Who are the role models of the region? Just recently came across with a global IT success story that has been kept a secret for the most here. The company was launched at the beginning of the nineties tracing its roots back to Central and Eastern Europe. To my surprise, it represents an alternative model for breaking into the global market. Instead of the nowadays often reiterated exit-driven strategy, it recommends a different one for CEE start-ups. What is it? To list your company on the New York Stock Exchange.
TEDxDanubia asked EPAM’s global co-head, our fellow Hungarian, to share his experiences on the EPAM growth model and on CEE’s IT potential in the regional economic development context for the first time in Budapest, hoping that this regional-global success story is inspirational. Unfortunately, they can only host 80 leaders for the upcoming TEDxDanubia Executive Salon at L’OFFICE (a co-working space in a former printing house downtown Budapest) later this week.
This ‘Salon’ format is new in Hungary as it connects global and local CEOs with Academia and start-ups in one platform. It aims to create a much needed new intellectual platform to learn from each other and build networks. The Q & A followed by networking over wine are just for the participants to bond …of course, you can wait for this talk to be published at www.tedxdanubia.com – but you will miss the wine then.
Why all who live in CEE should care about EPAM? Some data:
- 8th place on Fortune’s fastest growing public IT companies lists
- Founded in 1993 and traces its roots back to Central and Eastern Europe
- Employs 19,600+ IT professionals in more than 25 countries around the globe
The first TEDxDanubia Salon was attended by 100 senior executives, the Q&A session was twice as long as the speech itself, and the chat over some wine seemed to never end in January. GE veteran Nani Beccalli, the Salon’s first speaker said that globalization would continue albeit on a more difficult path with a shift in the economic weight of the regions. It will take place partly because of the digital transformation, the vitality of the economic regions and the role they want to play in globalization. To view Mr. Beccalli’s speech, click here.