Social Entrepreneurship 101

Ever since Tim and I started working on our immigration project and entered the social entrepreneurship scene, we have been asked numerous of times, mostly from our friends and relatives, what our business is all about. Terms like social innovation and social entrepreneurship are not widely known, especially to people with no entrepreneurial background or knowledge. In order to bridge the gap between those who are familiar with what we are doing and those who get a little bit confused by terminology, I decided to write this post, giving away the basics of social entrepreneurship.

Modern Definition according to Wikipedia

Social entrepreneurship is the attempt to draw upon business techniques to find solutions to social problems.This concept may be applied to a variety of organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs. Conventional entrepreneurs typically measure performance in profit and return, but social entrepreneurs also take into account a positive return to society. Social entrepreneurship in modern society offers an altruistic form of entrepreneurship that focuses on the benefits that society may reap. Simply put, entrepreneurship becomes a social endeavor when it transforms social capital in a way that affects society positively. Unlike traditional corporate businesses, social entrepreneurship ventures focus on maximizing gains in social satisfaction, rather than maximizing profit gains.

Prioritizing social value over profit

Social enterprises seek to serve the community's interest (social, societal, cultural, environmental objectives) rather than profit maximisation. Hence, a social entrepeneur is a pragmatic visionary that achieves large scale sustainable social change though a new invention, innovative products and services, new approaches to community issues. They are people willing to break through the status quo in order to create a justice sustainable society.

If we want to move forward in this world - our world- we need to stop being indifferent towards the things that matter the most. Deep down everybody wants to be a better person and contribute to society, though most of the times, cynicism and ignorance get in the way of acting upon our good intentions. Supporting initiatives like ours, developing a helping chain, is more than enough for getting us started. Hopefully, as our entrepreneurial journey goes on, we will get more and more people engaged to our cause. We want you aboard. Become part of the change.

The place to improve the world is first

in one's own heart and head and hands,

and then work outward from there.

Robert M. Pirsig

The images of your dreams

Let your imagination break free and you will achieve anything you want in your life. There is only one thing that we are not doing as human beings and that is imagine. Dreams are meant to inspire people. This is the reason of dreaming, cause in your dreams you make yourself able to build things. While you are dreaming you make your own future, you create your own world, your reality. There are so many problems that the media and the governments are trying to put in our heads and the human brain can only take so much. The human brain was designed to imagine, to dream, to think, to create, to build. We as humans have the ability to build Parthenon, to create medicine, to oversee physics and chemistry, to discover ideas and our brain have been washbasin with the media through the governments and, last but not least, through the corporations who are controlling not only the governments but the banks as well. We need to wake up people and get back what is ours. We need to stop the pollution of our air with chemical aeroplanes. We need to stop killing each other. We are not doing anything else rather than making money for the weapon industry who are getting so much money from the governments. Why are we even buying weapons? What am i to afraid so much? It’s like I am buying a gun just in case my neighbour takes space from my garden? What for? Everyone has its place in this world and I can’t understand why we have to invade into others properties? Why we as “civilized” people don’t do it and the countries are killing each other? Wake up and open your eyes!!! Wake up and start watching. Wake up and start listening with your ears open!!! Wake up and start dreaming for a better future of this world instead of killing each other over their oil or their gold or their natural gas!!! Wake up and unite so we can start making a better place for everyone!!! Start dreaming for a better future cause we did it in the past and we can do it again.

