KAS Athen

The experts presented their own experiences when starting up a business to the participants.

KAS Athen

Vassilis Nikolopoulos has co-founded the company Intelen, Inc. at the time when he was doing his PhD. at the Technical University of Athens.

KAS Athen

The participants had the opportunity to ask questions. The experts gave them feedback on their business ideas.

At the beginning of the workshop, moderated by the freelance journalist Elina Makri, Konstantina Zoehrer, Managing Director of 180° Social Impact Venture, Filippos Protogeridis of ThinkBiz, the Student Organisation on Entrepreneurship at the Athens University of Economics and Business, and Vassilis Nikolopoulos, co-founder and head of Intelen, Inc., reported on their experiences, successes and challenges when starting up a business.

While Filippos Protogeridis encouraged the participants to implement their business ideas and not to be afraid of failure, Vassilis Nikolopoulos shed light on the development of his company, which he has funded at the time when he was doing his PhD. at the Technical University of Athens. In particular, he underlined the support of his family as well as the importance of participating in networking events for start-ups. It would be also vital to safeguard the funding of the company since day one, Nikolopoulos stated. Konstantina Zoehrer outlined the concept of social entrepreneurship, which would focus on the contribution to social values instead of only focussing on monetary profit.

Eventually, the participants could ask questions and present their own business ideas to the experts. The discussion focused on the importance of events for young entrepreneurs in order to build up a network, how products can be successfully placed on the market and how the potentials of the Single European Market can be exploited, as well as the opportunities and limits of national export promotion.