NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) announced that Bharani Rajakumar, founder and CEO of Transfr, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 New York Award winner. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive awards program for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies.
Rajakumar was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs and other business leaders. Candidates were evaluated based on their ability to create long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to their purpose and the demonstration of growth and substantial impact, among other key indicators.
“This award is an incredible honor and validation by EY of the mission to which Transfr and I are dedicated,” said Bharani Rajakumar, founder and CEO of Transfr. “We are excited to build a future where everyone can access a pathway to upward career mobility.”
As a New York award winner, Rajakumar is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 National Awards. The National Award winners, including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award in June 2025.
Entrepreneur Of The Year recognizes many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to fortify it for the future.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized the leadership of entrepreneurs such as:
- Saeju Jeong of Noom
- Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Inc.
- Holly Thaggard and Amanda Baldwin of Supergoop!
- Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company
- James Park of Fitbit
- Jodi Berg of Vitamix
- Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC
- Michael Happe of Winnebago Industries
- Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation
- Sheila Mikhail of AskBio
Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners become lifetime members of a global, multi-industry community of entrepreneurs. They receive exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of program alumni and other ecosystem members in more than 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.
In addition to Entrepreneur Of The Year, EY US supports other entrepreneurs through the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™(Winning Women) program and the EY Entrepreneurs Access Network (EAN) to help connect women founders and Black and Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs, respectively, with the resources, network and access needed to unlock their full potential.