Wake up call

There is only one thing in this life that we can’t change and that is the “past”. We cannot change the “past” but we can start now. Everyone wishes to have a time machine. How many times did you question yourself about an act that you took? How many times did you say to yourself that “I should have done this another way”. No matter what you do in your day life you always ask yourself this question but you are always missing the point. Don’t worry about what happened because you cannot change the fact that it happened but try to fix it in your right next act. We all make mistakes and that is good, because through our mistakes we learn out of them so don’t get yourself down but embrace your mistake and make it part of your journey in this life. You are allowed to make mistakes because that is the only way you are going to get better. If you don’t make mistakes you won’t learn. The first time it is a mistake but the second time you do the same mistake it’s no longer called mistake but choice. Don’t sit there and worry about the mistakes you made, or don’t sit there and try to find out why you did it, but make it right in your next action. That is the only way we as people and as humanity will go forward. I know and I’ve seen that the majority of people are trying to make things better for themselves but if we just start to make a better living world for everyone and not just ourselves we are going to achieve unimaginable and unbelievable things in life. We have been overpowered from our reptilian brain, which means me first and then everybody else, and we lost our eye contact with the real life. We got stuck into this film which has been directed from the corporation that are running this world and from the so called “ELITE” serving day in and day out their interests. So let’s wake up and fight back this joke because we are not here to play in their game and we are definitely not here to serve those few. The only way they are achieving their goals is because we let them do it. We allow them into our homes and therefore into our minds and consciousness. We are not their peons one the chessboard and we are not going to be played like ones because I believe that we will wake up and we will change things because we are not computers running by a software developed to serve the user but we are human beings driven by feelings, consciousness, love and compassion and we, deep down, know that when we wake up and start realizing the matrix that we are living in it is not the world then we will start changing things.

Economy of Happiness

About a month ago, I watched “The Economics of Happiness”, a documentary on social change. The film features many voices from six continents calling for systematic economic change. It argues that economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. At the same time the consolidation of corporate power has exacerbated fundamentalism, ethnic conflict, financially instability and unemployment. According to the documentary, the list of the problems economic globalization has worsened doesn't end here, there are personal costs as well. Consequently, in order to prevent the world from further distruction, communities are coming together to rebuild more human scale, ecological communities based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.

We are facing an enviromental crisis, an economic crisis, and a crisis of the human spirit. That is the intoduction to the film. Social, ecological and personal well being should be on the top of our priorities list as a human race. It's a huge misconception to think of consumer culture as a sustainable way of life. When we look back in time, it's easy to tell the huge difference between the past and present, as long as humanity is concerned. The gap between rich and poor keeps widening, outside economic pressure becomes more and more intense over the years which leads to stressful lives, filled with anxiety and depression. Another misconception about globalization is that it breaks down global boarders and brings the world together, it unites cultures. That is a very superficial image. As it is stressed on the film, at its core, globalization is an economic process which focuses on profits and not people.

Millennials, people who were born in early 80's till 2000, is a generation that has been raised by globalization. My generation. Commercials and television are behind every big corporation that dominates the world, corporations that suggest to us how to dress, what to eat and drink - indicate what is right and what wrong. Borrowed opinions on how the world should be and function, substituted critical thinking and common sense. Cultures have started to lose their identities, their roots. That has led to extreem social phenomenons such as racism, discriminations, fascism and even terrorism. Instead of united nations with shared values that work together in harmony under healthy competitiveness, modern times are characterized by ethnic conflicts and manipulated masses.

Returning to primitive ages and cancelling globalization isn't the solution to this problem. We need to find ways to wipe out the negative effects of this phenomeno. Promoting localization could be step one. Also, new businesses should be built on a human scale, on a new entepreneural model whose cause will not be making the entrepreneur rich but having an actual social impact in the world. Cynicism isn't the way to go any more. People should join forces and create marvellous things. This should be personal drive for every single person on this planet. United we stand, divided we fall.

I have no country to fight for, my country is

the Earth, I am a citizen of the world.

