Greek Businesswoman Among Most Successful in Australia

For the second consecutive year, the 30-year-old Greek businesswoman Dimitra Markogiannaki was named one of Australia’s top female entrepreneurs under 40.

Dimitra “Demi” Markogiannaki was born in and raised in Athens, though her parents originated from Kalavryta, Peloponnese and Chania, Crete. Six years ago, she arrived to Australia for her postgraduate studies at Melbourne University, and started working in the country. Meanwhile, one of her friends said that she should create a website for people offering or seeking tutoring or people who wish to learn a skill, such as cooking to photography and painting.

For six months they worked on the project and in the end they created WeTeachMe, a community platform which provides tips for creating and promoting new businesses. Only a few years later, Markogiannakis was placed 29th on the list of the top 50 female entrepreneurs under 40 in Australia, published by Startup Daily magazine.

“We talked with at least 100 professionals from various fields, teachers, artists, people who made jewelry or taught cooking. We wanted to know what the biggest problems they face in their work were, to see how we could help them. Most of them explained that their businesses were experiencing serious financial difficulties, since they were unable to meet the costs for staff. After a certain point they would do it all on their own, which was exhausting, until they were finally forced to close their businesses,” noted Demi Markogiannaki.

The young Greek entrepreneur along with her partners met the need of the Australian market. “Our site hosts up to 12,000 different courses. We just bring the teacher in touch with the prospective students. After that, they arrange how and when they want to meet, since the courses are not online. We earn 3% of the teacher’s fee. We provide automatic integrated electronic secretarial program to businesses that offer the courses and pay a monthly fee to the site,” she explained.