We Leave in a Nightmare of a State Structure

If Cyprus was a person, it would have been send to a juvenile delinquency court and put under parental supervision until it matures... anything we could fuck up, we did... WTF... so many scandals the last 60 years and no reaction by anyone... are we stupid or what?

Zoume se ena oneiro poutzina pou fonazis oso pio dynata mporis alla foni en fkeni, i potzina pou vouras opos ton pellon alla poupote en pais... pos/pou mporw na fkw na fonaksw kapia aftonoita pramata tzai na me akousoun oulloi? Ma oulloi omos... den ginete re kopellia tzai kopelles na mas peripezoun toson polla se oulla ta epipeda tzai na men theloume/mporoume na alaksoumen ta pramata. Pou na arkepsw tzai pou na teliosw? Forologies xoris antikrisma, forologies pas tes forologies giati katastasis opos GESY einai indirect forlogia. Dld oi forologies pou plironoumen gia pion praman eni? Gia na ta klefkoun? Plironoumen forologies gia education, health care, infrastructure etc tzai tipote den ginete se kapion apodekton epipedo tzai otan xriasti na ginoun touta ta pramata me sovarotita prepi na ksanaplirosoume... wow... e kala re file, oi alles forologies gia inta prama eni? Ta elites pou efan tzai ekokalisan to kosmo? Dikastes, xrimatistiria, trapezes, sxoleia, rousfethkia ... dld oi pio eksipnoi einai tzinoi pou skeftounte enan tropo na fkaloun lefta me to na gelasoun tous ypolipous alla epidoi oi voleftes mas den eskeftikan (oi en ethelisan na nomothetisoun giati tzai tzinoi trwn) oute gata oute zimia... trwn, kamnoun malakies tzai istera pou to panairi kamioun tzai mian palavonomothesia me 1000 lathoi gia na epemvoun taxates... kani olan...

Do What You Love

If you love what you do, you immerse your self, you teach your self and learn as much as possible. If you do not love what you do, others teach you and it is just as much as you need to do your job...

Making Cypriot Fried Bread

Making Cypriot Fried Bread with Honey

Making Pittes (Fried Bread)

Cyprus Startup Ecosystem

This was a lot of fun

Many thanks to Ismail and Demetris for sitting down with us for the first live broadcast of Cyprus v.U, and to the over 4,000+ who tuned in at some point and interacted by providing questions for our guests and/or helping us solve the challenge of the live think tank portion. Many more to come.
We had a great time discussing social #entrepreneurship and #innovation across #Cyprus (particularly for youth), learning a lot from the experiences of both Demetris of the Center for Social Innovation - CSI in Nicosia and Ismail of Kyrenia's Girne Gençlik Gelişim Merkezi - GİGEM. We spoke about the opportunities and challenges in Cyprus common to the entire island with perspectives from both north and south Cyprus, and tackled one of those shared challenges live on air

Looking forward to our next chat coming up soon with some new amazing guests on Uniting Cyprus via Digital Transformation and Technology!

CyprusInno Discussion

Radical Transparency

True, real, unquestionable, meaningful Goodness of heart. ... that's what is important. ... can you truly be happy with someone else's happiness and truly sad and supportive with their sadness? That's the measure. ... Love to all...

Motivational Video - Stay Strong

To all the people that I love and care about ... and that includes most people  ... please watch this inspiring story ... some people among us have or gain unparalleled strength, focus and commitment when they are faced with adversity ... then, why not be as strong, positive, loving, focused to begin with... be strong, stand up, face life and just Keep Fighting Forward ... Lots of Love to All

Stay Strong - Motivational Video

Chinese proverb - We need Each Other

"If you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back" ... Chinese proverb ... Everyone needs someone's help, try to help as many people as possible have a better life experience... Pay It Forward! ... Love to All..

Are you Happy with your Footprint?

When death touches our footprint and we are reminded of how fragile life is and how little control we have over our expiration day, and realize that we may not end up walking as far as we would like we should ask ourselves; Are we happy with the trail we have left behind us? Constant readjustment towards pure goodness... that's peace of mind... that will give comfort to the ones left behind... and that is heaven... Love to All!

Happy Women's Day

Happy Women's Day to all the real women in this world. The ones who are caring, giving, loving, strong, confident! We are indebted to you.... Special Shout to the 6 incredible women in my life ... eternal Respect and lots of Love to my Strong partner in life Ciriaci tnx for showing me what is selfless love, what it truly is to be passionate about your beliefs and the true meaning of family commitment. I am so fucking lucky that you allow me to navigate life with you; Love, Care, Pride and Warmth to my oldest daughters Stephanie and Nicole who taught me why is life important and why hugz and kisses are necessary. You make me smile and stand tall as I observe you growing up to be the mature, sensitive, driven, humble and committed women that you are... tnx for being my teachers; Love, smiles, patience, cuddling and many more years learning together to the youngest kitten in the Den my Little Sofia. Tnx for making me laugh, teaching me how to be a kid again and how to enjoy the simplest things in life. I am doing everything I can possibly do to be able to see you grow and be there for you along the way; appreciation and sibling love and understanding to my sister Anastasia who is being there from the very beginning and she is still there for a call at any time; and last but certainly not least the warmest hugz and kisses, appreciation, and everything else imaginable to my mother Sofia for the sacrifices she made all her life, and life lessons she instilled in me... hard work, commitment, humanity, love, caring, patience, being humble, sharing, and in general goodness ... I Love you guys....

