General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
With some of the world’s brightest minds in technology – many of whom fled the country to find work and a better life elsewhere during a now nine-year economic crisis – Greece needs to focus on promoting start-ups and attracting more talent, a key venture capitalist has recommended.
Aristos Doxiadis, a partner in Big Pi Ventures, an early-stage technology fund partly financed by EquiFund, wrote in The Financial Times that Greece’s sector, with software and electronics companies having less than 1 percent of the workforce, that they’ve nevertheless grown 50 percent since 2013, despite little government help or incentives.
There are just six or seven homegrown tech companies valued at more than 100 million euros ($112.06 million) but that, “We are yet to see the first Greek unicorn — a tech start-up with a $1billion-plus valuation — or even companies that are halfway there.”
With a clientelist state pushing political favoritism and patronage and even blocking entrepreneurs and holding back people with ideas, more people ironically turned to trying to start companies, giving up on the government.
There have been public funding initiatives, however, with 50 million euros ($56.03 million) in 2012 given to four small venture capital funds that in turn put 73 million euros ($81.81 million) into 63 start-ups. “Without these, some of the success stories would not have happened,” he added.
These are expected to invest a total of 210 million euros ($235.34 million) in 150 venutres, he added. But, he said, “A healthy start-up ecosystem cannot rely on public funding for ever. Will the Greek technology industry attract enough private capital to keep growing? Some doubt it will.”
He said technology businesses are better suited to Greece than many other industries, so comparative advantage will drive more talent and more capital although the usual Greek blockade bureaucracy is making it difficult.
“It is still hard to obtain permits for factories and logistics parks, but easy for offices and laboratories. It is risky to tie up capital in plants and equipment in a country of unpredictable legislation and bureaucracy, but you can build up the human resources of a development team gradually. If the business environment turns bad, the key people can move elsewhere without much cost and continue working for the same employer,” he wrote.
He noted the proliferation of Greek technology and scientific talent making their mark around the world, produced by Greek universities, but said it hasn’t been matched domestically with patents, products or innovations.
The other big Greek roadblock: favoritism, gets in the way too. He said there’s a pool of smart, hardworking people from poor families who get a good education but can’t find jobs because they don’t have social connections.
“Greece is dominated by family companies, where ownership and control are only for relatives. Tech start-ups provide an exception. Driven by the necessity to grow, compete or die, they hire widely, promote the best performers and share ownership. Meritocracy unlocks potential,” he said, but it’s also feared by politicians and business leaders.
“A thriving technology sector also needs multinationals to set up in the country,” he said, although critics say they are blocked by Greece’s reputation for an inefficient bureaucracy, corruption, bribes, a 29 percent corporate tax rate and elements in the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA trying to keep them out.
“A common route is via acquisition. In the few cases so far where local companies were bought by global corporations, they have decided to expand the workforce substantially. This validates the thesis that Greece can be a valuable link in global innovation,” he said.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
CLOSTER, NJ – The well-attended Greek Independence Day Celebration in Closter, NJ, took place on March 25, beginning with the Flag Raising Ceremony at Ruckman Park in Closter.
ALBANY – New York State Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R, C-Staten Island/Brooklyn) on March 26 was joined in Albany by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America to recognize Greek Independence Day and the 50th anniversary of the illegal Turkish invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus.
ATHENS - Historic member of PASOK and passionate advocate of the recognition of Pontian Greek genocide Michalis Charalambidis died on Wednesday aged 73.
ATHENS - While the New Democracy government denied audio files from the 2023 head-on train crash in Tempe which killed 57 had been tampered with, five managers at the state-run OSE railways agency reportedly had access to them.
FAIRVIEW, NJ – The Greek Cypriots of New Jersey under the auspices of the Federation of Cypriot American Organizations, the Consulate General of the Republic of Cyprus in New York and Consul General of Cyprus Michalis Firillas will commemorate the 69th Anniversary of the EOKA Liberation Struggle of Cyprus from British Colonial Rule 1955-1959, with a memorial service at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 101 Anderson Avenue in Fairview, NJ, on Sunday, March 31.