CEO of Imperial Group, was awarded South Africa`s Best Entrepreneur award. Lynch will go forward to the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards, to compete against 35 other countries in June 2006 in Monte Carlo.
For further information: www.leaf.co.za or (011) 326-1844 info@leaf.co.za.
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Leaf Wireless, based in South Africa, is a global convergence technology company that provides fully integrated end-to-end mobile solutions and services encompassing context-based applications, platform design, hosting and mobile media content creation. The Leaf Wireless value proposition is to innovate, and through this innovation deliver solutions that enhance the lives of its extended community while delivering sustained ROIs to all stakeholders and business partners.
Founded in 1999, Leaf Wireless continues to deliver products, solutions and strategies for a diversity companies including some of South Africa`s most respected corporate, media and entertainment organisations.
The Leaf Wireless platform touches over one million people each and every day.
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