Eugene Debs 

Fun Travel Facts

Saying Hello in 21 languages

A history that was carved on the stones of eternity

What a glorious history?!?!A history that was carved on the stones of eternity. A history that changed the future of this world throughout the ages giving light to the people of this world through medicine, science, mathematics, astronomy. A history that inspired so many philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, engineers. It all began in 270,000 BC with Greece being the first advanced civilization in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilization. The Greek empire spread its glorious DNA from the Mediterranean Sea as its center towards, from the left to the coasts of Spain, and from the right to Middle East. As far as we know through the archaeological founds, it is believed to be one of the most ancient civilizations in this planet. The history continues its glorious path with Alexander the Great and his tremendous victories achieving the impossible task of spreading the Greek culture to the depths of the Middle East. During the Hellenistic period and after the death of Alexander’s the Great, the Roman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a series of wars with Macedon. Even though we were defeated by our enemies they couldn't stop from following our steps in philosophy like the roman hero, Scipio Africanus, who tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. Later in the Medieval period the Greek culture gained again its place through the Byzantine Empire. That lasted up till the Ottoman advanced the Byzantine territory in Greece and its largest city Thessaloniki and the Peloponnese. Later after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the Morea was the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans. Unfortunately in the end it fell to the Ottomans in 1460, completing the Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece. That had as a result many of the Byzantine Greek scholars, who up until then were largely responsible for preserving classical Greek knowledge, fled to the West, taking with them a large body of literature and thereby significantly contributing to the Renaissance. Four hundred years later and the war of independence revolts on 6 March 1821. After that our cold war, and the beginning of the Second World War with the Germany troops invading and taking control almost of the whole Europe. It was then on 28 October 1940 when the Greek administration refused to the Greco-Italian war and inspired Winston Churchill to say

that “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but we will say that heroes fight like Greeks”. After the invasion Greece was eventually occupied by the Nazis and were controlling the two biggest cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, while the rest of Greece that was under the commands were given to her partners Italy and Bulgaria. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941-1942, ten of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and collaborators. The economy was ruined and the great majority of Greek Jews were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps. Despite all the drama and bloodshed one of the most effective resistance in Europe fought vehemently against the Nazis and their collaborators. The series of atrocities, mass executions, wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages in Greece left us with our 65% of our male population diseased and millions of damages in the Greek economy and infrastructure. After liberation a polarizing civil war between communist and anti-communist forces was occurred, which led to more economic devastation and severe social tensions between rightists and communist leftists for the next thirty years. For the next twenty years there was a rapid economic growth, propelled by the Marshall Plan. Even though George Papadopoulos had given up the Greek government because he refused letting the NATO establishing their base in Suda, the incident on 17 November 1973 sent shockwaves through the regime, and a counter-coup established Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis as dictator. On 20 July 1974, as Turkey invaded Cyprus, the regime collapsed. The Metapolitefsi era begun right after that in 1963 and the first elections of 1964 were held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. Likely monarchy was chosen not to be restored on 11 June 1975 from a democratic and republican constitution. Meanwhile the story as we all know started and the two parties were created with Andrea Papandreou leading the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and Karamanli leading the New Democracy. The beginning of every bad that has ever happened to Greece, as a country, and to the Greek population for the next forty years with the Greek history already counting two of her biggest migrations. Greece, or let’s better say the people that were running Greece, re-joined NATO in 1980. After being the tenth member of the European Communities on 1 January 1981, ushering in a period of sustained growth, widespread investments in industrial enterprises and getting funds one after the other the Greek “politicians” found the perfect opportunity to make some more money. On top of that the “Greek government decided to get into Euro in 2000 with fake statistics of the country’s economic state which had as a result not to be able to pay off their people and getting one loan after the other. Of course they couldn't keep up with the payments and in 2004 they got

another loan so they could host the Summer Olympic Games. I believe that was the cherry on the cake. After that the downhill was irreversible. The majority of Greek population migrated to other countries because the lifestyle was unbearable. The pack of bills just kept piling up on the table with no enough cash flowing into the families for paying off their debts, their taxes or in some cases not even able to put food on the table. A country with such a glorious history is now considered to be with one foot into the grave. There is only one thing that can reverse the situation and that is if Greece and the people of the country are brave and united and for the actual POLITICIANS that are still left in this country to take control and put Greece back in its glorious state of prosperity with the agriculture and their exporting advantage. I believe Greece can make this come back no matter how hard and horrifying it sounds. If we did it in the past why we can’t do it in the future?!?!?!

