Venture 2002 Entrepreneurship Competition

Two ALBA student teams were among the ten winners of the Venture 2002 Entrepreneurship Competition 1st round (called ''The Business Idea Competition'').

The Venture 2002 Entrepreneurship Competition is co-organised by the National Technical University of Athens / University of Athens / University of Piraeus Joint Masters Program in Engineering Economic Systems, the Federation of Greek Industries (SEV), the Entrepreneurs Association (E.EN.E), and McKinsey & Company. The objective of Venture 2002 is to achieve a lasting enhancement of the business start-up process. Venture 2002 aims to motivate students and young entrepreneurs in setting up their own business, and supports them in doing so with valuable tools and events, with the input of competent coaches, with feedback from qualified jurors, and the support of an Advisory Board comprised of prominent members of the Greek business and academic communities.

In the first round of the Competition, ALBA has participated with 7 teams, comprising both alumni and students. Total participation in this round was 134 business ideas, from teams representing a wide array of Greek state Universities, and Deree College.

The 10 best business ideas of the 1st round received a prize of 250.000 GRD each. The two winning ALBA teams were: ''Easy Islands'' by Dr. V. Theoharakis (Assistant Professor of Marketing, ALBA), Mrs. K. Aggelopoulou, Mr. N, Athanasopoulos, Mr. G. Gavriil and Mr. L. Ioannides (MBA program alumni) and ''Hotel for People with Disabilities'' by Mr. A. Andreou, Mrs. A. Vorrisi, Mr. A. Doukas, Mr. K. Xenopoulos and Mr. D. Economou (MBA program students).

The prize-giving ceremony was held in late December 2001; main speaker at the event was Mr. Kiriakos Mitsotakis, General Manager, National Bank of Greece Venture Capital. Prizes were awarded by Mr. Ulysses Kyriacopoulos, Chairman, Federation of Greek Industries.

More ALBA teams are getting ready to enter the Competition in Round 2 (The Business Plan Competition), which is scheduled to start in April 2002.