Entrepreneurship Fair 2023
February 17, 2023
Pinewood creates opportunities and shapes a week for students that are looking for a way to grow as persons and as entrepreneurs. Ambitious, driven people – curious creative thinkers!
This coming week, students will be inspired, get information, share and grow their ideas and learn about how to expand their network with people that may be valuable for the development of their idea.
5 DAYS ON NEW IDEAS
DAY 1
FEB 20
Entrepreneurship Fair
Our Students run their own business stands!
DAY2
FEB 21
Entrepreneurship & Circularity
Why is Circularity important for Business?
Featured Guests:
Anna Chlioura – Elektronio Wheels
Rania Samara- Cirkel
DAY 3
FEB 22
Career Day
30 Guest Speakers to share their experience with us
DAY 4
FEB 23
Entrepreneurship Course Demo Day
Our Students present their Business Ideas, Shark Tank-style
DAY 5
FEB 24
Reflection – Take a moment to consider the main leraning of the week
DAY 1
Our Students run their own business stands!
The Day 3 of our Entrepreneurship week was dedicated to the theme of Sustainability and Circularity. To bring the students closer to a sustainable business focus, we invited Rania Samara, Founder of Cirkel and Anna Chlioura & Pantelis Zarkos, Co-Founders of Elektronio Wheels. They talked to us about their experience in Entrepreneurship, how they decided to embark on this journey and why they chose to focus on a business model that encompasses sustainability. The students had time to ask questions on everything and get a glimpse of how theory translates to reality. A big thank you for being so open and generous with your time Rania, Anna & Pantelis! We were very lucky to have you.
DAY 3 - CAREER DAY 2023
As they enter High School, the question of what to study, and where can that lead careerwise, is increasingly featured in our Students’ priorities. To support them on this journey, we have invited 30+ professionals on our Thermi campus, who will share their career path and answer student questions. Through this interaction, our aim is twofold: to offer real, on the ground, information as to what a job entails, and, also, reinforce the message that there is not a single way to success, and most people find their own unique path to their chosen profession. Students observe how studies and professions are connected, but also, how skills and attitudes they learn at school translate into real-world advantages.
An immense thank you to our prestigious speakers, who generously offer their precious time and support to make this day a success. Connecting our students to professional communities remains at the heart of what makes Pinewood special : Close and authentic Relationships.
DAY 4 - DEMO DAY
Our Entrepreneurship Students worked on developing their own business ideas that aim at solving problems that they chose to work on, based on their personal interests and experiences. At the end, 12 ideas were presented, in four different rooms to an audience of students in Grades 7, 8, 9 &10 and their accompanying Teachers. Those were (in alphabetical order):
Book Palis (Ramila Sulemanova – Alex VIliams – Macy Richard -Duru Algan)
Cop & Drop (Max Tsimaris & Anamarija Antonopoulos)
Drive (Nick Aggelakos – Melis Birlik – Nikola Ivanov)
Heavenly (Ifighenia Leonzini & Egor Naumenko)
Helping Hand (Rodrigo Ogayar & Alexandra Squires)
OlaNatural (Rylie Anctil & Theodora Gotseva)
Paws Express (Aleksia Parisi- Semeon Borschev-Petros Zoumpalov- Kira Matuzka)PocketDerm (Katerina Kiziltza -Marko Gavlilo – Omar Hnaiti)
Rent Pet (Henry Richard & Leonidas Sagioglou)
Rise & Shine (Dean Maggs -Afxentios Papadopoulos -Daniella Marra)
Save The Day Machine (Nefeli Foutsitzi -Ana Camacho-Lucas Nikolaidis )
Scothlete (Marko Milacic -Nicole Kouzounis – Nick Vratsidas)
The Entrepreneurship students fully ran the event, with Student Room Leaders introducing the Teams, time-keeping their presentations and guiding the audience to cast a vote on their favorite idea.A big thank you to the Room Leaders Katerina Kiziltza, Rylie Anctil, Afxentios Papadopoulos and Nick Aggelakos for their good work.
Based on the audience votes, the four favorite ideas (per room) were:
–PocketDerm (Katerina Kiziltza – Marko Gavrilo – Omar Hnaiti)
–Scothlete (Marko Milacic – Nicole Kouzounis – Nick Vratsidas)
–Helping Hand (Rodrigo Ogayar & Alexandra Squires)
–Cop & Drop (Max Tsimaris & Anamarija Antonopoulos)
DAY 5 - REFLECTIONS
Our Demo Day was an intense experience for our students and afforded them learning opportunities. At the end, students took the time to reflect on this experience and decide where they would focus to improve their skills. Here are some of their reflections, in their own words:
– In order to have a group of people that are engaged with you you have to first engage with them and ask them questions and be able to talk about your product openly.
– I would change, if I had the chance to, the way I presented myself while introducing the room. I feel that at the start when I introduced the rooms I was a little nervous and didn’t say everything I needed to.
My experience with the demo day that was part of the entrepreneurship week taught me a few things, one of which was that presenting my idea to classmates in smaller groups helped me feel less anxious, which was one of the benefits to me as a student. One thing that I would change is maybe present a few more times to people who didn’t get the chance to see my presentation and my idea, and also maybe be a little more prepared, but I don’t think that really affected my final result.
I learned that my business and my team are very well organized, and very good. I learned that confidence is very important, because it catches the attention, and it gives a good overall image of you. I would love to present our business idea in front of more people, so I could receive more feedback. I wouldn’t do anything differently, in terms of choosing a team or of the way we presented…
In my perspective, the demo day was really rather entertaining. I have learned that I am skilled at speaking spontaneously. Some students inquired as to whether or not they would be able to see the presentations, so I would ensure that all students could view them.
I learned how important a subjective opinion is in the choice. We need to prepare more rigorously and try to engage the audience, to make the presentation more human (less tables and graphs).
Demo day was a phenomenal experience and a simulation for all the entrepreneurship students. I could feel the blood pumping faster during my presentation. The adrenaline rush that you feel during that time is a good practice for everyone that has a future of becoming a businessman/woman. I learned to control my anxiety and feel confident while presenting. A skill I can improve on is talking slower when I get stressed. Often when you feel pressured by a big audience people tend to speak faster so that moment ends. Also something I could work on is my answers to questions and being more prepared for anything.