The jury for the province of Cadiz of the Alas Awards for the Internationalisation of Andalusian Companies 2023, organised by Extenda-Andalucía Exportación e Inversión Extranjera, an entity integrated in Andalucía Trade, has chosen Montajes Sacekon, Luis Caballero, Nortem Chem (Nortembio) and Verjim Animation Studio as finalists for its sixteenth edition.
The jury for the province of Cadiz of the Alas Awards for the Internationalisation of Andalusian Companies 2023, organised by Extenda-Andalucía Exportación e Inversión Extranjera, an entity integrated in Andalucía Trade, has chosen Montajes Sacekon, Luis Caballero, Nortem Chem (Nortembio) and Verjim Animation Studio as finalists for its sixteenth edition.
Those nominated by the province of Cádiz will compete for the final regional award with the companies chosen in the rest of the provinces this week and next week. In addition, the provincial jury unanimously nominated Grupo Ubago as a candidate for the ‘International Trajectory’ award, in the company category.
According to Extenda data, Cadiz was the leading exporting province in Andalusia in 2022, with record sales of 10,377 million euros, almost 3,500 million more than in 2021, and a growth of 50%, the highest of all the provinces and double the national average, which was 22.9%.
The meeting of the provincial jury of the Alas Awards in Cádiz was chaired by the delegate of the Junta de Andalucía in the province, Mercedes Colombo, who thanked all the members of the provincial jury who participated in this edition for “their proposals, their dedication and the constructive debate in the election”.
In this respect, Mercedes Colombo stressed that “the finalists from the province of Cádiz have been selected in recognition of the efforts made by these companies, which help to boost the province’s economy every year”.
In addition to Colombo, the provincial jury for the 16th Alas Awards in Cádiz was made up of the territorial delegate of Economy, Inmaculada Olivero; the secretary of the Jerez Chamber of Commerce, José Manuel Perea; the secretary of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Cádiz, Carmen Romero; the director of the International Area of the Cádiz Chamber of Commerce, Manuel Álvarez; the representative of the company Mr. Jerez, Manuel Álvarez; the representative of the company Mr. Jerez, José Manuel Perea; the secretary of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Cádiz, Carmen Romero; the director of the International Area of the Chamber of Commerce of Cádiz, Manuel Álvarez; and the representative of the company Mr. Jerez. Handcraft Leather, Carlos Olmedo; and the director of Diario de Cádiz, José Antonio Hidalgo.
The four finalists of the Alas Awards in the province of Cadiz were Verjim Animation Studio in the ‘Initiation to Export’ category; Luis Caballero S.A. in the ‘Exporting Company’ category; Nortem Chem S.A. (Nortembio), in the ‘International Ecommerce’ category; and Montajes Sacekon S.L. in the ‘Foreign Implantation’ category.
The company chosen for the ‘Initiation to Export’ category was Verjim Animation Studio, a company from Cádiz dedicated to audiovisual creation. This modality recognises the merits of a company that, having started its international activity in the last three years, demonstrates a dynamic and positive activity in this process.
Verjim Animation Studio is an animation studio that exports 92% of its stories to markets such as Mexico, Argentina, USA, Colombia and Brazil. The company, which started with small commercials and short films, has already achieved international recognition and has won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film in 2020, an Oscar nomination in 2020 and Best European Animated Film in 2019, in addition to many other awards.
In ‘International Ecommerce’, Nortem Chem S.A. (Nortembio) has been designated by the jury as finalist for Cádiz. This is a category aimed at companies that, in the development of their external activity, use electronic commerce or ‘ecommerce’ in a systematic and planned way, with technology as the method and end of commercialisation.
Nortembio exports its food, chemical and cosmetic products to major markets such as Germany, the UK, France and Italy. It dedicates 92% of its turnover to exports and is the largest manufacturer of organic citric acid in the European Union and a leader in the sale of organic products on Amazon.
The company Luis Caballero S.A. was also chosen as a finalist in the ‘Exporting Company’ category. This category recognises companies that have been making sales abroad on a regular basis for at least four years, thereby increasing their activity and opening up new markets.
Luis Caballero sells its spirits and wines in more than 50 countries, its main export markets being the USA, UK, Germany, China and Russia. This family business founded in 1830 has a strong link to the wines of the Jerez-Xérès-Sherry DO and is recognised worldwide for its most unique product, Ponche Caballero, which has become a leading brand in Spain and one of the best-selling liqueurs in Europe.
In 1990, the firm incorporated Bodegas Lustau, the only winery in Jerez that makes wines in the three cities of the region, and in 2003 Europvin, a Bordeaux-based distributor of premium wines, with operations in 20 markets such as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore.
The finalist nominated in the category of ‘Implantation Abroad’ is Montajes Sacekon S.L. This area of the Alas Awards recognises the work of companies that, in order to further develop their internationalisation process, have set up establishments outside Spain.
Montajes Sacekon is a reference company in the Bay of Cadiz dedicated to the scaffolding service for the naval and offshore industry that has a global projection, reaching other countries such as Portugal, France, Turkey, Peru, Dominican Republic or Mexico. The company, which exports 75% of its production, is established in Portugal, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Montajes Sacekon has already completed more than a dozen international projects.
In addition to the election of these four finalists for Cádiz, the provincial jury decided at its meeting to propose the company Grupo Ubago as a candidate for the ‘International Trajectory’ award, in the ‘Company’ category, which it will compete for, along with other companies that may be proposed from other provinces, and those proposed by the members of the regional jury themselves at the meeting to be held in the coming weeks.
The Ubago Group, with headquarters in Cádiz (La Línea de la Concepción), and also in Málaga, has almost 100 years of history and a thousand employees, and is one of the most recognised Andalusian brands in the region’s agro-industry, specialising in canned fish and seafood, as well as salted fish, an activity which generates an annual turnover of almost 200 million euros, 21% of which comes from international markets.
The Alas Awards do not have a financial prize, although both the provincial and regional finalists benefit from the communication campaigns carried out by Extenda on the finalists and winners, an audiovisual about the company and the use of the legend Finalist or Winner of the Alas Awards. In addition, a commemorative diploma is awarded to the finalists and, to the winners, a statuette representing the prize, in the shape of a ‘Winged Foot’, representing Hermes, the god of Commerce in Greek mythology.
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