An ICT company based in Malta has seen the number of employees grow tenfold in the past six years, after “it has seized the opportunity of Malta’s EU membership as well as the country’s upgraded telecoms infrastructure,” the company’s managing director said yesterday.

Investments, Industry and IT Ministry Austin Gatt visited the company yesterday.

The company, 6pm, has been operating since 1996 and it specialises in enabling its customers to achieve their business goals by focusing on the development, management and consultancy of IT business solutions.

Ivan Bartolo, managing director, said the company employed 10 people in 2000, and now it employs 105 people. Over 40 of these are employed locally, while another 60 are employed in the UK.

All the work carried out by the company comes from the EU and other countries like Canada and the United States. He attributed this expansion to Malta’s membership of the EU.

“To succeed one must have a vision and stick to it along the way,” he said.

Mr Bartolo thanked the government, Malta Enterprise and the Employment and Training Corporation for their support, as well as the collaboration of the University of Malta and MCAST.

“Whoever wants to do ICT business abroad can do so because the government is providing the tools. However, this cannot be done without the fundamental help of the workers,” he said.

Minister Gatt described 6pm as “a unique” company and one that has made the most out of EU membership.

“They are the only ICT company that has had the courage to base its business on work coming in from outside Malta,” he said.

Most local ICT companies still base their business on local customers. Since there are more than 130 companies in this sector, competition is tough, said Dr Gatt.

“One has to have the vision to expand abroad,” he said.

During this visit, a directory listing all the companies operating in the ICT sector in Malta was launched. The directory is compiled by the ministry and Malta Enterprise.

He said it was a good marketing tool to attract investment to Malta in this sector. “Malta is very competitive when compared with a lot of EU countries, and there are good business opportunities to be exploited in Southern Europe, where the level of ICT is much lower than that over here,” Dr Gatt said.