EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025: Winners and Nominations

Every year, a room full of founders waits to hear one name. In 2025, that name was Edward McCloskey in Ireland and Stina Ehrensvärd on the world stage, and the gap between those two wins explains how the program works, what it takes to be nominated, and why the prize still matters.

2025 EY Ireland winner: Edward McCloskey, founder of WaterWipes (EY Ireland (national program host)) ·
2025 EY World winner: Stina Ehrensvärd of Yubico (EY Global (program organizer)) ·
Selection pool: nearly 5,000 participants (EY Global (program organizer)) ·
2025 Ireland finalists: 24 entrepreneurs (EY Ireland (national program host))

Eight facts explain the 2025 cycle: two winners, two records, and one judging pool that spanned 43 countries.

What is the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program?

At its simplest, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is an annual awards program run by the professional services firm EY. It puts a public spotlight on founders who have built companies with real traction, and it ends with category awards plus one overall winner.

Program overview

• EY describes its annual program as concluding with category awards such as industry and innovation, plus an overall winner (EY Denmark (program guide)).
• Country or territory winners advance to the global EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year competition (EY Denmark (program guide)).
• Winners are selected by an independent panel of successful and innovative entrepreneurs (EY Denmark (program guide)).

That structure creates a real hierarchy. A founder can be celebrated at home and still have to prove the same story to a global jury abroad.

National and global editions

• National editions run in multiple markets, including Ireland and Denmark (EY Ireland (national program host), EY Denmark (program guide)).
• The 2025 Irish gala was the 28th annual edition and took place at Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry, County Wicklow (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• The 2025 world ceremony was held in Monaco on 6 June 2025 (EY Global (program organizer)).

The implication: national editions are the entry ramp, not the finish line. The global title is the one that brings every country winner together.

Is EY Entrepreneur Of The Year prestigious?

Prestige is hard to measure, but the program’s own numbers give a usable answer. The 2025 global winner was selected from nearly 5,000 program participants, including 52 country winners from 43 countries and jurisdictions (EY Global (program organizer)).

Why the award carries weight

• EY is one of the Big Four professional services firms and runs the program globally (EY Denmark (program guide)).
• An independent panel of successful and innovative entrepreneurs chooses the winners (EY Denmark (program guide)).
• The 2025 selection pool covered roughly 5,000 participants across 43 countries and jurisdictions (EY Global (program organizer)).

That scale separates the award from local gala circuits. A national winner is being measured against an international cohort, not just familiar rivals.

Public signals and global recognition

• Stina Ehrensvärd is the first winner from Sweden in the award’s 25-year history (EY Global (program organizer)).
• She is also the fourth woman to hold the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year title (EY Global (program organizer)).
• Ireland’s 2025 award night was the 28th annual gala (EY Ireland (national program host)).

What this means: prestige here is tied to proof of scale. The award rewards founders who can show growth and impact to a jury of fellow entrepreneurs, not just to a local audience.

Who is the entrepreneur of the year?

The honest answer is that 2025 had two winners with the same title. One went to Edward McCloskey for Ireland; the other went to Stina Ehrensvärd for the world.

2025 winners list

• Ireland: Edward McCloskey, founder and executive chairman of WaterWipes (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• World: Stina Ehrensvärd, co-founder of Yubico (EY Global (program organizer)).
• Selection pool: nearly 5,000 participants, 52 winners from 43 countries and jurisdictions (EY Global (program organizer)).

McCloskey also won the International category in Ireland’s 2025 awards, which underlines the global ambitions behind the national result (EY Ireland (national program host)).

The pattern: “entrepreneur of the year” headlines need a geography. Without that context, the 2025 answer is incomplete.

Who has won the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in the past?

This source set does not include a complete past-winner list, and it would be misleading to fake one. What it does include is official EY documentation for the 2025 cycle plus program-level detail for other national editions.

2024 edition context

• 2023 and 2024 are previous editions of the same program, but their named winners are not part of the source set reviewed here.
• The 2025 world winner, Stina Ehrensvärd, is documented in EY’s official newsroom (EY Global (program organizer)).
• For earlier years, EY’s national program pages are the authoritative archive (EY Ireland (national program host), EY Denmark (program guide)).

