Last week, we were excited to watch the winners being crowned at the 2020 Havana Club Bar Entrepreneur Awards; a competition that recognises the passion, entrepreneurship and this year particularly, the resilience and determination of the people behind the world’s most revolutionary bars. A respected panel of judges crowned one overall winner and three other category winners from a shortlist of thirteen finalists.
Here are the winners of this year’s Havana Club Bar Entrepreneur Awards. Remember their names - you’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the future!
Overall Winner: Oliver Margan
Meet Oliver Margan, overall winner of the 2020 Bar Entrepreneur awards. Having founded cocktail bar Maybe Mae six years ago, in the heart of Adelaide’s west end, at the tender age of twenty two, Oliver has been credited for establishing the city’s cocktail culture, with six new bar openings under his belt. What impressed the judges the most was his unfailing optimism and entrepreneurial spirit, which sits alongside his highly regarded skills behind the bar, a focus on sustainably sourced cocktail ingredients and his support for gender equality within the industry. Oliver was awarded with a €20,000 cash prize to invest in his business.
Other Category Winners
As well as crowing an overall winner, Havana Club awarded €10,000 each to three other candidates who showed determination and passion in three other categories: The True Grit Award, which honours strength, resilience and bravery during the most challenging period of modern-day hospitality; One to Watch, which focuses on emerging talent and the achievements of those under the age of 30 and Social & Eco Entrepreneurship, which recognises a commitment to improving the environment or a local community, while achieving business success.
Winner: True Grit - Rani Al Raji
This year’s True Grit award was presented to Rani Al Raji, owner of Beirut’s Brazzaville; a neighbourhood bar that has continued to serve the community and remain a hub of positivity through the challenges of 2020 including the pandemic and Beirut’s horrific explosion. Rani’s team did what they could not just to survive, but to thrive despite the shortages and the struggles seen in the country’s capital.
Winner: Social and Eco Entrepreneurship: - Yeferson Avila and Jean Trinh
Columbia’s Yeferson Avila and Jean Trinh, co-owners of Alquímico Farm in Cartagena, were awarded with the Social and Eco Entrepreneurship prize for their commitment to keeping their staff, small producers and local farmers in business despite the pressures of the pandemic. While having to close their popular, three-story mansion bar, Yeferson and Jean instead put their team to work at the Alquímico Farm where they grow organic produce to use in their cocktail programme. The farm has since become an educational space for the local agricultural community and professionals from the drinks industry who want to learn more about vegetables, fruits and spices from planting to harvest.
Winner: One to Watch - Omer Gazit-Shalev
Omer is a clear rising star in the global bar community. He managed to impress the judges with the variety and diversity of projects he has taken on despite his young age. As the CEO of Monkey Business, a unique style of hospitality group, he and his teams manage several of Israel’s most famous food and drink venues and are being credited with redefining the country’s bar experience in general.
The Judges
The judges for this competition are all key figures in the global drinks and business industries:
Rhys Oldfield: co-founder of Be at One and a leading adviser to food and drink businesses.
Juan Valls: owner of El Nino, Sinner Club and key figure behind Spain’s FIBAR.
Vijay Mudaliar: founder of Native Bar in Singapore and its concept to explore local culture through the lens of drinks.
Ara Carvallo: co-founder of Barra Mexico, the world’s first zero carbon bar trade show and Latin America’s key spirits trade show.
Kelsey Ramage: winner of the One to Watch category in 2019 and owner of Trash Tiki, which focuses on creating cocktails from waste.
Tess Posthumus: successful business entrepreneur and owner of the Netherlands’ leading bars, Flying Dutchman and Dutch Courage in Amsterdam.
Cécile Bulle: business educator who leads a mentoring programme helping students and alumni from Paris Dauphine University establish their business.
Rasmus Lomborg: bartender, bar manager and entrepreneur who has opened multiple bars across the UK and Europe.
The winners were announced during a virtual ceremony presented by leading global rum ambassador Ian Burrell and featured a showstopping live concert from international rapper Kelvyn Colt.
To find out more about the awards and the winners check out @havanaclub_pro on Instagram, use the hashtag #BEA2020 or read more here
