By Bob Kernohan

The success story of a Port Elizabeth developer soared to new heights at the weekend when Auspex property group chief executive Ben Nyaumwe won the Entrepreneur award at The Herald, Absa business and Corporate bank, and Nelson Mandela metropolitan university business school ceremony.

The former Coega development corporation buildings project executive, who struck out on his own in 2005 and already has an award-winning apartment block on his success list, is the developer of the R320-million, 14-floor, five-star Radisson hotel being built on the Port Elizabeth beachfront.

And there are many more 'big and bold' plans to come from Nyaumwe and his Auspex group, he said in accepting the award his second in less than a year after he was recognised in a regional development competition late last year.

Nyaumwe‘s Entrepreneur award citation congratulated him and the group for their enduring drive 'in pursuit of excellence, creating new value and breaking new ground' with projects that 'other people have not had the courage to pursue'.

One is Brookes view, an eight-floor block on the beachfront which includes 12 apartments that sold for R1,3-million each, and another the Pearls block, with 11 apartments worth R1,6-million each.

Now, he and his company are undertaking their most ambitious project to date with the new international-class Radisson Hotel scheduled to be finished at the end of the year.

The citation said that not only would the hotel be a new venture for the city, creating 450 jobs during construction and 175 permanent jobs when complete, but it would see the giant worldwide Rezidor hotel group enter the local market.

Belgium-based Rezidor controls a chain of 323 hotels under the brand names Radisson, Carlson, Park Inn and Regent. It employs more than 25000 staff and has 66000 rooms in 48 countries, mainly in Europe.

The Radisson will be the first five-star hotel in Port Elizabeth since the Elizabeth Hotel became a Holiday Inn in the early 1990s. It is being built on the corner of Ninth avenue and Marine Drive in Summerstrand.

Earlier this year, Nyaumwe hosted Rezidor group president and chief executive Kurt Ritter on a visit to the city, with Ritter saying that Nyaumwe‘s bold approach could lead the way for other international hotels, like the Hilton and Sheraton groups, also opening as Mandela Bay‘s growth continued.

Accepting the award, Nyaumwe said it was an honour not only for him and the Auspex group, but also for all emerging entrepreneurs, who are 'no different from anyone else we aim to deliver and we achieve that'.

Source: The Herald