Perfectionism VS Productivity

From artists and students to business executives and entrepreneurs, being productive while at the same time maintaining excellence in your work is a very tricky task and tremendously hard to suceed at. Productivity doesn't always equal perfection, though perfectionism most often leads to lack of productivity. In the process of doing everything perfect, you fall short on both yours and your company's (assuming that you work in one) expectations. These expectations suggest you being productive, creative and meeting deadlines. Consequently, getting stuck in your own mind while trying to come up with the perfect idea leaves you with nothing.


Quoting Robert M. Pirsig, "anxiety, the next gumption trap, is sort of the opposite of ego. You're so sure you'll do everything wrong you're afraid to do anything at all. Often this, rather than 'laziness' is the real reason you find it hard to get started." So, in order to go beyond anxiety, we need to realize that perfectionism isn't merely about being meticulous, but it goes deeper in our psyche. It's about fear - fear of failure, which kills more ideas than failure itself ever does.


Once we have identified the problem, we must focus on fixing it rather than sustaining it. Here's a few tips to get you started:

• Be aware of being a paralyzed procrastinator.
• Face your fear by going ahead with your next idea, regardless how stupid it might sound at first.
• Let passion be your motivation and not the fear of judgement.
• Value the process. Learn through trial and error.
• Focus on the big picture.
• Have confidence in yourself.

Always have in the back of your head that you can't photoshop your personality, but as long as you are your authentic self success is inevitable.

90% perfect and shared with the world

always changes more lives than 100% perfect

and stuck in your head.

Jon Acuff

Story of my life

There is no better feeling in life rather than helping someone. I’ll tell you a true story that I am very proud of and will always be. November of 2011 a kid came to Australia trying to earn a living. He was looking for a job for five months straight, restless, continuously. He was asking for a chance to prove himself that he can make a difference in this, for him, new country. Eventually after five months he was called up for an interview, he proved that he can take the job and two months later he got he’s second one. He did the impossible, only by being himself, and show the people that hired him his appreciation of giving him the opportunity that he was asking for by working hard and looking after their businesses as they were his own. Six months later he eventually enrolled on a course that he wanted but trying keeping two jobs and study was a little bit tiring. One of his bosses after watching him working so hard in both jobs and studying at the same time, offered him a full time job so he could study what he wanted and be comfortable with his life without killing himself. In the end the kid started thinking with a business mind by looking into career sites and by watching what was happening around him. Unfortunately he realised that there was no future in what he was studying so he had to weight his options and quit studying with the result of devoting his life into the business world. I can say now that it was the biggest turn in my life of leaving the Australian Institution and focusing in the business world. I can say with pride and thankfulness that it was the wisest choice that I took in my life. It opened my eyes and made me see the world from another perspective. Three years later I went back home for the first time since I’ve been here and I was pretty excited. My path was crossed in Greece with a taxi driver that he told me his nephew was coming to Sydney a couple of days after my returning date back here. Without giving it any thought I wrote my contact number and my name on a piece of paper, fold it in half and handed it over to the taxi driver. A couple of months later this beautiful teenage couple arrived in Sydney with a hope and wish of earning a leaving in Sydney. I am proud to say this story because both kids deserve the best in this life and I am happy knowing that I helped them not to get through something like I did. If you can help someone in order to make his life easier just do it. Don’t think it over and say “I struggled why shouldn't he”. I can assure you that there is no better feeling than knowing that you helped someone in this life. Make that small act of kindness.

Cause only united, we can make a difference.

Europe by second largest nationality.

The map above shows the flag of the second largest nationality, by country of birth, living in each European country. Thus, it may include citizens and those who have moved temporarily for work.

