Maryam Rezaei
Chrissoula Manolakaki
Panos Chreppas
Stamatis Tsagias
Asimeni TountaAndreas Stefanidis
Have you noticed that people who laugh from their heart also open yours? How you feel you have always known them even though you’ve just met them… People who are forthcoming and share their experience, feelings, thoughts without any hesitation nor anticipation of any kind… doesn’t that make you feel that you can trust them without any hesitation? “Don’t trust people who don’t laugh” said Maya Angelou and that’s exactly what I felt when I met Andreas Stefanidis… I felt trust and a homey feeling right then and there! So, there I was in front of a man who opened his heart leaving me speechless from all that he has endured but, at the same time, holds no grudges and instead chooses to create impact no matter what he does!
Andreas Stefanidis is a man of great integrity, honesty, simplicity, result-oriented, impact-driven, with solid knowledge, a professional who actually delivers faster than what he promises, open-hearted and a huge “giving back to his society” character in everything he does… my truly favorite and, I believe, one of his most important assets is his unique incredible smile; When he smiles his big green and blue eyes grow double in size and you see all his teeth smiling right back at you… extremely adorable!!! And all you want to say is “please don’t stop” hahaha!!! Seriously I cannot convey the feeling through words… Now how can you not adore and trust him?!
He started in his teenage years working in a pharmacy alongside \school and was encouraged by his family and friends to pursue a career in medicine. But due to the Greek educational system of the time, he never managed to get into University. Accounting and finance were his next best thing and so he started his education at the State University of New York where, later, for many years after, he taught at their campuses at New Paltz, New York, Athens, and Tirana.
Alongside his teachings, he never stopped creating and growing beautiful impact-generating ideas! In the year 2001, he founded the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Young Entrepreneurs - OESYNE where he is currently serving as Honorary President. And it all started from there… back then not a lot of people were actually creating social impact as the economy was growing extremely fast and everyone was busy generating revenue and living a luxurious life! But not Andreas Stefanidis… while doing all the pro-bono volunteer work for OESYNE, he came across the historical Educational Association of Athens "Hfaistos", a huge industrial educational complex-building with great history, yet on its way towards destruction and with a lot of debt towards the government! So he sees an opportunity through reviving the building and creating once again an educational, cultural and entrepreneurial hub; a place where knowledge and expertise can be accessible to all. Today Academy of Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit organization founded by "Hfaistos" in 2007, hosts many European nonformal training programs for small and medium enterprises and new entrepreneurs. You should definitely visit them to admire their cause and all the work they are putting into creating a social hub right in the center of Athens.
As if that wasn’t enough, in 2014 he became the Head of Aephoria.net, an incubator for new business concepts and the host organization of the Bluegrowth initiative in cooperation with the Municipality of Piraeus.
Andreas Stefanidis is a natural and talented “teacher” with a profound willingness to want to share. Be it knowledge or possession, he always remembers himself from a very young age wanting to share what he had learned so that others could experience it as well! He has an amazing way of explaining complex ideas and concepts in the most fun, simple and understandable way possible. And no matter how many times he has been disappointed by people and situations, Andreas Stefanidis will never stop believing in people’s good nature…in the importance of giving and sharing!
http://akep.eu
