London- On June 13, Alibaba.com held its inaugural EMEA e-Business Champions of the Year 2008 Award Ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Holland Park, London, UK. Held in partnership with the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), Italian Association of Foreign Trade (AICE), and EU-China Business Association (EUCBA), the awards celebrated the growth and innovation of five winning companies from five different countries covering various industries. Each of the five EMEA e-Business Champions, chosen from thousands of participant, successfully utilized the internet to grow their businesses. They are: Mr. Luca Borinato of Italy, Mr. Rory McLoughney of Ireland, Mr. Panos Dimitriadis of Greece, Mr. Aamir Farooq of U.A.E and Mrs. Eva Reñé Bañeres of Spain.

 

The contest was judged by Mr. David Wei, CEO Alibaba.com, Mr. Peter Bishop, Deputy Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce ATA Carnet Council and ATA Administrative Committee and Mr. Pierantino Cantoni, International Relations Manager of AICE (Italian Association of Foreign Trade).

 

The annual contest recognizes the credibility, achievement, social responsibility and innovation among entrepreneurs using the Internet as a tool to do business. Some of the highlighted stories included Mr. Luca Borinato’s building a global distribution process starting from one country to 18 countries thanks to his regular utilization of Alibaba.com; as well as Mr. Rory McLoughney who started in a small village in Ireland and who is now selling the Powerball, his main product, every 30 seconds around the world.

 

Mr. Brian Wong, General Manager of the EMEA office, opened the ceremony followed by the speakers Mr. Arthur Chang, VP of Global Sales at Alibaba.com and Mr. Peter Bishop, Deputy Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce.

 

Mr. Arthur Chang explained: “The Internet will continue to be an important tool for SMEs in the current economic crisis. Despite the credit crisis and the slowing US economy, Alibaba.com has seen an increase in member activity on its international marketplace since the beginning of the year. In the UK, Alibaba.com has close to 300,000 members, with 2,000 more signing up each week"

 

Mr. Peter Bishop talked about the long-term collaboration between Alibaba.com and ICC, the world’s largest chamber of commerce, and how those two global companies will work even more closely together in the future. “I am also delighted personally because I was first introduced to Alibaba.com in the very early days of the company in 1999, 2000, and I saw immediately the connection with chambers of commerce worldwide. WCF’s support of this event is an important result of that connection, but I believe that more significant collaborations will take place in the future”.

 

Mr. Brian Wong also moderated a panel discussion with three of Alibaba.com e-Business Champions: Mr. Rory McLoughney, Mr. Luca Borinato and Mr. Panos Dimitriadis. Highlighted success factors included the need to provide immediate response and trustworthy warranties to customers as well as the need to keep up with innovations in communication technologies.

 

The awards demonstrated the growing importance of the Internet for SMEs in the current economic climate.

 

Mr. Rory McLoughney observed "Whilst Europe appears to have suffered a slow-down in economic activity, we have actually seen demand increase for our Powerball product range throughout the region: Growth for gadgets and non-essential products may have stagnated somewhat over the past 12 months, but we have successfully used dynamic avenues like Alibaba.com to reach new customers throughout Europe."

 

The five winners in the EMEA e-Business Champions of the Year 2008 Award will go into the final contest competing against the winners from the US and Asian regions.

 

Congratulations to all of the 2008 EMEA e-Business Champions. This wonderful success will lay the basis of many more to come.

 

This gathering was a great success; the ballroom of the Hilton Kensington Hotel was decorated with orange and white balloons and flowers as well as branded banners which gave a look and feel of an Alibaba.com community event. The atmosphere was convivial and members meet and shared experiences.The event closed with another networking session with members taking the opportunity to talk to the winners and to Alibaba.com senior management team.