On Friday, November 8th, at the annual event of the STARTAB Entrepreneurship Programme, the Mentor of the Year, Dr. Elena Boretou, was awarded. The event, hosted at the offices of Corallia of the Athena R.C. in Maroussi, brought together the volunteer mentors and partners of the Program, recognizing the dedication and vision of those who support young people in Greece.

The award-winning mentor, Dr. Elena Boretou, was distinguished for her contribution to the development of young entrepreneurs and her support to their business ideas, such as The Sports Footprint and El Paraiso Valley Resort, created by her mentees with her help. In her thank-you speech, she said: “Such moments inspire us to continue our joint efforts to support entrepreneurship, offering young people with vision and passion opportunities for creation and development.” Dr. Boretou is a Strategy Consultant with over 20 years of experience in multinational companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte. He specializes in designing transformation strategies and has collaborated with leading industries such as ICT and banking. It is Civil Engineer (NTUA), MBA from the University of Strathclyde and PhD in Strategy from Nottingham Trent University.

The Director of the STARTAB Programme, Dr. Dr. Jorge Sanchez emphasized the importance of supporting mentors in the programme, saying, “Our mentors are the heart of STARTAB. Thanks to their own experience and dedication, young entrepreneurs gain the skills and guidance they need to achieve their goals.”

Sheila Heffernan, International Programme Manager, at King’s Trust International, congratulated the mentors and shared the organisation’s vision: “Since 2018, Corallia has built an impressive network of highly qualified mentors who have guided young people through the Programme. We are excited about today’s event, which is dedicated to mentors and their work to support young people not only to use the knowledge and skills they learned in the Programme, but also to help them overcome any challenges to shape their own future.”

The event also included a briefing on the guidance of Sustainable and Green Businesses by Dr. Maria Bairaktari, Founder & CEO BraveLife. Dr. Maria Bairaktari is a chemist with a PhD from NTUA and an MBA from Guglielmo Marconi University. She works as a Postdoctoral Researcher in areas such as green chemistry and nanotechnology, while she has founded her company, offering coaching services for sustainable entrepreneurship.

 STARTAB aims at the continuous education and guidance of young people to develop their entrepreneurial skills, achieve financial independence and give them the opportunity to change their lives and start their own business on solid foundations. Recently, the Programme exceeded 1200 participants, over 450 young people have received mentoring.