The tomorrow of Greek entrepreneurship at the 7th Annual Economic Conference of EENE

On Wednesday, December 15, the 7th Annual Economic Conference of ENE was held with great success on the topic “Entrepreneurship 2.0 for Greece 2.0”.

40 speakers were hosted and more than 100 delegates participated in person (based on restrictions), while more than 1100 delegates participated in the work via livestream. The videos of the event have been watched by more than 6700 visitors, while important points of the conference discussions are occupied by both traditional media and social media. The central message of the conference was the need to change the culture of Greek entrepreneurship, with emphasis on new models of cooperation and development that will contribute to the “scale-up” of companies and a rapid and sustainable development. In combination with smart and brave incentives, Greek entrepreneurship will have a historic opportunity in the coming years for the development and parallel change of the national production model “bottom-up” with an ally of human resources which must be given targeted incentives and opportunities for upskilling and reskilling. .

With a compass of extroversion, innovation, ESG criteria, collaboration and scale development, and a catalyst for digital transformation and quality investment, Greek business is called to turn the page, and lay the foundations for a solid growth that will contribute to social prosperity and progress, will multiply opportunities and open new perspectives for the coming decades. This will build an all-weather economy, more resilient to future crises and challenges that it will certainly call on the country to manage in the coming years.

The conference of Ε.ΕΝ.Ε was opened by the President of the Union, Dr. Vassilis G. Apostolopoulos who developed the above central parameters of “Entrepreneurship 2.0” emphasizing the primary role of Greek business in the coming years “where we are called to co-shape the future.” This was followed by the keynote speech of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Panagiotis Pikrammenos who, after welcoming the concept of entrepreneurship 2.0 and its symbolism, stood on those reforms at the institutional level and in the critical area of ​​justice that contribute to the development dynamics of the country. The dialogue continued with the keynote speech of the First Vice President of EENE, Mr. Christian Hatziminas, who noted that productivity in the private sector has “hit the ceiling”, and noted three necessary interventions: the non-wage costs that “must be digitalisation and retraining in digital skills “, the faster delivery of justice to work the corporate schemes promoted by the government and, finally, the regulation of red loans, which leave untapped human resources and existing infrastructure.

Afterwards, Messrs. Mastrogeorgiou, Georgakopoulos, Veremis and Stagos, discussing with Maria Nikoltsiou, outlined the future, analyzing the “megatrends” in combination with the Greek reality, emphasizing the great opportunities and at the same time the great uncertainty for a bright and fluid tomorrow. Greek entrepreneurship.

This was followed by a discussion on the Economy of Culture and the Economy of Hospitality through two live interviews between the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni and the journalist Petros Efthymiou, as well as the Minister of Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias with the 2nd Vice President of ENE, Alexandros Angelopoulos, where the development dynamics of these critical and interconnected sectors of the Greek Economy emerged.

Afterwards, the Minister of Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis discussed with Tassos Zachos, editor-in-chief of Fortune Greece, the role of digital infrastructure as a catalyst and accelerator of growth, a discussion that Mr. Zachos continued with Google’s Director for Southeast Europe, Antonakou who characterized 2021 as a “year of reconstruction”. In the discussion that the General Manager of Ε.ΕΝ.Ε, Pavlos Efthimiou, had immediately after with the Professor of Electronic Business Giorgos Doukidis and the Founder of Obrela Securities Giorgos Patsis, the imprint of the digital transformation and e-commerce in Greece was discussed (> € 14 billion), as well as the growing challenges in the field of cybersecurity for businesses.

A dynamic dialogue about the future of health in the country followed, between the Minister of Health, Thanos Plevris and the President of SFEE, Olympios Papadimitriou. Among other things, the Minister stressed that EOPYY will be restructured with quality features and will better control its cooperation with the private sector, a reform that will be implemented from 2022, while Mr. Papadimitriou stood on the excessive taxation that burdens the balance sheets of pharmaceuticals. businesses and jeopardizes their viability, indicating that companies are essentially required to return 59% of their sales to the state.

Afterwards, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, discussed with Maria Nikoltsiou, where the great challenges of the coming months, the reforms and the goals of the political leadership were highlighted.

