Stelios Hajioannou Award for Young Entrepreneurs 2016

Determination and dedication to business goals and personal risk taken to invest in an unstable economic environment with personal capital characterized young businessmen who participated in the final phase of a “Stelios Hajioannou Award for Young Entrepreneurs 2016”.

Addressing an award ceremony in Athens, Sir Stelios Hajioannou said the winners of this year’s awards excelled by presenting positive financial results, a healthy business model, innovation and quality of services.

The founder of easyJet, of easyGroup and Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, presented two different faces of the crisis and their consequences in Greece. In the morning, more than 2,000 waited patiently to have their free meal offered by the Stelios Hajioannou Philanthropic Foundation, as part of a “food from heart” program and noted that the number of people participating rose, offering a benchmark for the prevailing situation. A few hours later, we award eight new very promising entrepreneurs for their business ideas and this is an optimistic message, Sir Stelios Hajioannou said.

A change in the selection criteria contributed significantly in the increase of participations, which hit a record of 67 particpations this year, 10 times more than in 2015, Hajioannou said. For the first in the nine year history of the awards, eight winners received a total of 100,000 euros in awards, double the amount of 2015, with the first receiving an award of 30,000 euros and the rest 10,000 euros each.

The award has supported young entrepreneurship in Greece with 500,000 euros since 2008.

This year’s big winner was Sun of a Beach company, specializing in the production and commerce of summer accessories, sea towels, promoting “made in Greece” and Greek summer on a global level.

The other winners were:

– Agnotis, Jacko Carasso, baby diapers e-retailer company.

– Apifon, Constantinos Stroubakis, innovative mobile and services and applications company.

– Glowbox, Ekaterini Lyberi, beauty e-shop company.

– Isostevia, Antonios Panagotas, stevia product production and distribution company.

– Mermix, Christos Stamatis, farm machinery exchange company.

– Finest Roots, Manos & Nikolas Smyrlakis, traditional liquor maker.

– Sleed, Stylianos Iliakis & Evangelos Kotsonis, e-business and digital marketing company.