The Chamber grants Cacesa the Company of the Year Award 2020

The Chamber presents its “Company of the Year 2023” award to Zabala Innovation

The Chamber awards Bankinter Luxembourg with the prize of Company of the Year 2022

IX edition of the Company of the Year Award announced

Bankinter Luxembourg, chosen as “Company of the year 2022”

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg recognises, in the VIII Edition of its “Company of the Year” awards, the great track record of Bankinter Luxembourg, which landed ten years ago in the Grand Duchy to complement its private banking strategy.

Through this award, the Chamber aims to contribute once again this year to the promotion of Spanish economic and business development in Belgium and Luxembourg, rewarding the experience and demonstration of leadership and competitiveness of companies in their sector of activity.

Thus, the Chamber has highlighted the international presence of a company that was the first Spanish bank with a banking licence to operate in Luxembourg, the country with the highest credit rating by the three rating agencies and which holds, among other achievements, second place in the world ranking in terms of both the volume of investment funds deposited and the highest GDP per capita ratio.

Bankinter chose Luxembourg because it is a country that fosters a solid culture of investor, economic and regulatory protection. The regulatory environment and the quality of supervision are two of the main reasons why financial firms choose Luxembourg as their EU headquarters.

For Héctor Esteban, General Manager of Bankinter Luxembourg, this award is “recognition of our activity in this country, where we were the first Spanish institution to set up our own bank. From this jurisdiction we have been able to offer a global and clearly differentiated financial proposal to our high net worth clients, as well as having a much more in-depth perspective of the international financial markets, which has been enormously useful for us”.

You can read the full article here.

FCC Construcción chosen as “Company of the Year 2021”

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg recognises, in the 7th edition of its Company of the Year Award, the great track record of FCC Construcción and its relevance in the international and especially in the European market.

With this award, the Chamber rewards the international presence of a company with more than 120 years of history, with activities in more than 25 countries around the world and whose strategic lines are based on innovation, technology and sustainability. Pablo López Álvarez, President of the Chamber, underlines that “the Haren mega-prison work is an ambitious Spanish engineering project in Belgium in which green technological innovation and the social dimension are cornerstones. This combination has meant that the jury has had no doubts in choosing FCC as the Company of the Year Award”.

In October 2018, FCC won the contract for the design, construction, financing, operation, maintenance and concession, for 25 years, of the new Haren prison complex, located near Zaventem Airport (Belgium). This construction, that has been classified by the Belgian government as the largest infrastructure under construction in the country, will be completed in the second half of 2022 and will involve an investment of more than 382 million euros.

This new penitentiary infrastructure will replace the prisons of Saint-Gilles, Forest and Berkendael. It will cover an area of 116,000 square metres and will be able to accommodate up to 1,190 inmates.

Haren is FCC’s first concession project in Belgium and joins many other national and international projects developed by the company, including urban transport infrastructures (roads, metro, high-speed, railway lines…) and non-residential building projects (hospitals, sports, cultural, social and health infrastructures, etc.). For Pablo Ovejas, FCC Construcción’s Country Manager for Belgium and the Nordic countries, “this award is an incentive to continue developing our activity in Belgium, thus being able to continue contributing to the growth of the country’s economy, contributing to the local value chain with our social values and environmental protection, and ultimately improving the quality of life of its citizens”.

You can read the full press release here.

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg announces the VII Edition of the Company of the Year Award

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg has opened the call for nominations for its Company of the Year Award 2021, which recognises the experience, demonstration of leadership and competitiveness of companies with commercial activity in Belgium and/or Luxembourg maintaining a business relationship with Spain.

In 2013, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Chamber, the Board of Directors decided to create this award to contribute annually to the promotion of Spanish trade and business development in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Previous awardees include Indra, Orona and Grupo Social ONCE.