Source by Brilliant Maps

Don’t look for happiness, find it in others

There comes a point when you have to realise that you will never be good enough for some people. The question is, is that your problem or theirs?

Every single one of us came in this life for one reason, and that is not sitting around and listening to someone that is trying to intimidate us or makes us feel bad about ourselves or tries to bring us down. We came into this life to make people happy, because through others happiness we will find ours as well. Stop trying to make just yourself happy, but try to be happy with the other people instead. Don’t look for happiness, find it in others. We came in this life and the life is giving us a gift every day. The fact that we wake up every morning it is the ultimate gift that Mother Nature could give us. She is giving us a chance. Every day that we wake up we are been given a new chance of doing something that matters in life. Don’t waste this gift trying to intimidate someone, but compliment him. Don’t waste it bulling someone because he can’t play a sport well, but teach him. You didn’t come into this world so someone can have a go at you. Be brave to stand up for yourself. Be brave to stand up for your rights. Be brave to stand up for your freedom of speech. Wake up every morning and make an action that counts. Make that phone call to your friend and tell him you missed him. Make that phone call with your parents and tell them you love them. If you see someone in the streets that needs your help go and help him. Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and help someone. Don’t be afraid to do the things that you want to do because that’s why you came in this life, to fulfil your destiny. Go out there and don’t try to make a chance but be a chance.

8 Basic Tips for Soon to Be Expats

Global cost of living

Source:http://business.financialpost.com/2012/06/15/graphic-how-much-it-costs-to-live-around-the-world/

What is "HOME"?

We never know where we came from. We will never understand how we came here or how we evolved through the ages because we don’t have any proofs that we did. We never, could stay in one place because we are unsettled spirits. We dream a lot. We think a lot and differently from the rest of world. We always follow faith and feelings. We are pirates in this life. We are criminals that we are thinking of a different thing rather the one that the media is projecting to us. We never can settle to a home because we are made of wonder. We always like to hunt mystery and try to learn about the unknown. That is why we never found home. That is why each and every one is genuine and interesting. Because everyone has different thoughts and different experiences. Everyone has their one beliefs and knowledge. Can you imagine what an enormous thing could have happened if we could gather all the people into one home, sit them down around that table and make them start changing ideas and views of the life, knowledge about science and philosophy. Let’s make this place our HOME. Let’s make this world our HOME and stop destroying it and the people in it.

Cause only united, we can make a difference!!!

Don't shoot the pianist

A while ago, I ran into a Guardian’s article on Greek crisis, arguing that the problem is not just the Greek government’s; instead it affects the rest of Europe as well. “The new despots who are trying to persuade us that Europe’s problem is Greece are putting the European project itself at risk.”, says the author and is right. At this point, almost every European citizen, both the ones interested in politics in general and the average European who pays taxes, are familiar with the economic crisis in Greece. Opinions seem to be divided on whether Greece is the black sheep and needs to take the blame for everything and just get itself out of the European Union or everybody accepts the situation as it is and focuses on the solution rather than keep on dwelling on bitterness and hatred. Don’t shoot the pianist when it’s so obvious that the piano is out of tune.

Bullying Greece out of the Eurozone or insist on licking the austerity caramel wo

n’t do any good to the country’s economy, let alone the rest of Europe’s. We are talking about a country which has been under corrupt governments for decades hence today it desperately needs to breathe and try get back on its feet. The political scene has changed the moment the left party, Syriza, was elected about two months ago. What we need to see now is if they have what the former governments lacked, and that is ethics along with the ability to meet its people’s and Europe’s demands.

Surprisingly enough, despite the whole sense of negativity around the political scene, the Greek startup ecosystem shows that even in the midst of adversity, the flower of growth is able to bloom. Besides, as it is well known, opportunity comes from adversity.

Greece needs to work on a cleaner image.

