Alain Van Hove joins TBK Consult in Belgium

Dec. 3, 2012 - PRLog -- Representing roughly 3% of total European demand, Belgium has a market size equivalent to Sweden and Austria.  The country’s tri-lingual characteristic combined with an English-speaking business community makes it an excellent location for the European headquarters of non-European enterprises.

“Belgium is an ideal target for ambitious “off-shore” software-driven companies looking to expand their business internationally, either directly with end-user customers or through IT Service Providers," says Alain Van Hove, Executive Partner with TBK Consult in Brussels. “Many international companies have established their EMEA headquarters here. Combined with the presence of international institutions like NATO and the EU, this makes Belgium a very interesting market. At the same time, Belgium is home to  numerous software-driven companies looking to expand locally and internationally. With the TBK Consult tools and network we can help these companies accelerate their ambitions.”

Despite being a relatively small market, Belgium is often positioned as a gateway to the larger European Union market of 450 million consumers and 30 million active companies. The ICT sector is one of the most dynamic in Belgium. Between 1997 and 2011, it contributed 15,5% of Belgian GDP growth, and accounted for 4.22% of GDP in 2010. For 2009, Information and Communications Technologies also contributed no less than 0.62% to growth in GDP, which makes it the fourth most dynamic sector among the 27 countries of the European Union. Software makes up a significant part of overall ICT activity: almost 20% of Belgian ICT workers produce software. The sector represents 4% of total Belgian GDP. Although Belgium has only 2% of Europe’s population, it is responsible for 3.3% of turnover generated by the software sector in EU25.

“We are very pleased with having Alain Van Hove in the TBK Partner network”, says Hans Peter Bech, Group CEO of TBK Consult.  “Alain brings 20 years of experience with sales and channel development for companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems and Cognos. Alain will strengthen our position in the Benelux area and will be instrumental in helping our clients achieve fast traction in this attractive and important market.”