With the main theme of the Conference “skills for rapid development”, “HR 2.0” and “Education 2.0”, the CEO of athenEA Marianna Skylakaki coordinated a fruitful and substantive discussion between the Minister of Education, Nikis Kerameos, the Founder and CEO Kariera.gr, Theofilou Vassiliadis, and the CEO of People for Business Rebecca Pitsika. The Minister presented the overall framework of the reforms she is promoting, while Mr. Vassiliadis explained the need to invest in education after university, as “the people who work now must learn and re-learn” – he also bid for the practice exercise and the essential bridges between entrepreneurship and students / alumni, emphasizing the importance of contact with the real work environment. Ms. Pitsika explained that the majority of employees have not learned to develop skills, as they have been trained in the old education system. Ε.ΕΝ.Ε suggested salary incentives for reskilling / upskilling associated with the further reduction of non-salary costs.

Also extremely interesting was the live interview of Prof. Evangelos Venizelos, with Nikos Filippidis, where a summary of the geopolitical data, the European political economy and balances was made, focusing on how they will affect the country. Mr. Venizelos called for “documented realism with insight” for the country’s next moves.

This was followed by a discussion between the Director of the Hellenic Observatory of the LSE, Prof. Kevin Featherstone, and Pavlos Efthimiou, where the Professor shared his concerns about the low investment profile of Greece and the inconsistent investment environment. He stressed the need for a change of culture in the direction of excellence and healthy competition, presenting specific ideas and proposals with the ‘LSE Generate’ program as a model.

For development, innovation, scale-up, the new financial tools and the new NSRF were discussed by the Deputy Minister of Development & Investment Giannis Tsakiris with the economist and former Minister Dimitris Liakos. The discussion focused on the pillars of Greece 2.0 and Entrepreneurship 2.0 with Marianna Skylakaki coordinating a very lively exchange of thoughts and reflections.

The President of SEV Dimitris Papalexopoulos, discussing with Anastasia Paretzoglou, Brand Manager of Fortune Greece, stood on the key role that energy plays for the competitiveness of companies. He stressed 4 points: the climate law, the acceleration of green energy investments, ensuring competitive prices in energy production, but also ensuring the avoidance of unfair competition. He noted that Greek companies must embrace the ESG and leave the pathogens of the “family business” in the past by investing in innovation.

This was followed by a live interview of Mr. Christian Hadjiminas with Mrs. Paretzoglou where he explained the upskilling-reskilling model applied by the EFA Group. Priority, he explained, are innovative products and extroversion. He also referred to the need for a change of culture, collaborations, but also investments in innovation and ‘re-industrialization’ with a focus on digital transformation and robotic automation.

Michalis Stasinopoulos, President of Hellenic Production and ElvalHalcor focused on the dynamics of manufacturing as a key sector for the economic development of a country. Note the multidimensional nature of processing and how it affects the economy as a whole. He referred to its resilience to crises and the need for energy and digital transition of companies in the sector.

The Minister of Shipping Giannis Plakiotakis stressed the need for a smooth energy transition of seafaring shipping and coastal shipping, referred to the development of tenders for the ports of Alexandroupolis, Igoumenitsa, Kavala and Heraklion, the value of yachting and their development.

In the crucial panel of investments and extroversion, the Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadis noted 4 key points for the course of the country: the know-how of the government in combination with the good relationship with the business world, the smart financing, the recapitalized banking system and the good name of the country abroad. Referring to the success of Elevate Greece, while regarding the increase of energy prices, he stressed that there is a need for a new energy policy, with net metering at the forefront. A fruitful discussion followed with the Co-CEO of ELPEN and President of the Panhellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Industry Theodoros Tryfon, Messrs. Agi Pistiola and Michalis Tsautos, President and Vice President respectively of the influential and productive initiative of ELA Of Greece, Dimitris Iatridis. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Michalis Stagos, President of MSCOMM and co-founder of Industry Disruptors – Game Changers. Of particular interest were the references to partnerships and the prospect of scale-up through acquisitions and mergers, as well as international synergies that multiply the investments and the business footprint of the parties.

The conference was closed by the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras, comprehensively developing the eight central priorities in the economic policy of the government, as well as the six central goals that are set from now on. In the spirit of entrepreneurship 2.0 and the intervention of EENE, the goals include achieving high growth rates with proper utilization and design of new financial tools and a significant increase in investment and exports.

See here all videos of the event & here the first report from athena. While here All the interviews and videos conducted by APE-MPE are available.