Envolve Entrepreneurship, the non-profit empowering Greece’s start-up ecosystem by providing education, resources, and monetary prizes to entrepreneurs, announced on Wednesday the three winners of the Envolve Award Greece.
This is the tenth year of the program, which was created in 2012 by the Libra Group on behalf of The Hellenic Initiative with the goal to create an ecosystem to advance technology and innovation and support future business leaders.
The contest highlighted the best new start-ups and early-stage businesses in Greece. The three winners received a prize of up to €50,000 in interest-free funding, as well as mentorship, business support services, and more to accelerate and scale their business.
Winners of Envolve Award Greece
Bespot is a company that is unlocking the value of geolocation data and contributes to the digital transformation of the retail experience. Utilizing artificial intelligence and IoT technology, the application offers high accuracy mobility-tracking activity for over 4,000 indoor and outdoor retail venues. It offers personalized content and captures trends to improve the customer experience.
Grandmama is an online platform that connects seniors and their relatives with trusted caregivers for home healthcare all over Greece. Grandmama curates the onboarding process for the caregivers, including background check, reference check, interview, and eligibility to work in Greece. Users also give feedback about caregivers’ services with a rating system employing specific qualitative KPIs.
Kineo is a company that offers micromobility subscription services. With a fixed monthly fee, riders can select the e-bike or e-scooter of their choice according to their daily needs, as well as technical support, insurance, road assistance, and parking.
This year’s 10 finalists represented critical future-focused sectors in Greece, including health and pharmaceutical services, education, sustainable transportation, fintech, retail tech and delivery tech.
“Innovation is born of adversity”
In the keynote speech, Chairman and CEO of Libra Group George Logothetis, the mastermind behind the Envolve Award, said that the Award strengthened Greek entrepreneurship by bringing hope where it once did not exist.
“We tried to be providers of hope and not just mere providers of money,” he said and revealed that the award was born of anger.
“Anger at the way Greeks were treated worldwide … anger at the gap between dreams and reality, especially for young people. We were angry and decided to be part of the solution rather than mourn about the problem.”
The Libra Group established a number of programs to help Greece get out of the economic crisis. “It was philanthropy in its purest form – give without waiting to get something back.
We tried to do what we considered our duty. To lead from the front,” Logothetis said.
He noted that a new era of Greek creativity has begun. “I am proud that this program has helped so many after so many years of difficulty and pain.
“I believe that if an individual, a family, a country goes through a crisis and comes out of the crisis, wound healing can be an advantage. Genius can emerge from great difficulties.
“Innovation is born of adversity. A crisis can fill the reservoirs of determination. The Greek crisis may have armed you, the businessmen of today and tomorrow, in ways you have not even imagined. We have to believe in ourselves to succeed,” Logothetis added.
Alexandros Nousias, Country Director of Envolve Entrepreneurship in Greece said that “This year’s finalists are strong teams with market knowledge, innovative approach and tenacity, ready to develop inside and outside of the Greek market.”
He also congratulated the teams’ entrepreneurs for their willingness to share their visions and business ambitions with Envolve and emphasized that in the eye of Envolve Entrepreneurship, “they are all winners.”
Since first established in 2012, Envolve has supported 34 award winners in Greece, representing 19 sectors.
These winners have contributed to the Greek economy with the creation of more than 2,000 new jobs and have a combined valuation exceeding €850 million.
Striving for a global society where all business owners can prosper and grow, Envolve is committed to developing and cultivating entrepreneurial ecosystems by ensuring business support services are more readily available to entrepreneurs.
The Libra Group is a privately-owned international business group whose subsidiaries own and operate assets in more than 50 countries. The Group is predominantly active in six sectors, including several vital to the global economy. These sectors include renewable energy, aviation, hospitality, real estate, and shipping as well as selected diversified investments.
The Group has also created 10 social responsibility programs that have a positive impact on the lives of many people around the world.
The mission of the Hellenic Initiative is to invest in the future of Greece through direct philanthropy and economic revitalization. It empowers people to provide crisis relief, encourage entrepreneurs and create jobs.
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