Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award 2015 Finalists Announced

June 16, 2015

The Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award (HEA) has revealed the 10 finalists who are competing for the 2015 prize of up to €1,000,000 in funding as well as support services and mentorship for their new business ventures.

The Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award was launched in 2012, based on a belief that entrepreneurship is key to Greece’s future prosperity. The programme aims to stimulate entrepreneurial spirit in the midst of deep economic malaise. This year the HEA has again experienced increased numbers of participants, with more than 1,200 new registrations on the Award’s website (www.hellenicaward.com) leading to the submission of over 730 competing business plans. Over the past two months, the panel of judges carefully scrutinised each business plan before selecting the 10 finalists. The judges are looking for new business ideas that are most likely to make a tangible contribution to the Greek economy. Winning business concepts must demonstrate sustainability, innovation, financial prudence and job creation in Greece.

The 10 finalists for 2015 are:

FloatMast – A floating platform designed to provide reliable wind and environmental evaluation for developers of offshore wind farms. The system helps determine available wind supply and the analytical data generated supports the entire wind farm project lifecycle.
Applicants: Antonis Peppas, Theodore Papatheodorou.

Forky – A new and innovative food company that delivers delicious meals in few minutes. Forky’s experienced chefs use fresh ingredients to prepare up to two meals and one salad for each of its customers every day. Orders can be placed online via a website or mobile app in just three clicks. Forky delivers the order in less than 15 minutes.
Applicants: Michalis Gkontas, Pierre Pitsilis.

Gridmates – The world’s first internet platform designed to eliminate energy poverty through energy donation. Individuals and corporations are able to share or donate units of FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE energy to friends, family or people in need. Gridmates’ software platform enhances billing services for energy utilities and contributes to customer assistance programmes.
Applicants: Dr.George Koutitas, Dr. Costas Tzaras, Angelos Angelou, Andres Carvallo.

Heliix – A ground-breaking technology which converts thermal energy into electricity. The company’s first implementation of the technology, Phaethon™, is a device that can be retrofitted to any type of solar water heater, in order to create a solar co-generation system that produces hot water and electricity at the same time, providing a reduction of up to 30% in a household’s annual electricity costs.
Applicants: Nick Arapkoules, Panagiotis Papadiamantis.

MyeTutor.org – A personalised, subscription-based after school tutoring platform developed by eLearning Industries Ltd. The technology enables students to learn better and faster than conventional study methods and can be deployed on any device in any location. MyeTutor.org adapts its tutoring methodology in real time according to how each student learns, thus contributing to schooling and exam success.
Applicants: Athanasios Ladopoulos, Nathan Tufte, Dr. Dimitris Pappas, Konstantina Georga, Dr. Hristijan Petreski.

myTQ – A technology platform that allows participants in the ‘sharing economy’ to extend their online reputation from marketplace to marketplace. Additionally, it provides sharing economy users with the intelligence to distinguish between those who can be trusted and those who cannot.
Applicants: Makis Levis, George Georgaras.

Smart Guide – A wearable electronic navigation device for the blind and visually impaired. This innovative product will be produced in the facilities of “Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece” by employees who themselves have impaired vision. The project aims to create social as well as economic impact through its workforce focus, affordability and strong export prospects.
Applicants: Thravalos Nikos, Karkoulias George.

Sun of a Beach – A premium beach towel and accessory brand for women, men and children. Inspired by long, hot summers on the Greek islands, Sun of a Beach aims to turn beach accessories, especially towels, into lifestyle statements. The company offers a wide product range, made of 100% cotton fabrics with striking designs.
Applicants: Melina Pispa, Ellie Rountou, Erietta Tosidou.

TomoTECH – An advanced digital system targeting the brain MR Imaging sector which provides more timely and accurate diagnosis of severe chronic diseases. TomoTECH achieves 3-D imaging accuracy rates of over 90% compared with 65% from conventional approaches. TomoTECH is a cloud-based software which leads to better usage flexibility and service provision.
Applicants: Zoi Giavri, Paris Ziogkas, Dimitrios Rozakis.

Yoleni’s – An online delicatessen that enables European and American customers to purchase authentic products from every corner of Greece fast, easily and securely. www.yolenis.com offers more than 1200 products from 110 highly regarded rural producers across Greece. The website includes a wide variety of food and drink combinations and features a wealth of information on each region plus numerous local recipes and serving ideas.
Applicants: Nikolaos Pipas, Yannis Georgiadis, Petros Agazanis.

This year’s winners will be announced at the end of June 2015.

Since it was created in 2012 by the Libra Group on behalf of The Hellenic Initiative (THI), the award programme has declared eight winning businesses which are now creating employment and making a contribution to the Greek economy. The Libra Group has committed over €7 million to the programme. Other supporters include Piraeus Bank, Australia-based property investment and development company Jalouise Pty Ltd and Dimitri Goulandris. Amongst the winners’ supporters are Antidote, Kick Athens, Lykourezos Law Offices, Microsoft Hellas, People for Business, Reed Smith, S&Team and SAP Hellas.

Jimmy Athanasopoulos, Chairman of the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award, stated: “The record number of applicants this year proves that during these difficult times, Greeks have an unshakable belief in the power of entrepreneurship to transform the economy. The quality of the submitted business plans remains very high and we were delighted to have been able to increase award prize funding to €1 million this year. While selecting winners from such a strong field remains a difficult task, we believe that all of these finalists stand a real chance of becoming shining examples of Greek business innovation.”

More information about the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award can be found at: http://www.hellenicaward.com/en/.

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