Vamvakou: Stavros Niarchos’ birthplace is an incubator for aspiring startuppers

“It takes a village to raise a child” says an African proverb. However, in the picturesque Vamvakou, a small village on the slopes of Mount Parnon in Laconia, at an altitude of 903 meters, the first child born after 30 years creates the conditions for the place itself to “grow”.

Vamvakou, which in its heyday had 200 large families, today has very few residents, as it was “hit” by the immigration wave of the 1950s and 1960s and the economic crisis. In fact, in 2008 the village school was also shut down because of a lack of students.

Four years ago a group of young people, Haris Vasilakos, Anargyros Verdilos, Eleni Mami and Tasos Markos, with origins and strong ties to the village, created the organization Vamvakou Revival, aiming at the revival of Vamvakou, having the exclusive support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (as Vamvakou is the village of origin of the Foundation’s founder, Stavros Niarchos).

Today the Vamvakou Revival team invites people with ideas and vision, nature-minded persons, business groups, startups or businesses under formation with a business idea, service or product to develop to apply to join the first round of the Business Support and Hosting Program in the Vamvakou Incubator structure.

Applications at www.vamvakourevival.org open on Monday, October 10, 2022 and will last for two months.

Business Incubator high on the mountain

OT talked to the group about how a place comes back to life, not just in terms of visitor traffic – an area in which the results are already noticeable – but also economic activity such that we can talk about a place for someone to live permanently , with all this implies.

What are the incentives provided through the open call for participation in the Business Incubator?

“This is the first business center in a small mountain village, a joint collaborative space for the development of ideas, within the framework of the SNF-supported Village Revival initiative, which will bring together people with a vision for the revival and revitalization of the Greek countryside, who wish to create the future “with their own hands” in a virgin place that is being regenerated and become participants in a pioneering venture through the implementation of their own sustainable business idea in the fields of tourism, culture, agri-food and of innovation”, Anargyros Verdilos noted.

The first round aims to support 10 schemes: five businesses that will set up in Vamvakou and five groups or prospective entrepreneurs based more widely in the Peloponnese Region.

As mentioned by the people of the Vamvakou Revival organization, the businesses, entrepreneurs or groups that will join the program will be able to be accommodated in a specially designed space in the village with full access for the disabled, where all the necessary infrastructure for the operation of a business will be provided – e.g. office space, PC equipment, telephone line, fast internet connection, shared-collaborative spaces.

The incubator will also be an integrated framework for business start-up and incubation, providing networking, consulting, business training and education (business strategy, marketing, sales), innovation potential assessment and business and financial advisory support, for the formation of each business model , but also for the generally sustainable operation of business schemes.

Signs of rebirth

“The first signs of revitalization are now visible, as the place has already started to come alive. Thousands of visitors have passed through the village, its neighborhoods have been regenerated and new residents have already returned, while the first baby in over 30 years has been born and is growing up in the village”, Eleni Mami tells us.

She explains that today the Voureiko restaurant-cafe operates all year round in the village, two new guest houses, Rouga tis Vamvakous and the Traditional Vamvakous Guest House, while the school has been completely renovated and turned into a modern and innovative technology center, the V .Lab (Vamvakou Technology Lab fully powered by SNF).

The school also functions as a multi-purpose hall, hosting, in addition to technological and scientific programs for children and adults, a multitude of other educational and artistic activities for young and old, workshops, games, an open lending library, theater and cultural events, adds Haris Vasilakos.

He points out: “Residents and visitors have the opportunity to attend from classical music concerts to theater performances and art workshops, all year round. The Vamvakou experiences are  enriched with organized sports activities on the mountain of Parnon, such as hiking, mountain biking with HAIBIKE electric bikes in a network of hiking and cycling routes.

Ideal place for telecommuters, digital nomads and artists

Vamvakou Revival is maturing and evolving, while at the same time forming spaces for the dynamic development of work and multidimensional programs of hospitality, research and artistic expression.