The deadline for applications is 15 October 2021 at 12:00 (Brussels). The jury will announce the award-winning company through the Chamber´s official website within a maximum period of one month.
You can check the rules here.
More information: secretariogeneral@e-camara.com

Cacesa chosen as Company of the Year 2020

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg recognizes, in the VI Edition of its “Company of the Year” awards, the great trajectory of Cacesa and its relevance in the international and European market and especially in the Belgian one.

With this award, the Chamber of Commerce rewards the international presence of a company with more than 30 years of history, with operations in the 5 continents and with one of the most advanced messaging systems in the market. Cacesa has known how to adapt, at all times, to the needs of the market and its customers and has demonstrated leadership and competitiveness within its sector. In Belgium, the company has been able to accredit its quality and state-of-the-art technology for the massive and agile data processing and information exchange with customers, suppliers and customs authorities, deriving an image of excellence for the benefit of the Spanish industry.

The Spanish company is 75% owned by Iberia, which, since 2011, has been part of IAG, one of the world’s largest airline groups. It is a logistics operator specializing in transporting goods by air, land and sea with 6 complementary areas of services ranging from customs management to transport for e-commerce, a sector in which Cacesa has grown dramatically in recent years thanks to its collaboration with major online shopping platforms and the increase of this industry since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019 they began their international expansion to other countries of the European Union and established at Liège Airport its third logistics hub for the reception and processing of e-commerce goods, logistics centre that this year has seen a large increase in the volume of parcel services. The advanced technological tools that they have developed internally, as well as their know-how, are their spearheads and have allowed them to advance into other markets, such as the one that is opening after Brexit. This has been the reason for the opening of the new delegation in Mouscron (Wallonia), to carry out the e-commerce customs activity between the European Union and the United Kingdom from the 1st of January. Without a doubt, for Cacesa, Belgium is the most important country after its Spanish parent company and its objective is to continue advancing in new activities and investments to be developed in the country throughout the following years.

The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg awards Company of the Year to Grupo Social ONCE

On November 6, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg awarded the Grupo Social ONCE, in its V edition, the Company of the Year Award 2018 in an act which took place in the residence of the Embassy of Spain in Brussels. Through this award, the Chamber annually awards the promotion of trade and business development in Belgium and Luxembourg.

With this award, the Chamber wanted to recognize the Grupo Social ONCE for its unique business model in the world and for its leadership at an international level. Its active participation in Brussels within various business and disability organizations at European level, shows its commitment to the integration process. This award aims to contribute to closer business relationships of the Grupo Social ONCE through the provision of goods and services to companies from Belgium and Luxembourg markets.

In addition, its constructive and ambitious contribution to the community legislative process, seeking the right balance between business and social dimension and its partnership with the European Commission through the Operational Program for the Training and Employment of People with Disabilities – it has been an example of good practices for two decades-, have also been reasons for this concession.

The ceremony began with the words of the Ambassador of Spain in Belgium and President of Honor of the Chamber, Beatriz Larrotcha who said that this award was a right decision: “Grupo Social ONCE is more than a company, it is a cooperation between institutions and companies (…) the ONCE is the image we want to show abroad, for this reason it is an honor to give them this award “.

The president of the Chamber, Juan Rodríguez-Villa, joined in the congratulations of the ambassador and described the ONCE foundation as a “revolutionary movement” that has achieved a progressive improvement in social advances and levels of inclusion: “It is a modest award, which recognizes the merits of the Spanish company. Grupo Social ONCE works for social normalization and inclusion, for them it is easy to recognize the feeling of pride”.

Pride that also shared the Minister of Economy and Business, Nadia Calviño, who has a strong link with the foundation and who was responsible for delivering the award. “The ONCE foundation is a unique model for eight decades. It is a model that shows its commitment to Europe and its collaboration with the European Commission (…). This award is granted for its contribution to Marca España. I only have two words, admiration and gratitude”.

