European entrepreneurship used to be sneered at from across the pond.
Nowadays, not so much.
That’s thanks to some spectacular successes by European startups, but also thanks to the hard behind the scenes work (advocating policy, networking across Europe, doing infrastructure work) of hundreds of individuals and organizations.
YES for Europe (YES) has consistently been one of those organizations, championing youth entrepreneurship and promoting a European entrepreneurial culture that includes scale-ups (in contrast with the constraining, to my humble opinion, with the prevailing emphasis on start-ups).
YES, is also, of course, an organization with which I have been personally involved, having served as a board member and, eventually, its President over the years.
Today, one of the initiatives that I’ve helped kickstart, the bi-annual European Youth Entrepreneurship Conference, has its 6th meeting at Thessaloniki (the 2nd time that Greece hosts the event, as its inaugural launch was also held in Athens).
During the conference the YES assembly will discuss the state of youth entrepreneurship in Europe, the organization’s running and upcoming initiatives, and vote to elect the new YES President for 2017, as Luca Donelli’s widely succesful presidency term comes to its conclusion.
And that’s just the beginning, as, beyond its own presentations and business events, YES’ 6th bi-annual conference is organized in conjunction with the 1st INNECO Conference, a new initiative aiming to be the premier youth entrepreneurship conference in Greece.
INNECO’s vision is to bring together prominent business personalities, startup founders, policy makers, leaders of industry, CEOs, and VCs, in a multi-faceted event that combines a conventional Conference, an Exhibition, a Business Plan Contest and a Scientific Conference, all within a three day span.
Greece representative to YES’ Executive Committee is Charalampos Tziogas of the Youth Entrepreneurship Club NE which has been central in the design of INNECO.
Of course, yours trully, will also be there, to fight the good fight for European Entrepreneurship, and perhaps brag a little for our recent Elorus success story (but more about that in an upcoming post).
For more information on the 6th 6th bi-annual European Youth Entrepreneurship Conference, please check the event’s official page.