It’s a big problem, as they have this reputation

Of being so corrupt.

~ Karl Lagerfeld

Together we can

There is some much good still left in this world but the fact that we have been bombarded by those in power it made us to start closing to ourselves. I cannot believe that things before television, radio and internet were like that. I still remember my father saying that before television was made they all used to get around the table in the village and all talk about their day, or play music and entertain themselves. Since the television broke in to our house and the media created and start throwing all that sit in our heads through our sub consciousness it made us being afraid to connect with other people because we didn’t want to get hurt. Only when you open your mind and let your imagination and your self-will start kicking your inner body and start connecting again with the people, only when you start helping others cause the filotimo has kick in to you, then we are going to start realizing that this is what we want to do!!! This is why we came into this world!!! We are all notes from a beautiful music piece and if we all stick to our roles which is that we came here in this world not to fight and kill other people over a glass of oil or a god that he believes in. Only then we are going to do the impossible, possible. Only then we are going to thrive and send the world to another level. A level united by everyone and ruled by everyone. Like one voice. Like one dream.

Cause only united, we can make a difference

Something from the Inside

Source    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Australian#Early_Greek_immigration

Greek immigration to Australia began in the early colonial period in the 19th century. The first known Greeks arrived in 1829.^[2] These Greeks were seven sailors convicted of piracy by a British naval court and were sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. Though eventually pardoned, two of those seven Greeks stayed and settled in the country. They settled on the Monaro Plains in Southern New South Wales. The majority of those worked in cafes and restaurants and now own their own.

That is why the Greek population thrive wherever it goes. It’s very hard moving to another country but can you imagine how even more hard is to make people love you and coming into your shop every day, even if that is only just to see you and say hi! Greek people have a very positive energy. We are the source of the world and that is why there is all this positive energy. We gave everything to this world from science, freedom of speech, art, and theatre, music to mathematics, physics, and chemistry. We gave them knowledge. And that is why I love Greece and greeks, for that positive energy.

I believe in us, cause only united, we can make a difference

Step One on the Ladder

The venture capital event in 2012 was just the beginning of a series of entrepreneurship events I signed up for. I had an eye for every upcoming event I could attend, not just the ones that were held in Greece but in other European countries as well. I also started reading books about self made millionaires, people with totally inspiring life choices, who took things and control of their lives into their own hands, entrepreneurs who made a difference in the world. Richard Branson, Jack Delosa, Steve Jobs, each one of them and their stories are shades of inspiration and motivation for aspiring entrepreneurs like myself. It all starts with a self-reliant mindset that refuses to wait for outside forces or circumstances to make things happen.

“The dream has changed. Globally, a rising tide of people realise that there is a smarter and far more enjoyable way of building a meaningful life than following the traditional path that has failed so many before us. Entrepreneurship is growing worldwide. People are realising that in this day and age anybody with a good idea and a lot of drive can take control of their career and commence working on their own project. (...) As an entrepreneur you are the architect of your own destiny and, while that may open you up for failure, it also opens you up to a whole new world.”, says Delosa in his book “Unprofessional”. And it made absolute sense to me when I read it. When you have an idea that you think it solves a particular problem, you should by all means go for it – try and make it work. It doesn't matter if at first you won't succeed, keep on trying till you solve that problem. As long as you are passionate and rather obsessed over finding a solution, eventually you'll reach your goal.

