The Elite Business
Africa Network (EBAN) the organizers of the Nigeria Business Elite Awards has
named the chairman, Zinox Group, Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh as its Entrepreneur of the
Year, 2013.
DigitalSENSE Business News
reports that the honor was bestowed on Dr. Ekeh, last weekend at Civic Center,
Victoria Island, Lagos, at the event attended by top government functionaries,
captains of industry, celebrities and the media.
The awards which
honored distinguished companies and personalities in the private and public
sectors pitched three highly successful business men in the Entrepreneur of the
Year category.
Ekeh who was nominated
for the Entrepreneur of the Year alongside Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man,
commodities manufacturer and merchant, and President of the Nigeria Stock
Exchange; Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman, Zinox Group, Africa’s most integrated ICT
firm – computer manufacturers, advanced systems integrators, digital power
solutions specialists, biometric solutions and e-books and e-education
specialists – and Director, Nigeria Economic Summit Group; Alhaji Abdul
Mutallab, former Managing Director, Nigerian Arab Bank, Former Chairman, First
Bank of Nigeria and Chairman Jaiz Bank, to name a few.
Presenting the award to
Leo Stan Ekeh, the leadership of NEBA noted the pioneering role that he was
playing in the IT sector from compu-graphics and desktop publishing to cloud
and bandwidth management. The citation noted the fact that his innovations in
the ICT market were not based on a profit motif but on the need to structure a
market that has the potential to catalyze national development.
In particular,
mention was made of his can do it spirit that helped in no small measure in
deepening the democratic experience in Nigeria – the supply of 12,000 laptops
in 2 weeks and 130,000 DDC Machines in 6 weeks to salvage the 2006 and 2011
Voters’ registration exercises respectively.
They also described Ekeh
as a quintessential entrepreneur, pointing out that the Zinox Group that
started modestly in 1987 as a reseller for Apple computers is today a
conglomerate with many subsidiaries, each of them Number 1, in PC
manufacturing, ICT solutions and distribution, support and engineering, and
telecoms.
In his response, Ekeh, expressed
thanks to the Elite Business Africa Network for naming him the Entrepreneur of
Year 2013, just as he dedicated the award to his staff in Nigeria and overseas
saying that the innovations for which he has been honored were often
conceptualized and executed by them.
Ekeh, therefore,
pledged his commitment to narrowing the gap between the developed world and
Africa through the domestication of appropriate technology, urging Africans to
shun the preference for foreign goods in order to grow a strong industrial base
for the continent.
Pix: Leo-Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group
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