The president of the Grupo Social ONCE, Miguel Carballeda, accepted the award. During his speech he wanted to remember his years as a seller of ONCE coupons and thanked the award on behalf of all his colleagues at the foundation: “Who would have told me that after selling coupons for 10 years, I would be here today collecting this award on behalf of my colleagues. (…) We (Grupo Social ONCE) have to remain the best company, to be a reference for citizenship, for all those people who come daily to our 20.000 coupon sellers”. In addition, he took the opportunity to remember that the ONCE is the world’s first employer of the disabled and the fourth employer in Spain.

The event ended with a cocktail that all the guests attended. The Chamber thanks the Embassy of Spain in Belgium and all the participating companies for their contribution so that the event has been a success.

 

 

 

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The Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg awards its Company of the Year Prize 2016 to everis

On February 1st, 2017, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg awarded everis, in its fourth edition, the “Company of the Year” award 2016. Through this prize, the Chamber annually awards the promotion of commerce and Spanish business development in Belgium and Luxembourg.

The award was given at an event organized by everis with the collaboration of the Chamber, attended by such figures as Alexander De Croo, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Cecilia Yuste Rojas, Spanish Ambassador in Belgium, Miguel Aguirre de Cárcer, Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain in NATO, members of the Chamber, business executives, members of the Spanish and international diplomatic corps, as well as representatives of European institutions.

Everis is a company of the NTT DATA group that offers business solutions, strategy, development and maintenance of technological applications and outsourcing. The company, which operates in the telecommunications, financial, industry, utilities, energy, public administration and healthcare sectors, achieved a turnover of 816 million euros in the last fiscal year. Nowadays, it has more than 17,000 professielsblatononals distributed in its offices and centers of high performance in 15 different countries.

The Catalan technology consultant lands in Belgium in 2011 with only two people. Five years later, everis has grown steadily, reaching 39 million in the 2016 financial year. Its accelerated growth in staff (expected to reach 450 people working on its projects by March) has led to the relocation of its Belgian headquarters to their new offices.

As part of the inauguration of its new headquarters in Brussels, an event was held in which attendees could tour the new offices, meet their employee-robot Pepper (with whom they could interact and take photographs) and live different demos of some of the activities carried out by the company.

Later, Els Blaton, CEO of the company in Belgium, gave a welcome speech to all attendees, in which she thanked their presence and reviewed the results obtained by everis Belgium in these five years.

She underlined that she feels “proud of the group for three specific reasons: the culture of the company, the results obtained and their showing of talent, creativity and innovation.” In addition, she wanted to highlight the diversity of her workforce of 28 different nationalities and gender equality, reaching almost 50%.

decrooNext, Alexander de Croo, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecommunications and Post Office, made a pro-digital exhibition focusing on the importance of technology in people’s lives.

De Croo pointed out the need for political forces to foster the flow of information that could benefit citizens, as well as the importance of investing in education: “the real infrastructure of today are human beings.”

Following the intervention of De Croo, the President of the Chamber, Juan Rodríguez-Villa with Ambassador Cecilia Yuste awarded the “Company of the Year” prize 2016 to Óscar Abril, Managing Partner at everis BeNeLux. Rodríguez-Villa acknowledged the role of everis in Belgium and expressed the Chamber’s commitment to support the establishment of Spanish companies in Belux.

abrilÓscar Abril was excited about the prize: “this award means a lot to us. We celebrate success and growth, our relocation to these offices and our establishment in the Netherlands.”

Making a synthesis of their trajectory in Belgian territory, the difficulties and the good results obtained, Abril concluded “of what I am most proud of is the team and its evolution. We have good people who share the everis values and ambitions. ”

After the intervention of Abril, Marc Alba, father of robot Pepper, made an exhibition in which he explained the benefits of technology combined with human capital within the company.

Finally, all the attendees enjoyed a cocktail to celebrate the anniversary of everis, the inauguration of their new offices in Brussels and the award given by the Chamber.

 

 

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