Learning doesn't happen in the writing of a perfectly

designed business plan. Fail forward.
~ Jack Delosa

Hustle UP

"Guardian: Η Θεσσαλονίκη στις 10 πόλεις για εναλλακτικές μικρές αποδράσεις"

Number 8 and my motherland and beautiful city of Greece, Thessaloniki, rises amongst other countries such as Bologna in Italy, Nicaea in France, Basel in Switzerland and making us all proud even though if we are not coming from that city.

http://www.ellines.com/good-news/19010-guardian-h-thessaloniki-stis-10-poleis-gia-enallaktikes-mikres-apodraseis/

8. Θεσσαλονίκη – Ελλάδα Αρκετοί αναγνώστες έβαλαν τη Θεσσαλονίκη στη λίστα των προορισμών τους για μια εναλλακτική σύντομη απόδραση. Ο Λευκός Πύργος είναι εντυπωσιακός και φυσικά δεν γίνεται να παραλείψουμε τη νυχτερινή ζωή της πόλης. Είναι το μέρος που δημιουργήθηκε το Μπουγατσάν!

To success story της 30άρας Ντέμης Μαρκογιαννάκη -Πήγε να σπουδάσει στην Αυστραλία και κατέληξε η πιο πετυχημένη επιχειρηματίας της χώρας

Πηγή: http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/195559/success-story-tis-30aras-ntemis-markogiannaki-pige-na-spoydasei-stin-aystralia-kai

There are a lot of things that make me proud about my Greek inheritance and one of them is watching young people thrive in foreign countries. I would like to say a big BRAVO to our young Greek brilliant mind and a huge thank you for keeping our nationality not only energetic and ideally pioneering but the fact that she shows, us and the rest of the world, that the Greeks no matter where they are if they want to accomplish something their stubbornness and hard working ethic will always help them making their dream and ideas come true.

B R A V O and Thank you again

Coffee lovers, it seems we also got medically beneficial reasons to be caffeinated!

Kindling the entrepreneurial spirit

As long as I remember myself I've always been an unconventional thinker, seen things outside the box and come up with the craziest ideas. Of course, I've been mocked about my ideas, business related or not, friends and relatives keep on teasing my uneasy and “crazy scientist's” spirit. However, I'm not alone in this. I was blissed to be surrounded by the same creative/passionate/nuts kind of people, from quite early on actually, which made me never let any wave of negativity get to me and be talked out of my uncommon line of thinking. One of those people, is my best friend who I was terribly sorry to kiss goodbye in 2011, when he left Greece to go migrate in Australia with his family. He's been 8446 miles away for almost 4 years now, though we never lost contact nor our sharing interest in creating something meaningful to the world someday. During the first year of our separation, our skype and viber conversations were about life's misery both in Greece and Australia. We grew cynical, we called realism what was obviously pessimism. Putting aside our ideas, our funny, ambitious but with legit potential ideas, it looked like the whole uncertainty and instabilit
y in our environment was finally getting to us.

Spring 2012, while still a computer science student, working on an essay about branding through innovation, I came across this entrepreneurship event : “Venture Capital money for your business. Find the mechanism to get it! Necessary qualities for a venture funded company.”. I found it pretty interesting and unlike any other event/conference I had ever attended, plus it was taking place in my city (aka Thessaloniki) so I signed up the form. As a person, I like learning new things, not just in a formal academic sense but also from people with “been there, done that” experience, especially the ones who started from scratch, failed numerous of times till they actually made it. Networking with them is pure inspiration. So, what I gained from this event along with the introduction to Silicon Valley and how venture capital funding works, was getting back my enthusiasm and passion for bringing ideas into reality. Soon enough, I got this entrepreneurial spark regained to Tim as well, which brought us right where we are now, building our business from scratch, putting our hearts, minds and madness, if you like, in it, hoping you'd love to come on board with us in our journey!

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.

Dead Poet's Society 

Leaving The "Dream"

Let me take you to a journey that will inspire everyone!!!

