Three of Ghana’s most successful entrepreneurs have picked up top awards in the West Africa edition of the global Ernst and Young Entrepreneurs awards. The three, Prince Kofi Amoabeng CEO of UT Bank, Edward Effah CEO of Fidelity Bank and Joseph Agyepong, CEO of Zoomlion competed with other top West African businesses. The three beat their competitors based on key qualities such as innovation, strategic thinking and direction for their companies, showing good financials among others. Speaking to journalists on arrival to UT’s Prince Kofi Amoabeng, said, “it was quite an interesting experience, we went as finalists, and we’re proud to have represented Ghana. "It was very competitive and in the end we were all winners but of course one company had to be on top and it happened to be a Nigerian. But I think we were respected and our stories were quite unique and appreciated by all”. On his part, Edward Effah said “The recognition means a lot to Fidelity Bank, being recognized beyond the shores of Ghana is further testimony we’re on track to achieve our vision of creating a world-class Ghanaian bank, run by Ghanaians owned by Ghanaians and to give further encouragement to fellow Ghanaian entrepreneurs that if they put their minds to it, they can get there”. The CEO of Zoomlion, Joseph Agyepong believes “this country has the people with rich experience and talents to help contribute to the development of the nation. "The country must recognize people of this calibre and see how best we can all contribute to the development of Ghana”. Explaining competitiveness of the programme was, the Country Leader of Ernst and Young, Ferdinand Gunn said; “the process was very competitive. "They have learnt a lot, because they went through a nomination process, checked if they met the criteria, shortlisted, went through interview process, some dropped further while the others went through for further scrutiny." Meanwhile, the CEO of Access Bank Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede will be one of the two representatives for West Africa at the global Ernst and Young Entrepreneurs awards in Monte Carlo, USA next year. The Ernst and Young global awards has been running for the past 25 years but this is the first time Ghana has participated.