Field trip to OK!Thess

Our Pinewood Entrepreneurship group visited Ok!Thess, a startup hub and maker space here in Thessaloniki. We were greeted by Mr Hatziioannou, the Department Head of Entrepreneurship for the Municipality of Thessaloniki, and two experienced startup coaches that work with Ok!Thess, Dimitris Kourtesis and Nikos Tsoniotis, two of the Founders of Ideas Forward -an ambitious technology venture studio of its own right.

The coaches shared their knowledge with us generously, listening to our students pitch their business ideas and giving them feedback, simulating the process of a Demo day. Nikos Tsoniotis and Dimitris Kourtesis shared our enthusiasm, commented on the students’ good ideas and even found one with very solid potential- great job Gosha!

Our students also had the opportunity to learn more about other initiatives of Ok!Thess, like the effort to re-use materials as part of the Circular Economy. Two of our very own decided to give it a go, and left with electric scooters recovered from Thermaikos bay! They will play around with disassembling them and seeing how they might re-use some of the parts.

Empowering students to find solutions, experiment with business models and have the confidence to present and receive feedback sits at the heart of our Entrepreneurship Program, and this experience has encapsulated all that in a day!

Our most heartfelt thank you to Ok!Thess, Dimitris Kourtesis & Nikos Tsoniotis for such great learning!