How Ancient Greek Sandals Defied its Country's Crisis

Impressively, despite starting up in the middle of Greece’s economic crisis, a time of violent protests against austerity cuts and mass trade union strikes across the country, footwear brand Ancient Greek Sandals has achieved an average rate of growth of 51.69 percent since its launch in 2012.

“It wasn’t devastating, but it was difficult,” says Nikolas Minoglou, co-founder and chief executive. “Thank god that we are self-financed and we did not need a loan, because it would have been impossible. The general environment is simply not business friendly. The VAT that we collect is not easily returned to us, bureaucracy is long and difficult and taxes are high.”

In 2013, unemployment in Greece reached 26.8 percent — the highest in the EU. The same year, Ancient Greek Sandals grew 73 percent and leapt in production from 26,000 to 45,000 pairs of shoes. “Our main factory was able to handle our growth — the Greek crisis was an ally in that. If it were not for the Greek crisis the factory would have been busy with other projects,” Minoglou continues.

Fitness for the family at the vast facilities of the Athens Olympic Stadium!

“There’s no more just sitting around drinking coffee. The new trend is for parents to work out and put their kids in classes. One mom will draw in another. OAKA offers so many different activities that you’re to sure find the best fit for you,” says Sarah Karali from Harry’s Gym.

Indoor climbing, kick boxing, indoor cycling, yoga: The list of athletic activities on offer at the vast facilities of the Athens Olympic Stadium (OAKA) in the northern suburb of Maroussi goes on and on.

Maria, aged 14, started going to the gym instead of surfing the web on her tablet while she waited around for her brother during basketball training.

A Million Senses designs holidays for families with autistic children

A good business idea is one that fills a gap in the market. For years, the three partners behind A Million Senses, a brand-new social startup that organizes package holiday deals for families with autistic children, had been keenly aware of one such gap. Having worked in the special education sector, all three had firsthand experience regarding the various difficulties that families wishing to enjoy a vacation together had to face.

“Every year we witnessed the agony across the faces of parents of children with low functioning autism [Editor’s note: The spectrum of autism covers a range of disorders from classic autism to Asperger’s syndrome] when the summer holidays were approaching as it meant treatment and educational facilities would soon close,” AMS founding partner, Angela Menni, told Kathimerini.

You’re hired! London’s Greek community create ‘job revolution’ in bid to combat recession crisis

With the Greek crisis still dominating the news and uncertainty around the country’s future and possible ‘Grexit’ from Europe, London-based Greeks are making their own luck through the Reload Greece programme.

‘Reloaders’ aspire to create and fund innovative ideas that will promote job opportunities in a not-so-promising time for the Greek community, both ex-pats and those in Greece.

They’re bringing hope to young communities and are broadening horizons by linking ex-pats with young people in Greece to build an optimistic outlook for the future.

How one Philadelphia entrepreneur is helping Greece through the 'Thessaly Valley Project'

Manos Sifakis left Greece to study at one of the most prestigious technical universities in the world— the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the UK— also known as the MIT of Europe. He left his farming community in Larissa, in central Greece, thinking very well that he’d return to his family, his friends and his way of life after studies to start his own computer business. Conditions in Greece forced him to change his plans and head to the United States, where he took up residence in Philadelphia and started customedialabs in 2000.

Fast forward fifteen years— the company is a leader in the digital marketing space with major Fortune 500 clients like ING, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Exxon Mobil having been serviced out of the company’s offices in suburban Philadelphia and— Sifakis’ hometown of Larissa, 200 miles north of Athens.

Innovative convertible high heels launched by Greek students

A group of young Greek students - Loukas Karakikes, Athena Tsiligaridis and Calliope Tatsis - have launched an innovative product that would certainly attract every woman's attention: convertible high heels.

The three students from Democritus University of Thrace in northern Greece came up with the idea of convertible shoes after looking at the market and women's daily routines.

Two Greek women find niche in London nanny market!

They speak Greek, cook traditional Greek dishes and know all the songs and nursery rhymes from back home. Looking back, the idea that Elena Tsoka and Fenia Attilakou came up with was bound to succeed: The Greek Nannies agency the duo set up recently in London provides solutions to hundreds of families who have left Greece and emigrated to Britain in search of employment and are looking to hire people to take care of their children.

Greek startup aims to fill void left by withdrawal of Google Reader

Google's announcement that it will be discontinuing Google Reader, its popular RSS feed reader, on July 1 has forced its users to look for an alternative.

Greek technology startup NOOWIT says it has designed the “next generation of personalized news reader.” Like its predecessor, NOOWIT enables users to select and curate their own content. But co-founders Nikolaos Nanas, a researcher in adaptive information filtering, and Christos Spiliopoulos, an engineer and programmer, say that what sets their product apart is its combination of accuracy and design.

