GreenHouse Kalamata, a free intensive educational 3-day workshop for entrepreneurs organized by VentureGarden and In Situ, took place in the Municipal Cultural Centre of Kalamata. From 27 to 29 November, GreenHouse Kalamata hosted 30 entrepreneurs full of passion for creativity, with many new entrepreneurial ideas.
Aiming at helping people who have an idea or are thinking about starting their own business, GreenHouse’s participants utilized straight forward tools in order to de-risk their business assumptions. Also, participants became more in tune with the entrepreneurial mindset through a series of activities, instructions and presentations.
The participating entrepreneurs followed a detailed introduction to the Business Model Canvas tool. After presenting their ideas, they voted for the best ones and formed 7 groups. During the 3-day workshop, participants worked in-depth on these ideas that covered a wide range of the economic activity, some of which were natural cosmetics, digital cultural applications, tourism activity and local products.
The participation of experts was of great importance, where throughout their 3-day involvement they shared their point of view and offered hands-on assistance to participants. From Athens, angel investor, Thodoris Moulos and Vicky Dallas (9AM Media Labs, startup.gr) joined the VentureGarden team, along with Elias Skenderidis (In Situ, Warr), Christina Stribacu (LIÁ), Ippokrates Papadimitrakos (Mataroa) and Thodoris Spiliotis (ESURVEY) from Kalamata.
All 30 entrepreneurs from Kalamata learned about the importance of Product-Market Fit in the revenue streams of a company, listened to ways and techniques for a comprehensive pitch, understood the process of customer development and reviewed the role of the competition. The – full of entrepreneurial activities – educational workshop completed with the final pitches of the teams, where participants had the chance to apply the knowledge and experience they gained during the past 3 days and prove their competences.
The passion and commitment of the participants coupled to the support of experienced entrepreneurs, the instructors’ presentations and the organizing team led to an absolutely excellent result. The entrepreneurs that participated in the program, were very positive about their GreenHouse experience. The enlightening presentations, the group assignments, the introduction to the Business Model Canvas and the transformation of the way they think are some of the impressions that people who participated in the 3-day educational program report.
Participants with the best ideas from the GreenHouse will have the opportunity to attend the next round of the comprehensive educational program for entrepreneurs, VentureGarden, via distance learning.
GreenHouse Kalamata is part of a 3-day workshop series in various Greek cities set up by VentureGarden. VentureGarden is an educational program of supporting new entrepreneurs or people who are at the stage of entrepreneurial exploration, and want to gain the appropriate education aiming at making their idea happen or expand their business. It has been co-created by two distinguished business schools in Greece, ALBA Graduate Business School at The American College of Greece in Athens and Anatolia School of Business in Thessaloniki, and the The Hellenic Initiative.