The first five months were very rough and depressing, with no job, not any good news, just the hanger for achieving something in life, for making a difference. First opportunity that comes along and we are ready to grab the bull from the horns and ride the world not knowing how hard it’s going to be but still a deep feeling doesn’t let you stop dreaming. After three years and lots of hours of hard work finally I see some clearance in the sky. I’ve been working hard my whole life and it was the biggest challenge of my life coming to Australia, leaving my country, my family, my friends and try to earn a living in this new so full of change country. Trying adapting it wasn’t so hard, but trying to prove myself and remind him every day that you took the courage of doing something like that, that you chose to start from the beginning and that you cannot quit now, you cannot let yourself down, you cannot let of your dreams go away and faint through your shadow cause you are here and you need to believe in yourself!!! I would always be grateful, thankful, blessed and appreciating everything that this country has offered me but there’s only one country that my heart is beating for. There is only one mountain that can take my mind away. There is only one sea that will make me feel that I am swimming in the 7^th heaven. And that is GREECE.

Everyone has this passion about something in them and you can find it and make it work… Just do not give up on your dreams!!!

How it all started

Have you ever thought that your options are so limited? That your hands are tied that hard that you feel your bones crashing under your skin? Have you ever thought how hard it can be leaving your own country, your own home, cause of the difficulties, the stress and all the struggles of the day in and out? Have you ever experience this so fast and dramatic change in your life?

I would like to share my story with you…

When I first came to Australia I came with my mind set that I left my country to find the resources that I need, make a difference and be grateful and able to give back something to the society and my country! I knew and remember this scene from the past hugging my best friend, and now partner, telling her that I’ll see you in three years knowing that this is the truth. And that’s what happened, three years later we finally see each other and we come across this brilliant idea of ¨How about we open a shop together?”. After four months back to Australia I’m sitting there and thinking “how about we connect the people together?” “How about we both put our passion for connecting each other and create this small community?”

Game Changing Event

07 march 2015

There are a lot of things that you can do on a beautiful sunny Saturday but there is only one thing you want to do if your mind is set to do something that will shake the world. We all want to make a difference and we all get stuck questioning ourselves “What if I don’t make it happen?” or “Who is going to like this?” or “Why am I wasting my time for something that might not have a good end?”. This is our problem!!! You won’t know if it can happen unless you try it, you won’t know if anyone is going to like it unless you put it out there for people to try it and you don’t know if you’re wasting your time with some crazy badass idea that just came out of your mind unless you sacrifice some of it to make your dream and idea work!!!

If there is one thing that came to me and inspired me from Jack’s Delosa event, The Unconventional, is that you don’t give up on your dreams but you make the impossible possible. The further you go up the ladder the further your foresight needs to reach!!!

Behind the Scenes

There is only one thing that a young Greek person would love to do most and that is to be able to find someone to hang out with. The hardest part of all coming to a new country with no friends and no family is to adjust in the sociality of the city. I found it very hard to connect with people even though I had my family and a couple of cousins that showed me around but I never stopped thinking about how am I going to be able to connect with other Greeks that came from Greece. I never stopped thinking where are all these people? Where can I actually go out on a Friday or Saturday night and find those Greeks that they are all hanging out. I never stopped loving my language. As much as I wanted to succeed in my life and in my career I never stopped wishing that I could actually come after work at home and be able to talk to my fellow Greeks that are in the same situation as I am in Greek. My love and passion for my country is beyond imagination and my feelings to the majority of the young Greek population that migrated to other countries is even bigger. I can’t be the only Greek person that is thinking about that? I can’t believe that it is only me that concerns about how another Greek person that came to a foreign country is doing? I can’t be the only person that would love socialize and try to help out someone that just came from Greece! I would love to be able to connect with every person and socialize about my every day. I would love to create this small community that is composed of genuine, different minded, idealists, patriots, passionate young Greek immigrants and give them the chance to be able to connect and communicate with their own nationality, their own culture, their own humour, be able to talk in their own language, share their problems and even try to fix someone else’s!!!

What I am aiming for is not hard. It is not impossible. It is not unachievable. But it can only be done by uniting these beautiful people with this great history and unimaginable culture!!!

Share your stories, your questions, your fears, your loves, your spirits. Connect and unite with each other cause deep inside you that’s what makes us all the same!!!