LEN Buckeridge was last week named ‘master entrepreneur of the year’ in Ernst & Young’s premier business awards program, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Mr Buckeridge beat four other business leaders from around the nation to take out the title in the category of ‘master entrepreneur’.
Judging criteria included entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, personal integrity and influence, financial performance, strategic direction and national/global impact.
Mr Buckeridge, owner of Australia’s largest building company, BGC, started his career in 1959 as an architect, after winning the James Hardie architect prize for a thesis on low-cost housing.
He founded BGC two years later, driven by his desire to build affordable housing for Western Australians.
The Ernst & Young awards program was established 17 years ago to recognise the significant contribution that entrepreneurs make to the Australian economy and lifestyle.
There are seven overall categories, including ‘young entrepreneur’, ‘entrepreneurship in a social, community or not-for-profit enterprise’, and ‘retail, consumer and industrial products’.