World Entrepreneur Of The Year archives

• EY Global documented the 2025 winner and her selection statistics (EY Global (program organizer)).
• National edition pages, such as the ones for Ireland and Denmark, explain the transition from country winner to world contender (EY Ireland (national program host), EY Denmark (program guide)).

The catch: internet lists will happily rank “top entrepreneurs” from anywhere; EY’s own pages are the only archive that keeps national and world trophies separate.

Who has won the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award in Ireland?

In 2025, the Irish answer was unambiguous.

2025 Irish finalist field

• The finalist field included 24 entrepreneurs (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• Edward McCloskey won the overall title (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• He also took the International category (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• The 28th annual EY Ireland gala was held at Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry, County Wicklow (EY Ireland (national program host)).

McCloskey’s track record gives the win a concrete business story. He is founder and executive chairman of WaterWipes and owner of Boyne Valley Group (EY Ireland (national program host)).

Ireland winners beyond 2025

• Earlier Irish winners are not named in the source set reviewed for this article.
• EY Ireland’s Entrepreneur Of The Year page is the authoritative source for past national winners (EY Ireland (national program host)).

Why this matters: by winning both the overall title and the International category, McCloskey became the clearest example of the kind of founder EY wants to push toward the world stage.

How to get nominated for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year?

EY runs the process through national offices, and the rules are not identical everywhere. The most detailed public package in this source set comes from EY China (EY China (nomination FAQ)).

Nominating an entrepreneur

• In China, professional advisers, customers, suppliers, bankers, lawyers, employees and spouses may nominate a founder (EY China (nomination FAQ)).
• Self-nomination is also allowed (EY China (nomination FAQ)).
• There is no cost to submit a nomination (EY China (nomination FAQ)).

Submission and judging process

• The nomination call in China usually opens in May or June (EY China (nomination FAQ)).
• A nominee must be an owner or manager primarily responsible for recent company performance (EY China (nomination FAQ)).
• The company must be at least two years old (EY China (nomination FAQ)).
• After the national phase, an independent panel of entrepreneurs selects the winners (EY Denmark (program guide)).

In practice, a nomination looks like this:

1. Find your country’s EY program page and confirm the current nomination window.
2. Check that the nominee owns or manages the company and that the company meets the minimum age requirement.
3. Arrange a nomination from an allowed third party, or self-nominate if your country permits it.
4. Wait for the national selection process, which produced 24 finalists in Ireland in 2025 before an overall winner was named (EY Ireland (national program host)).

The trade-off: the entry bar is low, but the selection bar is not. Anyone can nominate; very few end up on that stage in Monaco.

Timeline signal

• 6 June 2025 — Stina Ehrensvärd named EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 in Monaco (EY Global (program organizer)).
• 2025 — EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland 2025 finalists announced, with 24 entrepreneurs (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• November 2025 — Edward McCloskey named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland 2025 overall winner (EY Ireland (national program host)).
• 2025 — 28th annual EY Ireland gala held at Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry, County Wicklow (EY Ireland (national program host)).

The pace is annual, but the preparation is not. A founder who waits for the gala to plan a nomination has already missed the window in several markets.

Confirmed facts and open questions

The balance of this record is heavy on confirmed outcomes and light on future procedural details, which is expected for an annual cycle that had not fully opened its 2026 pages at the time of writing.

What the announcements said

“Stina Ehrensvärd from Sweden named EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025.”

EY Global announcement

“Edward McCloskey named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025.”

EY Ireland announcement

“Winners are selected by an independent panel of successful and innovative entrepreneurs.”

EY Denmark programme guide

The wording matters: both headlines use the full title, including geography, because “entrepreneur of the year” alone is ambiguous.

Summary

The 2025 cycle showed what EY Entrepreneur Of The Year rewards: founders who can grow a company with a clear product, a global market, and a story that survives contact with an international jury. McCloskey and Ehrensvärd both fit that mould. For Irish scale-up founders, the implication is clear: treat the national award as a stage on the way to the world title, or risk aiming at the wrong trophy.

Frequently asked questions

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