Elegbe Joins Global Jury as ‘Sweden’s Stina’ Wins 2025 ‘EY WEOY Award’

StinaEhrensvärd, from Sweden and co-founder of Yubico, a company with the mission to make the internet safer for everyone, has clinched the 2025 ‘EY World Entrepreneur of The Year 2025’ award.

The EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 winner was chosen by an independent panel of Judges, including Mitchell Elegbe, Group CEO of Interswitch Nigeria, who were drawn from a diverse group of esteemed entrepreneurs across geographies.

In 2007, Stina co-founded Yubico, a company with the mission to make the internet safer for everyone. Within a year the company launched its first YubiKey, a physical security key for multifactor authentication (MFA).

Over the next five years, Yubico transformed the entire cybersecurity landscape by securing work with three of the biggest technology companies in Silicon Valley.

Since then, Stina has scaled Yubico to where it now protects 19 of the world’s 20 largest internet companies and its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has been 40% since 2020.

At the star-studded global business award ceremony held in Monaco’s Salle des Etolies, Stina was selected among 5,000 participants that included 52 winners across 43 countries and jurisdictions vying for the global title.

Stina is the fourth woman entrepreneur to hold the title and first from Sweden in the 25-year history of the award.

Speaking on the choice of Stina, AshishBakhshi, EY Senior Partner/Head of Markets and Entrepreneur Of The Year Leader for West Africa, said: “Stina is a natural-born entrepreneur and business leader whose unparalleled determination, drive and innovative mindset has created exponential growth for her company and a lasting impact on Sweden and its people”.

Also speaking, Janet Truncale, EY global Chair and CEO noted that Stina exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship, a visionary leader who is confidently shaping the future through these disruptive times.

According to Truncale, Stina’s achievements at Yubico are remarkable on their own- consistently creating new value and making a societal impact.

“Her defining philosophy that a secure digital identity is a basic human right is exactly the type of purpose-driven leadership we look to celebrate with EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year. She is a truly deserving world winner and an inspiration to us all,” Truncale said.

For the winner, StinaEhrensvard, she succintly captured her moment of ecstasy: “I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has played a part in making this moment possible. The incredible teams within our company, the unwavering support from EY and especially the EY team in Sweden, who have cheered me and guided me throughout this journey.

“I am committed to saving the internet for democracy, for free speech, for education, for all the beautiful things we can do with it. This recognition is not the finish line, it’s fuel. We are building a safer digital world, and I won’t stop until that mission is fulfilled”.

EY hosts the annual World Entrepreneur Of The Year event to celebrate the accomplishments of visionary leaders who are shaping the future with confidence, growing the economy and answering the call to address global challenges.

The annual gathering brings together founders, CEOs and business leaders for a series of networking opportunities and workshops, culminating with the announcement of the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year.