“In this area, the collaborations and hosting programs we implement with leading organizations, such as the National Opera and Oros Ensemble, New York University (NYU) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), are important”, says Mr. Vasilakos.

He notes that, at the same time, in the new landscape shaped by the pandemic, “the village becomes an ideal environment for telecommuters, digital nomads and also artists who are looking for a place where, with the appropriate technical support and using V.Lab’s infrastructure – systems and teleconferencing equipment, printers, desktop computers, laptops, tablets and fast internet, 50 Mbps optical fiber in all areas of the school – or the areas of the school, will save time and costs in travel, will demonstrate more productivity, efficiency, flexibility and organization, their attention will not be distracted by the noisy conditions of the cities and they will live a different daily life, broadening their horizons”.

Agri-food production

As part of the Revival initiative, important steps are being taken overall towards the development of the wider region, and not just Vamvakos, in the fields of tourism, agri-food, culture, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Vamvakou Revival in collaboration with the “New Agriculture for the New Generation” organization, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, implements an action to strengthen and support local producers and breeders in the area of ​​agro-food.

The aim is to create the region’s basket of products, as well as regional development through targeted consulting and business support actions.

Thus, “the Parnon Poèma Cotton Agricultural Cooperative was recently founded on our initiative, which will launch its first packaged products on the market in the next period – honey from flowers and conifers, organic fir honey, reed olives and gruyere with 100% goat’s milk – and the Vamvakou Women’s Cooperative Vamvakia”, Mr. Markos tells us.

“It is also planned to create and operate a product station that can also function as a small grocery store for the residents.”

Life in Vamvakou

But what is the daily life like for people who live in the village all year round – what advantages does it have and what difficulties does one encounter?

“Life in the village is a challenge in itself. There are many daily problems in mountainous areas like Vamvakou, but one of the roles of our team and our project is the development of new services and the improvement and maintenance of structures and infrastructure of the village”, Eleni Mami tells us.

“There are no shops in Vamvakou, better planning for the week’s supplies is needed, the weather conditions make everyday life quite difficult, especially in the winter months, while the lack of medical infrastructure is definitely a minus in such areas.

In any case, however, everything is a matter of changing the way of life and thinking. It takes strength and effort to create the right conditions,” she says.

“The positive thing is that Vamvakou is only half an hour away from the urban center and, despite the difficulties, the quality of life is important and that every day we deal with something so important and creative.

In addition, it is beautiful to open your window in the morning, to be in a forest and work in a quiet and peaceful environment, away from the noise and tension of the city. No matter how intense and difficult the work is, the image of the natural environment calms you down and gives you strength for the next step and goal.”

As a new mother, Eleni tells us: “The frequent questions “and where will she go to school?”, “does she have other children in the village?” they always put you in a difficult position and increase stress, nevertheless, the zero distances within the village have helped me a lot to keep a balance between work and raising a child.

Also, the freedom that the natural environment gives you, the quality of life, the fresh air and the thousands of stimuli, colors, sounds and smells that a mi

a young child in a virgin place like Vamvakou is a priceless gift for its proper development.

When my son is old enough to go to school, this need can easily be met in a school in the wider area or in Sparta, although we would like to have managed to have the Vamvakos school reopened by then.”

Development pattern

And how do they really envision the village once the incubator initiative works?

“Our team strongly believes in this new venture and the new life and momentum it can give to the place,” says Mr. Verdelos.

“We believe that through the business incubator incentives will be given to potential entrepreneurs to come and operate in Vamvakou and to live here, while at the same time, through the ideas that will be submitted, we believe that solutions may be found to everyday problems of life in the village or in a mountainous area”.

However, there is one thing in common for the whole group: “Our intention is for Vamvakou to function as a development model for other regions, while through the incubator it can function as a model entrepreneurship center in mountainous areas”.

The business incubator is part of the Peloponnese Operational Program 2014-2020 and the Priority Axis “Strengthening the competitiveness, attractiveness and extroversion of the Region, transition to quality entrepreneurship with cutting edge innovation and increasing regional added value”.