Founder

SOPHIE LAMPROU

Sophie is the co-founder of Impact Hub Athens, part of the world’s first global network for the promotion, support, interconnection and empowerment of social entrepreneurs and innovators. A community of people who take sustainable and responsible initiatives to contribute to addressing social challenges.
Since 2010 and for three full years was a member of the hosting team in Impact Hub Madrid, where she learned in-practice the processes of community building, design thinking and participatory leadership. At the same time, she was an active member of the Creative Society advisory team to support and empower businesses through creative problem-solving processes. There, Sophie was also responsible for the project “Are you ready for us?”, A global survey of conditions that accelerate the entrepreneurship of young people. She often collaborates with the IE Business School in Madrid, where she delivers courses on social entrepreneurship at the MBA & IMBA. She is a graduate of the Department of Administrative Science & Technology, and a member of AIESEC. Helping found El Sistema Greece is one of her most recent accomplishments.

Founder

DIMITRIS KOKKINAKIS

Since 2010 and after finishing his studies, Dimitris is an active member of the global network of socially driven entrepreneurs and change-makers that is Impact Hub. He is a co-founder of Impact Hub Athens, a community of entrepreneurs and innovators who collaborate towards the development of sustainable business solutions. His experience with the global Impact Hub network has allowed him a profound insight of mobilizing resources and seizing opportunities in order to generate greater value and creative interactions among peers. Before relocating to Athens, Dimitris was the head of Educational Programs and the coordinator of the Hosting team at Impact Hub Vienna. From an early age, he has participated in several youth organizations in the fields of education, art and environment and has been actively involved with various local communities and international student-networks such as AIESEC. His studies at the Department of Administrative Science and Technology of the Athens University of Economics & Business, taught him that through a creative design of systems and technology it is possible increase the efficiency of an organization.

Community & Programming

ELENA LAMPROU

As the lead of Impact Hub Athens’s “Impact Making Unit” Elena Lamprou is responsible for the overall design and delivery of a wide array of awareness, capacity building, incubation and acceleration programmes run by Impact Hub in Athens. Over the past 5 years she has been designing, organizing and implementing educational programmes in schools and universities along with social entrepreneurs and positive-impact-driven individuals and organizations, helping them master techniques and gain experience in building impact-driven communities. In this practice she often works with insights from the grassroots and working with programs themselves from the moment they are conceived till the moment of evaluation.

Performance Intelligence

Errikos Ovadias

Born in 1986 in Athens, Errikos studied in the Athens University of Economics and Business in the Department of Management Science and Technology. During his university years he became an active member of AIESEC in Greece. After getting his degree he went for a one-year internship in the Netherlands to work for one of his favourite brands – Nike. One year became seven  – during which he gained experience in Business Analytics and Digital Marketing. During his years in the Netherlands he was playing his favourite sport – basketball – at least two times per week and was part of an improvisation theater group for two years.

The time had come, though, for him to return to Greece where after a short time period in the telecommunication business he decided that Impact Hub was the way to go so that he could grow as a professional and as a person.

Event Manager

GIORGOS PETROU

Born in 1984, he grew up in Nafplion, and moved to Athens to study History of Art and Archeology at the Kapodistrian University. He continued his studies in the UK with a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. His professional experience includes working for several museums in London, such as the London Transport Museum and the Science Museum, both at Curatorial and Commercial Departments. He is passionate for music, museums, concerts, travel, and, of course, sports. Coming back to Greece, Giorgos became a member of the Impact Hub Athens team, and is in charge of events planning and design and he loves smiling faces!

Finance and Operation

Christiana Gaitanidi

She grow up in an environment full of numbers! Thus mathematics became her great love and led her to “Finance”, where she learned the secrets of equations, diagrams, spreadsheets, functions, budget, report, cash flows and a number of exciting theorems. Anxious spirit, she always wants to learn new things and she does not rest if does not make them perfect.
Working in Impact Hub became part of a global community that gave her the opportunity to acquire enough knowledge not only about the world of Economics but also about how the economics have a direct impact on civil society.
She worked at Fair Trade Hellas for 2 years, as well as a year in ActionAid, but the real entry in the exciting world of finance started at the Delta Education Group, where she worked for 6 years and gained extensive experience in financial management. She has been a volunteer in many humanitarian organizations as social action is concerns her.
She has organizational and communication skills, sets high goals and strives to achieve them.
Her career has improved her not only as a professional, but also as a human and active citizen.

Data Protection Officer email: christiana.gaitanidi@impacthub.net

Community Host

Iason Stravrakis

I was born in 1992 in Athens. I finished highschool in 2010 and was introduced to the Impact Hub Athens team in October 2018, working as a community host. I also practice music. On my free time I Iike riding my bike, playing football and taking photos.

Communication Strategist

LIDA TSENE

Lida holds a PhD on social media and social responsibility. Apart from academic books on communications, corporate and media responsibility, social media, journalism, storytelling, cultural management and entrepreneurship she reads loads of comics. She likes to talk a lot about the things she is passionate about, so she is collaborating as teaching associate with several academic institutions. She tries to share everything she learns (and loves to learn more) and to turn knowledge into action, that’s why she wants to be part of creative and impactful communities such as Impact Hub Athens. She is PR, Art and Educational Director of Comicdom Press and founder of Athens Comics Library.She believes in the power of networks, that’s why she has friends all over the world.

Marianna Mpouga

I was born in 1997 and I study in the department of Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business. In October 2018 I started volunteering as a hostess at Impact Hub Athens and later completed my internship in finance. This year I gained many experiences, knowledge and ideas. I encountered many incredible people, each of them with different backgrounds and career paths who inspired me on a professional and personal level. All of this made me love my job as a hostess and since October 2019 I have been an official member of the team. When I am not at the Impact Hub, you would probably find me in a movie theater, hanging out with my friends or I will be home reading books.

Nia Zoi

In parallel with my studies at the Department of Social Anthropology Panteion, in 2013 my partner and I started the “Xumopoieio” a social enterprise that aims to integrate vulnerable groups of the population in society through a healthy and autonomous business. At that point, I met the Impact Hub Athens team and joined the community. Τhey were the first to recognize and support our project. In December 2019 the format of our collaboration changed as I became a member of Impact Hub Athens’ team.  I am currently involved in the educational programme in the Municipal Market of Kypseli. I like to stroll around neighborhoods, discover and try new flavors from around the world in small shops in the city, go to the movies and go swimming in the sea, waterfalls, lakes and rivers!

Elena Kalimeri

As a student (of the Law school), I perceived the university and the city as a space of co-creating culture. After realizing that being a lawyer wouldn’t make me happy, I continued working on researching labour market models of young people and vulnerable teams. Until I discovered the social solidarity economy! In this sector, I dedicated 2 years of master studies, trying to find how the law affects the entrepreneurial and social action of people who refuse to believe that only profits make the earth go around! At the same time, as a policy maker, I undertook the responsibility of designing and implementing laws and supportive programs of the sector. During this journey, I had a crash with the Impact Hub Athens team! Hopefully, it wasn’t an unrequited love, as I joined the team in November 2019, as a community manager, responsible for enforcing and growing the community. Ιn other respects, I enjoy my city, wherever its inclusive culture is growing.