Stéphanie Jauquet, pictured, was crowned tenth business woman of the year in Luxembourg, 5 June 2019 Matic Zorman

Stéphanie Jauquet, pictured, was crowned tenth business woman of the year in Luxembourg, 5 June 2019 Matic Zorman

A total five finalists pitched to a jury and answered questions on their projects at the headquarters of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg.

After some deliberation, the jury announced Stéphanie Jauquet as the tenth business woman of the year. Jauquet heads several restaurants in Luxembourg, including Um Plateau, À Table, Tempo and the Cocottes chain.

Receiving the prize, she paid tribute to the efforts of the four other finalists: Ilana Devillers (Food4All), Aida Nazarikhorram (LuxAI), Elfy Pins (Supermiro) and Karine Vallière (Jumpbox). “Tonight, we all won. I am confident that we will be able to work together according to our respective businesses,” she said.

During her pitch, Jauquet, 47, explained she started out in catering as a teenager, employed as a potwash. “I started from scratch and today Cocottes has 140 employees and 3,000 customers per day. All cashflow is reinvested in the company.”

And the entrepreneur is not resting on her laurels. The firm has invested €5m in a 2,000m2 workshop in Grass. Jauquet expects the expansion to add 50 jobs before the end of the year and to help double the firm’s turnover in two years’ time to €15m.

The jury of the competition was composed of men and women from Bil, Technoport, Jonk Entrepreneuren, Paul Wurth Incub, Schiltz & Schiltz, Equilibre and Wide, partners of the event. Past winners were Nathalie Dondelinger (Kliber) and Alexandra Fernández Ramos (Travelsify).