Sage wins laurels

Six of South Australia's most talented entrepreneurs were honoured recently at the Central Region Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards.

Among them was Andrew Downs, managing director of Sage Automation, who won the Technology, Communication, E-Commerce and Life Sciences Category.

Since forming his specialist automation company in 1994, Downs has grown Sage Automation from a start-up business in his backyard shed to a leading electrical engineering and control systems design company, employing 138 people and achieving an annual turnover of $22.5 million.

With an award winning reputation across several industries, as well as recently secured partnerships with companies in Korea, Germany, Spain, France, the United States and Canada, Sage Automation's growth looks set to continue well into the future.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year program is a regional, national and international annual awards program that identifies and recognises the achievements of outstanding entrepreneurs within successful growing dynamic businesses. First launched by Ernst & Young in the United States in 1986, Entrepreneur Of The Year is now established internationally as the pre-eminent awards program of its type. In 2004, over 9000 entrepreneurs from more than 40 countries will participate in the program in 115 cities.