The organisers of the Premier Agency Business Awards (PABA) – which are being held in 2013 in Toronto, Canada for the first time – have revealed the shortlist of education agencies who are in contention for an inaugural award.
Billeds as the first and only awards “that offer agents the opportunity to present their businesses to an objective judging panel”, the PABA awards have three different categories: Agency of the Year; New Agency of the Year and Small Agency of the Year.
Those up for an award are as follows:
Agency of the Year –
- AD Astra International Inc. Canada; Owner: Bill Lee
- AZGK Center Armenia; Owner: Gayane Ghukasyan
- China Scholarship Council China; Owner: Liu Jinghui
Small Agency of the Year –
- Langex Language Exchange Ecuador; Owner: David Duque Terneus
- Canada Destino Viagens e Turismo Ltda Brazil; Owner: Sandra Teixeira
- ICEA Agency Ukraine; Owner: Iryna Kobets
- International Travel Education and Business Services (ITEBS) Turkey; Owner: Mehmet Fatih Yildirim
- Study Experience France; Owner: Pascal Carre
- Timpany Language Courses S.L. Spain; Owners: Mayumi Morimoto & David Gundlach
- Viajes Interlag S.A. de C.V. Mexico; Owners: Roberto Carmona & Elizabeth Meredith
New Agency of the Year –
- Honest Education South Korea; Owner: Terry Kim
- KTB Consult Ukraine; Owner: Anthony C. Nnebuo
- Avenue CLT Italy; Owner: Luisa Simonelli
- STIMM Study Centre Russia; Owner: Yuriy Lazorin
- IDEALANGUES France; Owner: Yohann Duchatelle
The idea for the awards came from the Founder of a language school in Canada, CLLC. Aly Rajab explained, “In this field, the barrier to entry is very low. With so much variety, I feel as though those agents offering high quality services can get lost or overlooked.”
“I strongly believe the Premier Agency Business Awards will help promote the global industry in a huge way. I wanted to help differentiate and recognize those agencies who offer support, and direction to their clientele.”
The judging panel consisted of Canadian business experts: a partner in a law firm; a management consultant; CEO of a real estate chain; Operations Manager of Sears Canada and a Manager in Risk Management for the Royal Bank of Canada.
Nominee, Bill Lee of Ad Astra, said, “We were absolutely thrilled to be recognized! We have always believed we are a unique organization and it’s awesome to see that some others may believe that as well.”
More information about the awards can be found here.
