Female Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists were celebrated at an event held at the ACG Events Hall on November 9, 2022. Exceptional and renowned speakers from Greece and Israel delivered insightful presentations on the status of both countries’ female entrepreneurship ecosystems. There was a large turnout of ACG faculty, students and distinguished external guests. The feedback was extremely positive, and the successful event was featured in numerous LinkedIn posts.
Our Israeli speakers, Dr. Tali Feldman Sivan, Dr. Irit Yaniv, Orit Goren, Sharon Barzik Cohen and Lihi Pinto, presented the status and phenomenal achievements of female Israeli entrepreneurs and VCs in one of the most dynamic startup ecosystems. The Greek startup ecosystem has made significant progress in the last few years. Yet as our Greek speakers, Maria Hala, Lela Dritsa, Katerina Pramatari and Barbara Geladakis, stated in their inspiring and insightful presentations, the Greek ecosystem has a long way to go compared to its Israeli counterpart.
The common issues presented and discussed during the two-panel sessions were the low number of women startup founders and VC partners globally, in Israel and Greece. During the discussion session, some of the main drivers behind these issues, such as family obligations and conflicting priorities for female entrepreneurs, were raised. Suggestions were offered on what ecosystem players and leaders can do to enable entrepreneurs to enter and thrive in the startup world. The audience gained insights into some possible solutions from Marina Hatsopoulos‘ journey as a successful female entrepreneur and startup ecosystem leader who joined us virtually from Boston, Massachusetts. The speakers also shared important lessons and useful tips from their entrepreneurial journey regarding the day-to-day management of organizational affairs and the challenge of healthy business growth. They deconstructed the concept of failure, discussed the realities of monetization, and highlighted the importance of vision, pivoting and networking for budding and experienced female entrepreneurs.
It is worth mentioning that the successful organization of the event would not have been made possible without our Deree Entrepreneurship, Finance and Leadership student volunteers, who introduced our guest speakers and supported the event’s smooth and professional operation. Thank you to Foteini Anglou, Konstantina Argyropoulou, Sotiris Christopoulos, Anastasia Katsantoni, Dimitris Konstantinidis, Dora Limnaiou, Christina Louizidi, Katerina Tatsiramou, Katerina Tsanti, Angelos Vasileiou, George Vougiatzis and Chrysafina Xanthi!
Given our commitment to Entrepreneurship, Diversity and Inclusion, the Entrepreneurship Program of the Deree School of Business and Economics will be holding more events and performing activities going forward, so stay tuned!
From left to right (1st row)
Lela Dritsa, President & Co-Founder, Nannuka; Dr. Katerina Voutsina, Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship, School of Business and Economics, Deree-ACG; Maria Hala, Head, Female Founders’ Startups Cluster, International Chamber of Commerce Women Hellas (ICC Women Hellas) (ICCW Hellas); Natalie Levi, CEO & Co-Founder, Nannuka
From left to right (2nd row)
Dr. Annie Triantafillou, Dean, School of Business and Economics, Deree-ACG; Barbara Geladakis, Founder & CEO Rodi Fertility; Sharon Barzik Cohen, Partner and CFO Qumra Capital; Dr. Irit Yaniv, Co-Founder & CEO Almeda Ventures; Dr. Tali Feldman Sivan, Serial Entrepreneur, Founder of Hameizot Female Founders Accelerator; Orit Goren, COO of jFrog; Maria Pallidou, Associate Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, School of Business and Economics, Deree-ACG; Lihi Pinto, Founder & CEO of Triple and Co, Co-Founder of syte.ai