Maryam Rezaei
Chrissoula Manolakaki
Panos Chreppas
Stamatis Tsagias
Asimeni Tounta
Stathis KetitzianMike Sotirakos
As a child I always had “giving” in me, and I remember elders would say: when you grow older, things change and you will change… What they meant was, that as I would grow older I would be too busy taking care of my life and family and wouldn’t have any extra time of “giving” for anyone else… So, I did grow older and the “giving” hasn’t changed and most definitely has grown stronger with me! And meeting Mike Sotirakos, a highly accomplished SUPER SMART professional (even though he says his wife, Effie, is the brains of their family… can’t imagine what their kids are like!), doesn’t want to do anything without it having a huge impact for our world! That just proves so many people wrong; You can be in high places and still have a pure and giving spirit! Mike Sotirakos is a man everyone would love to have as a friend…he takes you as you are without judgment, very polite with great manners, a non-stop smiling kind face, extremely sportive and fun, open-hearted and super helpful.
He has the most amazing combination of very opposite attributes; super nerd (as he calls himself), super active and risk-taker (he is a great surfer from the age of 13 and loves to live on the edge) and a deep sense of giving and making a positive social impact in everything he does! And my favorite: his sense of humor!!! I think I played his interview recording a dozen times, and laughed each and every time! Of course, I didn’t just play it so many times to laugh with him but in order to understand, or better to TRY to understand his extra sophisticated and professional education, career and achievements!
So, let me try to fit his extra-long and extra full career in just a paragraph… Born to give his parents constant near heartaches due to his “living on the edge” character and at the same time where other kids would play with computer games, Mike would be solving equations and programing on his ZX spectrum computer! I mean how many high-tech nerdy cool surfers do you know?! After finishing the polytechnic in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1992 he receives a Masters scholarship in Wales and here comes the title of his studies: Finite Element and Computational Modeling and engineering mechanics… wow ha?! Now if that isn’t nerdish what is! The funny part was that he tried to explain to me what that was and his explanation was even more alien for me! :) So, while getting his Masters he was also working at the British aerospace. After his Masters, he starts his PhD in petroleum engineering and after two years dropped out and took up another Masters, philosophy of computer science through the British aerospace! And all this time he would be surfing in the Atlantic in the mornings and working really hard for the British Aerospace at night...! At some point, he realized that academia wasn’t really for him and so started working as an engineer for an international software company, EDS that now belongs to HP, among many projects, designing the airport of Hong Kong.
Mike Sotirakos was going up the ladder, from engineering to managerial positions, when he started to realize that he had enough of the big corporate world and together with his wife and few other friends they started their own software engineering company designing complex software for aviation and aerospace industry. After living a life many would “die for” he and his Effie, realized that there was something missing… it was missing a cause, a social impact! And living just to make money wasn’t good enough! So, cutting it really short in 2013, Mike and his wife exited the company and after taking some surfing time and feeling free, wanting to mix Social impact – technology and his love for entrepreneurship, he co-founded Lunch1000. Their mission is to launch 1000 wealth creators over the next 10 years and find, mentor and invest in entrepreneurs who are willing to challenge the “status quo” of their society and making a social impact!
Mike Sotirakos is changing the “Status Quo” … he had the guts and the will power to leave a life of materialistic comfort to make a positive change for his society and beyond! He says in the beginning when he started talking and communicating to the big executive “sharks” their cause, and how companies should back up ideas and entrepreneurs with social impact, they would ignore and laugh… But not any more… As he and the great Mahatma Gandhi said:
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." And as mike also added “then they give you an award”!
Respect!
http://www.launch1000.co.uk
