Kiwi entrepreneur Nick Mowbray inducted into Hall of Fame

Nick Mowbray, co-founder of billion-dollar company Zuru Toys. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi toy mogul Nick Mowbray has been inducted into the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame in Monaco overnight.

Mowbray co-founded billion-dollar company Zuru Toys in 2004 with his siblings Mat and Anna.

The Hall of Fame recognises an elite group of men and women for their exceptional entrepreneurial achievements.

"Nick embodies the spirit of true entrepreneurial spirit," EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award director Darren White said.

"Starting from nothing, but with hard work, determination and a fantastic vision he has built an extraordinary world beating business, that provides employment to many thousands of staff not only in NZ but around the world."

Mowbray believes success is not just about making money. His next personal challenge is to answer the question: "How do we shift the needle in a way that has an even greater impact on the world and also those less fortunate."

Before Zuru grew into one of the largest privately-owned toy companies in the world, Mowbray was notoriously living on $1 a day in China.

Zuru's most ambitious project, Zuru Tech is set to disrupt the US$50 trillion global construction industry.

Zuru Tech has built the world's leading and most simple architectural software on a gaming engine.

Consumers and architects can design buildings in perfect realism including staging furniture which the Zuru Tech Factory then builds the building start to finish on fully automated production lines.

"We will look back in one hundred years and think how crazy the way we used to design and build was. It is so inefficient on so many levels," Mowbray said.

Mowbray is in Monaco where he will be competing against 57 other entrepreneurs for the World Entrepreneur of the Year crown on Saturday.