ECONOMY

“Efodiazoyme” is a set of initiatives which brings to life Athenian Brewery’s strategy which is consolidated in the moto “We are here. Were are together”. The programme is targeting  the young, SMBs and farmers and it aims to create added value to the greek economy by empowering stakeholders through experience and knowhow transfer. 
 

The programme consists of 3 pillars:
 

• Supporting the Young 
   

Athenian Brewery stands next to the youngsters who are face the consequences of the financial crisis. In order to assist them in dealing with Unemployment, Athenian Brewery has taken initiatives to support them by offering guidance and consulting for their start of the career life and also to foster young entrepreneurship.

In this scope, Athenian Brewery has become the main sponsor of the “Orange Grove”, the start up incubator created by the Dutch Embassy in Greece, where young entrepreneurs have the opportunity to work on their new ideas, collaborate, improve their capabilities, get expert advice and continue to bring their companies to life. Athenian Brewery’s CEO and senior managers support actively the participants with speeches on leadership, exports and marketing.

Moreover, Athenian Brewery supports the “Job Pairs” programme, an initiative against unemployment, which brings together young graduate with experienced mentors who support them in making them the right choices in the beginning of their career life.
Finally in collaboration with the NGO “Sobers - Cheers”, more than 20 speeches were given to students of universities, schools and Food & Beverage schools in order to inform and inspire the young to enjoy responsibly. 
 

• Supporting Businesses 
   

In 2014 Athenian Brewery launched a Training & Consultation programme for SMEs aiming to provide expert knowledge on the issues of exports and international trade. The programme was created in collaboration with the Hellenic Management Association in Patras and was accredited by the Professional association of Achaia. The objective of this programme was to offer to SME business owners access to the knowledge and experience of experts in order to get useful insights on how the can grow their own business by expanding their operations abroad. The call for participations was targeted at self-employed, owners and employees of small & medium businesses of the agricultural and food industry. 

In the same scope, a similar programme was launched targeting customers of Athenian Brewery operating in the wholesale market of beer. In 2014 a new department was create in the Sales Division dedicated to increase the Sales Capabilities of both Athenian Brewery’s sales staff and its customers. Throughout the year, Athenian Brewery’s experts in IT, Sales and Logistics provided consultation and guidance to customers so they can improve their skills and the effectiveness of their business.
 

• Supporting  Farmers  through the Local Barley Sourcing Programme
   

For the 7th consecutive year, Athenian Brewery continued its Local Barley Sourcing Programme and its investment on the development of the Greek market of barley for producing beer. In collaboration with the American Farming School in Thessaloniki, Athenian Brewery continues to offer incentives, support and know-how to greek farmers in order to assist them to improve their yields and their profits by acting as entrepreneurs. Moreover, farmers have access to new varieties of barley which are prepared by the Agricultural University of Athens in testing fields across Greece.