On Monday 6 July the British High Commissioner Peter Millett hosted at his residence a networking event for members of the Cypriot business community looking to compete in the Stelios Award for Business Co-operation in Cyprus.  Welcoming guests Peter Millett expressed the hope it would be a fruitful occasion and an opportunity for entrepreneurs from the two communities to meet.  

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the serial entrepreneur and founder of easyGroup, will personally fund awards to promote island-wide, bi-communal business cooperation between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriot entrepreneurs.

Addressing the guests via DVD, Sir Stelios spoke of his "desire to help the situation in Cyprus". Noting that "It is about time we all made an effort to make sure there is long lasting peace on the island ," he stressed that is ambition is to "get people who live in the island to work and to cooperate with each other in a business sense [to] create a good understanding between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Communities".

Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou speaking to the entrepreneurs called on them to "grasp the opportunity, because it is important to show the way". "We are trying very hard to find a solution. I hope we will achieve it. We are fanatically favour of a solution and we are working for the unity of this country and the unity of this country will partly manifested through a united economy", he added.

Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, in a written message read out by the British High Commissioner congratulated Sir Stelios for his initiative "to reward those who show the willingness to cooperate and create business ventures together" in their common homeland.

The event  gave Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet and look for opportunities to work together.  

The Stelios Award is personally funded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyGroup, to promote island-wide, bi-communal business co-operation between entrepreneurs. Stelios has pledged to give away as much as €1m to entrepreneurial business teams which include at least one Greek-Cypriot and one Turkish-Cypriot, born on the island.

Up to 5 winning teams per year will each be presented with €50.000 per team by Stelios himself in a ceremony in Nicosia at the end of 2009 and each year thereafter for up to 4 years.

For more information please visit

http://www.stelios.com/the-stelios-award-for-business-cooperation-in-cyprus.html

 

Back to newsroom

Back to top