HELSINKI, Finland, Feb. 6, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Finnish Software Entrepreneurs association elected Pekka Pere, CEO of Proha Plc as the Software Entrepreneur of the Year. The award was given on Wednesday, February 5, in Helsinki.
Mr. Pere was honored for his merits as both an entrepreneur and influential industry promoter. Through his efforts Mr. Pere has promoted the growth and development of the Finnish software industry in many ways for over two decades. Mr. Pere has participated in defining the guidelines for the software industry as the member of Central Chamber of Commerce Economic Policy Committee and as the vice chairman of the Federation of the Finnish Information Industries.
"Pekka Pere has led his company boldly and with determination to international markets building a customer centric business on a strong technology know-how. At the same time he has shared his experience and expertise in the boards of numerous software companies and participated in many development programs within the industry," said Pekka Ruusunen, Chairman of the Software Entrepreneurs association.
"Portfolio and project management software enable in practice the management of major programs requiring work by tens of thousands of people or otherwise extensive project operations. For example the programs within medical, aerospace, electronic and forest industry are often complicated international projects, whose management would be impossible without this kind of systems. International growth has brought us substance and trust as managers of large entities," Pere told.
Some time ago Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu rated the fastest growing technology companies in Europe. Based on the three-year revenue growth, Proha ranked as the fastest growing technology company in Finland and the 30th in Europe. The period under review was 1999-2001.
Proha in brief
Proha is a leading globally operating portfolio, and project management solution provider. The solutions help the corporate customers to carry out their strategy, to allocate their resources productively and to control their operative functions as profitably as possible. The Proha Group's net sales were EUR 82.8 million in 2001. Of the net sales 90 percent originate from outside Finland. The Group has approximately 500 employees of whom 400 work abroad.
For more information: PROHA PLC Software Entrepreneurs ry CEO Pekka Pere Chairman Pekka Ruusunen tel. +358 20 4362 000 tel. +358-400 410 533 pekka.pere@proha.com pekka.ruusunen@iki.fi This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/06/20030206BIT00410/wkr0001.doc www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/06/20030206BIT00410/wkr0002.pdf