Establishing the Community of Greek Business Angels
by Maria Hala, May 26th, 2020
After two and a half months of social distancing and an almost complete shutdown of the local economy, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Greece has been proudly rated among the safest countries in the world. The main concern now is focusing on a healthy economic recovery. Responding to the current situation, the local Government proceeded with a bulk of generous measures, while keeping investments first on the list to mitigate the expected economic contraction. Among the most promising courses of action is the effort of establishing the Greek Business Angels’ community, through measures that support their existence.
The Greek innovative entrepreneurial community thrives. And this is a fact…..
The Greek entrepreneurial ecosystem is mainly venture capital dominated, with a generous support from European Investment Fund. On the other hand, Greek startup Teams have attracted around €2.5bn investments, have reached a global clientele and have achieved remarkable exits, over the last decade. Despite the 10 years of economic crisis and the heavy brain drain, the innovative entrepreneurial community of Greece is ready for the next decade. Brilliant scientific minds have become founders; venture capitalists have established a healthy entrepreneurial environment and the EIF has always stood by this effort. Well, the time has come to bring to the surface those anonymous entrepreneurs who have also supported the local startups ecosystem, not only financially, but also through their coaching and mentoring: the Greek Business Angels.
The Ministry of Development and Investments and in particular, the General Secretariat for Research and Technology announced supportive measures for business angels. In particular: a 50% tax reduction for up to €300.000 annual investments and the establishment of a startups’ registry platform, under the “ElevateGreece” initiative. The specific measures are a great relief for the seed and startup ecosystem, but also for the venture capital community, since the latter will be further concentrated to more mature Teams. On the other hand, the angel investors will be highly motivated to support a portfolio of local innovative Teams, at seed and startup level, through their expertise, network and financing capabilities. In addition, the local ecosystem will come closer to understanding the importance of angel investments, as a vehicle against unemployment (and “yes” Greece stands at the double digit level….) and as a support of one of the major components of economic expansion, the local entrepreneur. It is just the beginning, but soon expect angel groups, angel networks, certification and angel investors’ education to come that will aid the current investment group efficiently contribute to the local private equity sector.
International Venture Academy 2020 is a journey between EBAN members, Sophia Business Angels Network, Business Jyväskylä and Finnish Business Angels Network, who are targeting cross-border investments in innovative scale ups in preventive healthcare and global wellbeing. There is no need to explain why investments in this sector are now needed more than ever before.
As the world was suddenly faced with a global pandemic at the beginning of 2020, a need emerged for agile capacity to create innovative solutions faster than ever. Investors and entrepreneurs play an important role in this regard. Entrepreneurs need the trust, connections and experience of the investors to be able to move fast during times like these.
During the International Venture Academy collaboration, nine Finnish scale ups have improved their blue ocean strategies, built grow to market strategies based on their vision and planned execution and metrics. The first round of introductions to Sophia Business Angels mentors were made in March 2020 and detailed planning continues via remote-workshops throughout May. After four days of hard work on their growth plans, these scale ups will prepare for pitching to SBA mentors in June before proceeding to events in Business Rally Jyväskylä and Venture Academy Nice.
”I am thrilled to lead this awesome cross border partnership between the Finnish startup ecosystem, The city of Jyväskylä and Sophia Business Angels based in Nice , France and hence enabling Northern / Southern Europeans to engage in such exchanges through entrepreneurship and investments”, Sophia Business Angels President Emeritus and EBAN Board member Marcel Dridje commented on the partnership.
How is it possible to create this kind of impact in no time? The story of this collaboration began with EBAN Board members led by then Chairman of the Board Candace Johnson in July 2018, at the City of Jyväskylä Business Rally week during WRC Neste Rally Finland. The following year an EBAN Investor Day was organized in Jyväskylä, with the support of EBAN Director of Secretariat Jacopo Losso. During that event, all it took was one lunch with EBAN Board Member Marcel Dridje, and the idea of the collaboration to facilitate investor relations and cross-border investments was born. The trust between the EBAN members working on the joint International Venture Academy has been crucial in making the program a success – check out its details below!
