1st Business Idea Competition of the Agricultural University of Athens “Presentation of business plans and Awards”

The 1st Business Idea Competition of the Agricultural University of Athens organised by the Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Technology Transfer Office (InnovInAgri) of the Special Account for Research Funds of the Agricultural University of Athens marked its successful completion yesterday with a big event that took place at the Athens Stock Exchange, the Competition’s Sponsor, for the presentation of the food and agricultural business plans and announcement of the winning teams.

The event was opened with speeches by Mr. Stavros Zografakis, Deputy Rector of the Agricultural University of Athens and Mr. G. Hadjinikolaou, Chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange.

During the event, the competing teams presented 6 comprehensive business plans both to representatives of the business world and to members of the academia and other interested parties. The winning teams were selected by an Evaluation Committee, comprised of Mr. H. Athanasiou, CEO of Enterprise Greece, Mr. S. Arsenis, Coordinator of NBG Business Seeds, Mr. S. Zontos, Chairman of the BoD of The Newtons Laboratory and Mr. A. Savvakis, President of the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece, all of them praising the high quality of the business plans.

It is worth noting that in the preparation of their business plans, the competing teams received much-needed assistance from a number of consultants and mentors. The consultants belonged to the teaching staff of the Agricultural University of Athens, and possess the expertise for supporting the teams with regard to the technical part of the business plan, the production process, etc. The mentors were company executives who advised the teams on matters of marketing and financial analysis, while also managing to convey to them the current know-how of the market. The teams were supported in the Competition by executives from Grant Thornton, Apivita, Loulis Mills, Hellenic Value S.A. Research & Consultation and the Athens Stock Exchange.

The order of the winning teams is the following:

1st place the EllinFood team,
2nd place the ByMar team, and
3rd place the OH LIVE team
The winning teams were awarded money prizes sponsored by the Athens Stock Exchange, which provided support to the teams throughout the phase of development and presentation of the business plans for the competition. The prizes were awarded by Mr. Sokratis Lazaridis, CEO of the Athens Stock Exchange, who, among other things, underlined the role of the Stock Exchange over the years in fostering innovative business models, products and services that offer solutions to various sectors of the economy and society. He further noted that in the context of the transformation of our country’s productive fabric due to internationalisation, competition intensity and digitisation, the primary goal is to educate companies correctly on subjects of innovation and entrepreneurship, and to create a collaborative environment in which they can highlight, reinforce and improve their extroversion.

Mr. Stavros Zografakis, Deputy Rector of the Agricultural University of Athens talked about how important it is to reinforce such collaboration between Universities and businesses, and especially the Agricultural University of Athens, which due to its subject matter can play a critical role in the country’s development.

Before the event, all of the competition’s teams, together with the CEO of the Athens Stock Exchange, Mr. Sokratis Lazaridis, and Deputy Rector of the Agricultural University of Athens, Mr. Stavros Zografakis, rang the traditional bell during the opening bell ceremony of the Athens Stock Exchange.

Details about the 2nd Business Idea Competition of the Agricultural University of Athens will be announced soon.