On November 6, The American Chamber of Commerce announced the winners of the 2019 Transatlantic Business Awards. Nortal AS was named the Transatlantic Company of the Year for being the largest Estonia-based employer in the United States; Renee Meriste was selected as Transatlantic Promoter of the Year in recognition of his achievement in creating the Estonian American Business Alliance to connect businesses in both nations as well as for his efforts in promoting the opening of Estonia’s consulate in Los Angeles, and Telia Eesti AS received the Melissa Wells Corporate Responsibility award for their anti-cyberbullying campaign “Greater Courage”, which addresses the risks attached to expanding digitalization through outreach both in their stores and online.
“Each year, we are impressed by the significant impact these Estonian companies have on strengthening personal and professional ties across the Atlantic. These play a critical role in building our mutual prosperity by spurring innovation and creating new jobs,” Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn Brian Roraff said. “As Estonia and the United States look to deepen the financial and commercial links between our nations, these awards showcase the ways Estonian firms contribute to this important end,” Chargé Roraff added. He was joined at the ceremony by the President of the American Chamber of Commerce Estonia, Indrek Laul, and Baltic American Freedom Foundation (BAFF) Coordinator for Estonia, Eeva Kauba.
“Transatlantic Business Awards and conference highlight the importance of deepening ties between Estonia and the United States on people-to-people and business-to-business level and therefore Baltic-American Freedom Foundation has been very pleased to support this event already the third year in a row. Over the years, connections and collaboration between our countries have extended far beyond governmental and diplomatic relations and natural barriers of distance and scale have been bridged via new technology and active interconnections. We are grateful to Amcham and US Embassy for their efforts to bring this event together and their continuing work in promoting deeper grass-roots ties between Estonians and Americans.”, Andres Trink, the Board Member of the Baltic American Freedom Foundation said.
Other finalists for the Transatlantic Company of the Year award included Milrem Robotics, Graanul Invest, and Qualitex.
The Melissa Wells Corporate Citizenship Award was presented by AmCham President Dr. Indrek Laul to Telia Eesti AS for their Greatest Courage anti-cyberbullying program.“This is a very important award for all of us as it showcases businesses for demonstrating ethical leadership and corporate stewardship and for making a positive difference in our society. The award takes into account company involvement in educational programs, corporate philanthropy, including service and product donations to the local community or volunteers. We were very happy to see so many great projects with 6 finalists in the competition this year. And our sincere congratulations to Telia. Well deserved!.” – commented Indrek Laul, AmCham Estonia President.
The Transatlantic Business Awards is a cooperative venture between the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Estonia that seeks to foster greater innovation and strengthen transatlantic economic ties.