OREANDA-NEWS. On 13 March 2009 Ernst & Young, a leading international audit and advisory firm, announced the launch of the national stage of its 2009 Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in Russia. The competition in Russia is being held for the seventh consecutive year in the framework of Ernst & Young’s International Entrepreneur Of The Year program, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the development of national economies and the world economy.

“The International Entrepreneur Of The Year program already has a 23-year history. Its geographical extent is constantly growing, and today regional and national stages are held in 135 cities in 50 countries worldwide. The competitors are business leaders who have successfully realized their business ideas and demonstrated achievements not only in their own country but in the international arena as well,” says Andrey Pozhalov, Director of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program in Russia. “Since 1986, over 12,000 bright and talented entrepreneurs from around the world have taken part in the competition, and it has rightfully won a reputation as the most prestigious business award in the area of entrepreneurship. The national winners each year take part in the international contest of the world’s best entrepreneurs. In May 2009, Russia will be represented at the international finals in Monte Carlo by Russia Entrepreneur Of The Year 2008 Sergei Vykhodtsev, President of VELLE (St. Petersburg).

Entrepreneurs from all regions of Russia who are ready to share their business success stories with business circles in Russia and around the world are invited to enter the 2009 competition. The conditions of participation can be found online at www.eoy.ru. Applications will be accepted from March 2 through April 30. The national awards ceremony will be held on 26 November 2009 in Moscow.

The sponsors of the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 program in Russia are the U.S. Russia Center for Entrepreneurship and British American Tobacco Russia. The program’s information sponsors are the weekly Kommersant Dengi, the newspaper Gazeta, the magazine Svoi Biznes and the Russian international news agency RIA Novosti.