Now, 37 years later, the group is one of Luxembourg’s leading construction companies, with over 1,300 employees and a strong presence in the Horesca and real estate sectors.
The Entrepreneur of the Year competition seeks to highlight the success of entrepreneurs based in the Grand Duchy, promoting a sense of entrepreneurship by rewarding visionary leaders for their contribution and initiatives.
The first edition of the EY Luxembourg Entrepreneur of the Year took place in 2004, and was won by Nicolas Buck of Victor Buck Services S.A. Since then, the competition has taken place five times.
The sixth edition - the first since 2016, after the 2020 competition was cancelled due to Covid-19 - was held on Thursday 23 November. A total of 14 applicants across sectors such as industry, commerce, technology, fintech, automobiles, renewable energies and finance met the selection criteria in 2023, representing the country’s economic diversity.
Participants are required to have a minimum 10% stake in their company and manage a business established in Luxembourg for a minimum of three years with an annual turnover of at least 2.5 million euros. This year, the jury found the applicants so impressive that they elected to choose seven finalists, instead of the usual six.
The winning entrepreneur, Marc Giorgetti, was announced at a gala soirée on Thursday evening, and will consequently enter the global competition taking place in Monaco in June 2024.
Thierry Franceschetti, Industeam Group
The French entrepreneur grew up in an immigrant family of Italian and Polish origin, working on construction sites for his family business from the age of 16. At 24, he joined his father’s company and quickly rose through the ranks, leading him to found Industeam SA in Luxembourg in 2006. The engineering and industrial services group, which supports clients with energy transition, now employs 550 staff and has developed a strong international presence.
Stéphanie Jauquet, Cocottes
In her youth, Jauquet developed a taste for fine cuisine, seeking employment in restaurants and using her pocket money to dine at the region’s most celebrated restaurants. With a degree in business and management, she moved to Luxembourg to pursue her career in catering, taking over the Um Plateau restaurant in 2008. Since then she has launched a number of successful restaurants, as well as founding the Cocottes fast-food outlets, with 18 stores to date. This year, Jauquet launched the GANG foodhall at the Belle Etoile shopping centre, along with Salvatore Barberio.
Raoul Mulheims, Finologee
At the age of just 18, Mulheims founded Luxembourg’s largest social network, Luxusbuerg, demonstrating an early passion for entrepreneurship. Since then, he has been involved in creating the digital agency Nvision, Mpulse, the mobile payments platform Digicash Payments, and Finologee. Today, Finologee is the leading operator of digital financial platforms in Luxembourg, serving over 100 banks and institutions.
Rolf Sorg, PM International AG
A former salesman, Sorg launched PM International, a nutritional supplement and cosmetics manufacturer, in 1993. Inspired by the Tupperware business model, the company has sold over 800 million products in over 70 countries in the past three decades. It is now the eighth most successful direct sales company in the world, and was recently awarded a prize for the strongest international growth in the sector. The innovative company also holds over 70 patents.
François Tesch, Foyer Group
In 1983, Tesch joined “Le Foyer”, an insurance company founded by his grandfather in 1922, seeking to bring his knowledge and experience in the financial sector to the business. Since then, he has helped the company reach new heights, creating new activities such as Wealins, Capital @ Work and Luxempart, among others. Today, the Foyer Group employs over 1,400 people across 5 service lines representing its three businesses: insurance, protection and wealth management.
Artyom Yukhin, Artec 3D
Yukhin began his career at university as a researcher and teacher, before inventing 3D facial recognition based on biometric data in 1999. In 2007, he launched Artec 3D in California, designing a portable 3D scanner that quickly became very popular. In 2009, his company achieved a turnover of over a million euros, reaching its break-even point, before transferring head office, R&D teams and production to Luxembourg in order to be closer to its European customers. Today the business has more than 200 employees, and commercial or R&D partnerships with more than 135 companies around the world, including the Leica group.
