Mark Roden named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2014
Dublin, Ireland – 25th October 2014 – Mark Roden has been named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014. Mark is Founder & CEO of ding*, a company which enables people from emerging markets working abroad to send top-up directly to the mobile phones of their family and friends back home.
Mark was presented with the award at a gala dinner in Citywest Hotel on Thursday night by Mike McKerr from Ernst & Young. “I am absolutely delighted and completely overwhelmed. It’s been an incredible journey growing ding* to where it is today and this is great recognition of all the hard work and dedication put in by everyone at ding* over the past 8 years. I’m grateful to so many people who have played a part in this achievement but special thanks must go to my wife and family who have remained so incredibly supportive over the years,” said Roden.
In addition to being selected as overall winner, Mark Roden was named International EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winning the international category in recognition of the global nature of the network he has built with ding*. John Purdy of Ergo, a leading consultative IT services partner to corporate and enterprise organisations, picked up the award for EY Industry Entrepreneur Of The Year; while Terry Fox of bespoke paper cup manufacturer, Cupprint, was named as the EY Emerging Entrepreneur Of The Year. Speaking of his fellow finalists, Mark commented: “It’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know so many terrific individuals throughout the process; it shows how innovative we can be here in Ireland.” Also recognised at the ceremony was Peter Sutherland Chairman of Goldman Sachs International and former Attorney General of Ireland who received The Special Award given to a person who has make a profound contribution to Ireland.
Speaking of the EY competition as a whole, Mark praised Ernst & Young on their fantastic programme and commented on the other finalists: “The whole experience has been fantastic. Beyond getting to know inspiring individuals, being part of the programme has really put ding* and all the companies involved on the global map.”
Established in 2006, ding* has built an unrivalled global network and is connected to 300 mobile operators in 130 emerging markets with a reach of 3.5 billion phones. People can send top-up to these phones on www.ding.com, the ding* app and in 500,000 retail locations around the world. The real power is in what a topped-up mobile phone means to individuals in emerging markets. ding* leverages the power of the mobile which not only helps people stay connected to loved ones, but also allows them access to data and a wealth of information at their fingertips. To date, ding* has sent over 80 million top-ups all from advanced technology built in Dublin.
“I am truly commitment to our vision of connecting billions of people through the power of mobile top-up. It is extremely rewarding to receive this sort of acknowledgment from such an incredible group of people.” says Mark.