Actual Hands-on Experience Makes a Fucking Difference

Isn't it weird that the vast majority of Entrepreneurship and Start up discussion panels, accelerators and legislators or policy makers in Cyprus do not include a single person who actually built a single company or has ever dirty his/her hands in the actual process of building a company? How can someone give advice when everything they know is theoretical? It's like me trying to advice future tennis players how to get an ATP ranking or golf players how to get on the PGA tour. Stop setting uneducated expectations and fucking up a whole generation of youth. Know what you don't know and either step off the plate or get someone to support you. Entrepreneurship is not a classroom activity..

Going crazy about fossil fuel while ignoring renewable energy and what the sun can easily gift us

Isn't it weird that we are all getting kaka crazy about finding fossil fuel (gas) in the Mediterranean, when we have much easier access to the sun? Why not invest in harnessing energy from the sun. Why not invest in building efficient and cheaper photovoltaic technology. Creating high value jobs in scientific fields, involve our universities, build manufacturing around this area? Gas is expensive to extract, make usable, and distribute... sun is much easier... and then, much easier and perhaps cheaper to send over to Europe with underwater cables instead of underwater tubes... and also maybe, the energy from the sun will not even create all this political turmoil and conflict, and for sure much more environmentally friendly... why not? Perhaps some people are seating pretty to gain a shitload of money from the process of extracting gas? Maybe money is the motivation? Because for sure the Sun makes so much more sense in anyway you see it... Have a great weekend...

Be Positive and show some gratitude

Don't fucking tell me you are having a bad day ... go wake up your luck... enjoy the day and say thanks for all the positives in your life and work to make all the negatives great... happy life takes an effort.... kalimorning...

April 1st ;)

Three Venture Capital investment firms see Cyprus as the next up and coming global Entrepreneurship hub and as a result they agreed to join forces to create the 750 million USD Cyprus Fund. Columbia Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital announced the fund in an effort to be the first to land on the island ahead of the tsunami of multitude of investors planning to join. The funds are attracted by the abundance of deal flow, the mature ecosystem, the common stakeholder goals, the expertise and the regulations and legislation conducive to high risk investments.

We Need Happiness & Smiling Literacy

Casual morning drive field research results: we need Happiness & Smiling Literacy... of the 50 cars I counted only 3 people were smiling (2 men, 1 woman)... irrelevant but important info: 42 drivers were using a phone or were putting on makeup (vast majority women - i stoped counting at 22 women, 3 men) ... 3 people (all men) were smoking in the car while having young people with them... 1 driver (young girl -for sure less than 20) pitched some paper out the window...non scientific Conclusion: we can't manage the basics in this country and we are wondering why we are absent from more important conversations on other issues.... Provlimatismos... kalimera

Unacceptable GESY First Fuckup

I do not accept that this is the beginning for GESY and therefore there is an excuse for insufficient infrastructure, processes and procedures. This is not the first relatively large scale system that is being designed. There are massive systems out there and there is plenty of experience and knowledge, per-release testing, estimates etc. that are available and these information and knowledge should have been used to set up a sufficient system to handle the load ... there is absolutely no excuse ... the people involved are unprofessional to say the least .... my opinion ... Kalimorning

