The final winners of the Costa del Sol Business Awards 2008 were
Business Promotion of Andalusia: Wayne Chasan
He is an US businessman committed to the artistic and professional field of photographs. Since he started 25 years ago in Marbella, he has carried out over 2000 works for publicity and editorials. He is one of the persons who has helped to develop the visual image of Marbella abroad in the fields of real estate, tourism and business.
Innovation: Solchannel
Sol Channel is the first and only one online TV channel about Andalusia. They aim to portrait Andalusia on video beyond the clichéd image. Their videos are presented in a fresh, casual and personal style. A unique informative web portal aimed at tourists and foreign residents covering all aspects of living and visiting Andalusia. They cover current issues about Andalusia, Spanish news & events, weather reports, business in Spain, lifestyle guides, hotels guide, essential info for expats, area guides, Spanish courses on video, Spanish cuisine, property in Spain and much more.
Business Association: Marbella Dutch Business Club
The Marbella Dutch Business Club (MDBC) was founded 5 years ago. They currently have 58 members, all prominent (most of them well known) Dutch business people, (former) corporate executives living in and acting from Andalusia. Their objective as an association is enabling and facilitating their members to success in business in Andalusia.
Integration in Andalusia: Video Promoción
Founded 27 years ago by a Dutch, they have become an international audiovisual rental company housed in 1,400 m2 offices and a permanent staff of 22 people and 10 freelancers, speaking Spanish, Dutch, German, French and English. They cover a gap in the audiovisual market where companies generally only offer part of the needs for a successful event. Their strength is that they cover all their clients’ needs for their conferences or events, which is light, audio, stage construction, decoration, artists, multimedia, voting equipment, simultaneous translation, office equipment (computers) and multi lingual specialized staff.
Young Entrepreneur: Meer Music
This young and international company based in Mijas Costa is making a brand new radio program through the internet, Fame Games. It works out like a sort of the X Factor, but on the radio. Apart from the net, they are currently broadcasting even in 9 states of the US. Their intention, according to the words said by one of the promoters herself, is to ‘save the world from bad music’. It is being a real challenge for young artists.
Company of the Year: Andalucia.com
In 2007 alone, five million people from around the world visited the leading website for information in English about Andalusia: www.andalucia.com. Over the past twelve years, Andalucia.com has helped 2,250 local-based businesses market their services to the world. Chris Chaplow founded it in 1996 when there was no information about Andalusia on the Internet. He believed that top quality information about this region would attract many visitors and provide the ideal platform to promote Spanish businesses to the world.
