 EBAN 7th Congress –
The most attended yet
“This is, undoubtedly, the largest congress the European Business Angels Network has ever organised", stated Anthony Clarke, chairman of EBAN, facing the three hundred business angels in the Congress Centre auditorium in Estoril. There were investors from the four corners of the world, and during two days they proved that the network is very alive and shows great dynamism. “It is encouraging to see that the European Commission is supporting business angels, we hope Portugal makes use of chairing the European Union, in the second semester, to develop this activity", challenged Anthony Clarke. The chairman of EBAN declared that Europe “is still very small in terms of business angels when compared with the United States of America, where in 2006 alone business angels invested more than $26 billion". Anthony Clarke regretted that not all European countries are recognising the importance of these investors, and confirmed that most investments are being channelled to more advanced stages of business, with a lack of support for projects in their initial stage.
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 Europe praises best
practice
and announces
the great potential
of business angels
Joan Carles Martines, an entrepreneur who created Inspecta SL, a Spanish company selling IT programs to control wine bottle corks, intends to finish 2007 with sales worth one million euros. After two failed attempts at finding an investor for the project, Martines met the right person, Pere Font. “We wanted someone with manufacturing experience, someone who could understand our business concept, the risk involved and the market time. Also someone with the financial capacity to help us”, explained Joan Carles Martines at the 7 th European Business Angels Network (EBAN) Congress. They both realised straight away there was an empathy connecting them, and the business was facilitated.
“We were quick to come to an agreement because I easily found the elements I like in an investment: people and commitment”, revealed Pere Font, an investor who in 2004 joined a business angels network in Catalonia after having worked for 25 years as a financial director at a company producing metallic pieces for the car industry. “I realised this was the project of their lives, they left behind their jobs and dedicated a lot of family time and money to it.” And that dedication is extremely important for the success of the business”, declares Pere Font.
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European Business Angels Week 