Επιλέγω την ΑΓΑΠΗ, την ΚΑΤΑΝΟΗΣΗ, την ΣΥΜΒΙΩΣΗ

Αποφασίστε... Θέλουμε λύση τζαι συμβίωση ή όι; οι μισοί βαφτίστηκαν Έλληνες τζαι οι άλλοι μισοί Τουρζοι τζαι έκαναν τα "σιεσιε γιαχνί". Όποιος είναι τυφλός ταιρκάζει τα όπως θέλει... Όταν εβιάζαν την μικρή και αποκεφάλισαν τον αδερφό της την ίδια στιγμή κυριολεκτικά στο ίδιο δωμάτιο αποκεφάλισαν τον παππού και τη γιαγιά μου ... έχω κάθε λόγο να μισώ... έχω κάθε λόγο να είμαι ρατσιστής...ΔΕΝ ΕΙΜΑΙ... Δεν έχει καλές και κακές χώρες, εθνικότητες ή θρησκείες... ΕΧΕΙ ΚΑΚΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΛΟΥΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΥΣ... μπορώ να σας ονομάσω Ε/Κ που είναι πολύ μαλακές και δε θέλω καν να τους ξέρω και Τ/Κ που είναι λεβέντες και το αντίστροφο... είδα με τα μάτια μου, διάβασα, ρώτησα, άκουσα, έμαθα... 200 ατομα από την μια κοινότητα και 200 από την άλλη κατέστρεψαν και συνεχίζουν να καταστρέφουν την Κύπρο και οι υπόλοιποι τους το επιτρέπουμε... Και οι δυο πλευρές σκότωσαν, και οι δύο πλευρές αναίρεσαν συμφωνίες, Και οι δύο πλευρές πυροδότησαν μίσος και μισαλλοδοξία... Δεν είμαστε ειλικρινείς γιατί τρελαθήκαμε για τον serial killer (που έπρεπε να τρελαθούμε) αλλά δώσαμε κλάδο ελαιας σε 15 δολοφόνους που βίασαν και ξεκλήρισαν 200 γυναικόπαιδα. Και αυτοί ζουν ανάμεσα μας ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΑ και δεν μας ενοχλεί...και κατά τα άλλα μόνο η άλλη πλευρά είναι βάρβαρη... ηρεμήστε γιατί δεν έχει κάνεις το προνόμιο για το μίσος ή την έχθρα... Εγώ επιλέγω να είμαι ειλικρινής, να μαθαίνω, να συγχωρώ, να προχωρώ, γιατί ΘΕΛΩ να παω στο χωριό μου. Δε θέλω πλέον να με ρωτούν από πού είμαι και να πρέπει να απαντώ " Από τον κατεχόμενο Γερολακκο και τον κατεχόμενο Συσκληπο" ή να σκέφτομαι ότι όταν πεθάνω δεν έχω τόπο που να θέλω να με θάψουν...Θέλω ο τόπος μου να είναι ένα, να μπορω να κινηθώ ελεύθερα. Δε θέλω αυτό που έχουμε τώρα. Τέλος, το ξαναλεω: επιλέγω την ΑΓΑΠΗ, την ΚΑΤΑΝΟΗΣΗ, την ΣΥΜΒΙΩΣΗ...

The feminist movement failed to empower women

The feminist movement failed to empower women .... Freedom of choice is different from real empowerment... my opinion ...my love, care and compassion to all

Cyprus Entrepreneurship Ecosystem - My Opinion

Cyprus Entrepreneurship Ecosystem -  Food for thought ....

1. We should stop referring to startups and Cypriot start ups in the same sentence. If you want to build a startup you should think globally/internationally from the beginning
2. If you want to move quickly bypass (legally) the government or government entities
3. Have a sustainability plan so you do not have to run after money every time you run out of it... cash flow and burn rates are the two most important financial instruments when building a start up
4. Not everyone is built to become entrepreneur. As a mater of fact, only 20% of the people have the "DNA" to become entrepreneurs. My speculation is that most people in Cyprus are not successful because their objective is to get public funding to play around and do not have a Purpose that solves a critical market/society problem
5. Have a purpose when you are building a startup
6. Have the determination and the drive and work 25 hours a day (I know there are only 24 hours in a day but for fucks sake you are an entrepreneur - figure out another hour :)
7. Put things in perspective; there isn't ANY successful startup that came out of Cyprus - think about this - there are reasons for that. Figure out the reasons and fix it... don't expect others to fix it for you
8. You can't copy another successful "ecosystem" and expect the same results
9. Doing business and building startups is difficult as shit; that's why the success rate is really really really small
10. Stop listening to wanna be mentors, experts, specialist etc. The first question to ask to any of those people is; How many startups did you build (successfully or not)... the less they did the faster you run away
11. Ideas are a 1000 to a dime; they do not mean shit. I have 10 ideas every morning while taking a shower. Ask the difficult questions; is there enough market willing to pay the price I command for the unique/different product or service that I want to build? .. .and many more
12+1. Have a team around you who knows what they are doing, have the drive to do it, the patience to see it through, whose purpose and commitment are aligned with the rest of the team...

AND YES, I have been building startups for the last 34 years in the US and Europe ... some of them failed and some didn't ... overall pretty good for me so, I think I know what the fuck I am talking about... BTW, yes, this is a complicated issue and cannot be addressed with one posting or one seminar or one of anything but at least it can give people interested an idea of the basics ... lost of Love to All...

Solution for Non Performing Loans

Government should buy all non performing loans at the discount rate the other loan portfolio buyers do i.e. at 25% of their value, rent the assets back to owners to collect rent, and as the owners die sell them to young people to give access to affordable housing... this way the banks will be free of non performing loans, gov will stop bleeding payments to banks, people will stay in their homes, market will not be flooded with real estate assets so the prices will not collapse, government will be collecting rent, will gradually sell as people pass on in a smooth long term distribution, and young couples will have easier access to a home...

Beautiful Parenthood

No Comment needed ... Watch and Enjoy Beautiful Parenthood ... It will put a smile on your face ... I love my three beautiful daughters