On Thursday evening the audit and consultancy firm EY gathered together 800 guests and 25 nominated companies for the Danish final of its annual Entrepreneur of the Year awards, where the construction and property development company CASA was crowned overall winner.

CASA builds and leases homes, offices and public buildings across Denmark. The company was founded in 2006 in Horsens in eastern Jutland and has experienced extraordinary growth since then. In 2014 it had a turnover of 850 million kroner and a bottom line of 40 million kroner. It has 80 employees of its own and produces work for a further 1,000 employees at its consultants and subcontractors around the country.

Role model for the next generation
Søren Smedegaard Hvid, who is a partner at EY and is responsible for the annual awards, singled out the role of Michael Mortensen, the company’s frontman, in achieving this success.

“This year’s winner is an outstanding serial entrepreneur. With the founder, chairman and majority shareholder of CASA, Michael Mortensen, we aren’t just celebrating a growing company, but a mentality. Michael Mortensen is a role model for the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he said.

Gone faster than expected
Mortensen was happy to receive the plaudits, but in turn praised his staff for the company’s success.

“It’s a fantastic pat on the back, which I am very pleased to pass on to all of our skilled employees,” he said.

“It’s all gone faster than expected, and we will among other things reach a turnover of 1 billion kroner this year, which is earlier than budgeted.”

EY has held its entrepreneur of the year awards for 19 years. CASA will go on to represent Denmark at the international EY Entrepreneur of the Year event in Monaco in 2016.