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Who we are

VentureGarden was born of an idea regarding an entrepreneurship education program, between ALBA Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece in Athens and the Entrepreneurship Hub of ACT in Thessaloniki. As this dream was materializing, The Hellenic Initiative, the global Greek Diaspora organization working on the ground in Greece, stepped up and has committed to funding the program now for five years in a row. We are grateful to our fellow Hellenes from abroad, and their Philhellene friends and neighbors for making this investment for the future of Greece.

VentureGarden is a comprehensive educational and training program for entrepreneurs that want to develop their skills, gain access to a continuously growing entrepreneurial network and receive hands-on training.

​​​​​​VentureGarden launched in February 2014. Having worked with over 400 ideas so far, it has been designed to become your personal guide to entrepreneurship.

We provide training and support that helps develop knowledge, skills and networking to build your business. VentureGarden runs in Thessaloniki and Athens simultaneously and is free of charge.

Our team

Southern Greece

Alexis Komselis.

Alexis is the director and co-founder of AHEAD-Alba Hub for Entrepreneurship and Development at Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece. He designs and implements programs to support entrepreneurs and family business members. He regularly participates in judging committees of awards and entrepreneurship competitions, or as a mentor supporting teams that take part in such events. He teaches entrepreneurship courses for Alba's MSc in Entrepreneurship and The Alba MBA, and seminars on the Business Model Canvas at Incubators and Accelerators. His academic research focuses on business models, and family business sustainability and governance. He studied business administration at Deree – The American College of Greece and entrepreneurship at postgraduate level at the University of Aberdeen.

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Ellie Spengou

Ellie is a Project Coordinator at AHEAD - Alba Hub for Entrepreneurship and Development at the Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece. Previously she has held a variety of roles in media, art and communications in medium-sized and listed organizations. Ellie studied Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University and holds an MSc in Arts, Policy and Cultural Entrepreneurship from the University of Groningen. She is responsible for the delivery of VentureGarden in Southern Greece.

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Northern Greece

Anna Baitasi

Anna Baitasi is Assistant Project Manager at the Entrepreneurship Hub at ACT. She has great experience in organizing economics and financial seminars and workshops as president of Inefan, a non-profit association, since 2015. She has worked in various tourism businesses in Greece and Cyprus, in the PAOK B. C. marketing department and in the National Insurance Company. She is a graduate of the Department of Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and postgraduate student in Hospitality and Tourism Management in ACT.

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George Kokkas

George is the Director of the Entrepreneurship Hub at the School of Business of the American College of Thessaloniki. He is specialized in business development issues, having 25 years of professional working experience as a business consultant in the fields of SMEs / Start-ups / Entrepreneurship Development / Regional Development, in Greece and South-East Europe. He has been working as a freelance business consultant as well as been occupied in high management positions by several consulting companies and business development organizations. George has studied electrical Engineering in Democritus University of Thrace, and holds an MSc Degree in Telecommunication Systems from University College London.

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