Government fund ready to issue loan guarantees for small firms

The Development Ministry’s guarantees fund for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises is ready to start operating with a budget of 50 million euros that can guarantee loans of up to 150 million euros.

Actor Billy Zane to Launch Greek Olive Oil Company (video)

Billy Zane is getting ready to launch a Greek olive oil importing company in the U.S. The Greek-American actor plans to import olive oil from the Mani area of the Peloponnese in Greece, where his family descends from. “What Coppola did for wine [from Italy], I would like to try to do it for Greek olive oil. While in the modern world, Greece is really known for tourism, I really see a future in eco-tourism and bio-dynamic farming and the exports of its agricultural products. This is some place that I think a new economy can be born,” said the actor, who plans to donate part of the proceeds of his company to charities in Greece. A Greek online store – Doromu.com - embraces the same philosophy of giving back to Greece and was recently launched by Greek-Americans.

Finalists of the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award 2013 Announced

The Hellenic Initiative’s award program for Greek entrepreneurs reveals the ten who are in line to win a share of €500,000 in business start-up funding. The Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award today revealed the ten entrepreneurs who are finalists in line to receive  up to €500,000 in funding for a new business venture, as well as business support services and a personal mentor from the Libra Group, which is funding and administering the program on behalf of The Hellenic Initiative (THI).

How Greek startups are doing their part to beat the crisis

If you follow the news about Greece you must be in shock about its current situation. Billions in debt, one of the highest unemployment rates, and companies closing or moving one after the other. It certainly doesn’t look like there is any future for this country.

Contest Helps Young Greeks Start a Food Business

A three-party consortium seeks to assist young people in Greece to overcome uninviting economic conditions and be able to start a new business in the agricultural sector. Gaea, a Greek-based international food company, Cat Cora, the Greek-American chef, and the Greek America Foundation, a nonprofit organization, have created the “Re-inspiring Greece From the Youth Up” initiative, aimed at motivating and providing tangible assistance to high school and university graduates who want to become active and get involved in the food industry.

Young Greeks at Silicon Valley show their country the way forward

Four young Greeks who live and work in Silicon Valley talk about the culture that made possible the production of the first personal computer in Palo Alto, California. It is a culture of technological progress and a unique economic and work ethic that keep feeding the constant stream of ideas.

Financial Times: Mazi restaurant - authentically Greek but not predictable

When Christina Mouratoglou opened a Greek restaurant in London last summer, her father found himself doing her a curious favour. On the rocks by the sea near his house outside Thessaloniki grows kritama, a green salty plant that is “half way between seaweed and a herb”. Mouratoglou, who with her partner and co-founder Adrien Carre spent months in Greece combing for fine producers, wanted to put this unusual ingredient on the menu: “My father hand picked it and sent it in boxes … there was a great demand but he came back and said there isn’t any more, I picked it all!” It won’t make a return to Mazi, the Notting Hill restaurant run by Mouratoglou and Carre, until June, when it’s growing again on the rocks.

Al Jazeera: People & Power - Greece: The Odyssey (video)

As another difficult year for the battered European economy ends, many Greeks have taken a bold decision to return to the land to survive. Is economic salvation to be found in Greece's rich and fertile soil? Watch the short Al Jazeera documentary below.

Cookisto: Real home-cooked food at the click of a mouse

So, what’s for dinner? The menu today includes chicken wings cooked by Prodromos in Vyronas, red lentil stew with saffron by Rena in Ano Liosia, a savory cake by Maria in Halandri and spinach pie by Eleni in central Athens. For dessert, Foteini has made halva in Halandri and Venetia in Maroussi has baked a batch of cupcakes.

Local innovators try to navigate their way out of Greek mess!

AthensBook made a name for itself in 2009 as a free mobile phone application that served busy urbanites lost in the asphalt jungle of the Greek capital with easy-to-use, real-time location-based data: open pharmacies in the neighborhood, the cheapest gas stations and nearest on-duty hospitals -- all at the tap of a touchscreen.

Paastel electric 'trike' cuts through traffic fast

With so many Greeks throwing up their hands in despair at a crushing economic crisis and harsh austerity measures, two young entrepreneurs, Padelis Zarkos and Stelios Plakidis, have shown there is still ingenuity in the country.

Marcie Mayer: the philhellene behind the Hamada Acorn Initiative (video)

Environmental activist and entrepreneur Marcie Mayer, gives a passionate talk about Hamada Acorn Initiative, a project that aims to restore acorn as an important product for the local economy of Kea.