Yesterday, EY Luxembourg organised the 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year award ceremony, during which the winner of this edition – Claude Wagner of CWA Group - was unveiled to the public.

The CWA group consists of three main activities:

- Construction and DIY sector: Bati C, Batiself, Hoffmann Schwall, etc.
- Distribution of sporting goods: Intersport, Citabel, S-Cape, etc.
- Distribution of garden and kitchen furniture: Mobilier Jardin, Wolf-Moritz, etc.

All group stores are located and well known in Luxembourg and in the Greater Region. Claude Wagner, a former banker, started from scratch and embarked on his entrepreneurial adventure to become a “serial” entrepreneur 16 years later. He is now leading a group of more than 800 professionals, of which he is the sole shareholder.

In 1992, he joined Batichimie as Administrative Director. In 2001, he acquired majority share in Batichimie – which has now become Bati C – and 100% in 2003. In addition, as Claude Wagner was driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to always move forward, he decided to create the CWA group in the early 2000s, which were marked by a series of creations, takeovers and acquisitions of several companies (partly mentioned above).

“The various acquisitions have just been all about opportunities”, said Claude Wagner modestly yesterday.

Claude Wagner is a passionate entrepreneur, who always looks towards the future, including expansion plans. He is close to his clients while trying to meet them as often as he can in the field. He is also full of plans and always seeks for support from people with the right skills, who can help him focus on his expansion plans. He is a determined man who takes the right decisions at the right time.

During the award ceremony, Alain Kinsch, Managing Partner of EY Luxembourg, was pleased to remind the relevance and the need to reward entrepreneurship in Luxembourg and to share the vision and experience of EY in that area through a prestigious gala ceremony with an audience of 250 people.

“Building on a strong local anchorage and an international experience in the SMEs, start-up, fast growing and family-owned companies sector for more than 90 years, the organisation of such an event by EY is no coincidence. In a world full of constant and rapid change and that, beyond the inherent difficulties, our tagline Building a better working world aims at guiding our every action, as we play an active role in building a new world, making progress and offering a favorable ecosystem to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit. Therefore we are very proud to unveil the exceptional story of entrepreneurs tonight, women and men who nurture confidence and the entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrate how important it is to progress, to innovate and to create value and jobs as they are the main drivers of our economic growth”, said Alain Kinsch.

“We have the strong commitment to raising awareness of the general public on the need to support entrepreneurship and to encourage our young generation to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, and to embark on the entrepreneurship adventure. This is mainly the reason why we have decided to organize this programme in Luxembourg. There is some talent in our country, which relies on entrepreneurs to take risks and to contribute to the attractiveness of our country”, said Yves Even, Partner in charge of the Entrepreneur of the Year (EoY) - entrepreneurship/SME and family business department at EY Luxembourg.

During the award ceremony, Nicolas Buck, the President of the 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year’s edition, highlighted the reasons which motivated the jury members to select the winner who impressed them by his vision, the financial performance of his company, his ability to rebound, to innovate, to implement the best technology, to ensure the sustainability of his company, to give an international direction to his business and his ability to manage his human resources.

“The jury members and myself are very proud to reward Claude Wagner for his extraordinary professional path tonight”, said Nicolas Buck yesterday.

2016: an exceptional edition

It was particularly difficult for the jury members to select a winner this year, who could differentiate himself/herself from their competitors through an exceptional entrepreneurial and innovation spirit, an ingenious development strategy, an outstanding financial performance and a pertinent management of human resources and organisation.

The six finalists of this year’s edition of the Entrepreneur of the Year in Luxembourg’s competition were as follows:

- Michèle Detaille of ALIPA Group
- Mike Koedinger of Maison Moderne
- Arsène Laplume of Shopping Center Massen
- Georges Lentz Jr of Brasserie Nationale
- Rolf Sorg of PM International
- Claude Wagner of CWA Group

The independent jury of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 in Luxembourg competition was composed of: President of the Jury: Nicolas Buck – FEDIL; René Elvinger – Winner of the 2013 edition of the Entrepreneur of the Year; Jacques Hirtt – Fédération des Jeunes Dirigeants d’Entreprise; Fernand Ernster – Confédération Luxembourgeoise du Commerce; Gérard Hoffmann – ICTluxembourg; and Tom Theves – Ministry of Economy

The selection of a winner is the result of a rigorous selection process of all the candidates to the Entrepreneur of the Year award that started end of April this year. 20 applications of exceptional quality were submitted, and 16 of them were selected to meet the EY professionals, who helped them establish a personalised diagnostic of their companies before providing the members of an independent jury with their sound business cases.

The winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year will then be invited to the world competition, where, among the winners of the 70 other participating countries, he will have the privilege of representing entrepreneurship in Luxembourg. The EY “World Entrepreneur of the year” is the apotheosis of the various national editions. It will take place on June 2017 in Monte Carlo.
The Entrepreneur of the Year competition is organized by EY in collaboration with highly recognised partners.

The Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 competition is also supported by the FEDIL Association, the Fédération des Jeunes Dirigeants d’Entreprise, the Confédération Luxembourgeoise du Commerce, ICTluxembourg, the Ministry of Economy, and RTL as a media partner.