Building global Greek businesses
Lessons from Italy on how we can imagine a better future
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🌎 Building global Greek businesses
In the summer of 2023, Italy hosted the exhibition Imagining the future. Leonardo da Vinci: in the mind of an Italian genius in Washington D.C.
The project was a celebration of the work of Leonardo Da Vinci, perhaps the most famous Italian person who has ever lived. More importantly, it was an initiative to promote Italian entrepreneurship and innovation beyond its borders.
The event was led by Confidustria, the main association representing manufacturing and service companies in Italy.
The list of Italian companies that sponsored the event included some globally known brands: Dolce & Gabbana (luxury fashion), Pirelli (tyre manufacturer) and Leonardo (aerospace & defense).
As I finished reading the names in that list, a thought kept bugging me: What are some global Greek businesses that have become household names in countries outside of Greece?
I could not come up with a single name.
It felt devastating.
What is Greece missing?
The case of Italy is instructive because Italy shares many common elements with Greece: a common Mediterranean culture, a long and rich European history, relatively similar climate, as well as close geographic proximity to each other.
So, what is Greece missing?
There is a set of 5 themes that I believe are critical in manifesting a future where Greece boasts at least one globally recognizable Greek business:
Scale
Innovative spirit
Export-oriented mindset
Ambition
Remembering and reminding
Let’s go through them one by one.
Scale
Did you know that large enterprises (companies with more than 250 people employed) only constitute 0.1% of total Greek businesses? That’s less than 500 companies.
Size matters.
We need to make room for larger businesses that can take advantage of economies of scale and compete on a global level. We cannot rely on tourism to do that for us. We will also never going to achieve this if we rely on our heavily SME-skewed model.
This requires a concentrated effort by policymakers to make it easier for Greek multinationals to exist, grow and prosper in the first place.
The current Greek government has already created many incentives for tech startups and companies investing in R&D; perhaps something similar could be done for larger manufacturing companies.
Innovative spirit
We need to make innovation happen faster and more easily in the country.
To be fair, this is a task for the EU at large, not just Greece specifically. And to the surprise of many, we have been making sustained progress over the past few years.
But innovation will never come (just) from more entrepreneurship awards, better governmental incentives and slight improvements in rankings.
Innovation is built in practice. It requires a culture of experimentation and learning by doing. And this is something we need to cultivate very early on at schools.
We need to build our own type of “American dream”, show that anything is possible. We produce some of the brightest minds in the world. Let’s make it easier for them to create amazing innovations in the country rather than leaving.
There are glimmers of hope, especially in the realm of tech entrepreneurship.
But this should become a national effort across all disciplines and domains.
Export-oriented mindset
Greece should start thinking global-first.
Our default should be creating products and services that can be sold abroad.
This mentality requires that we become more competitive, outwards-oriented and in tune with the demands of a global marketplace. It also means we should identify, grow, promote and protect our comparative advantage better.
A number of Greek companies have realized the importance of exporting a larger share of their product base abroad. Some of them were struggling to remain viable in the small Greek market during the years of the financial crisis; these companies are now are thriving thanks to their newly established international footprint.
Thankfully, our exports have been consistently increasing in recent years. But this uptick is only scratching the surface of what could be possible in Greece’s future.
Ambition
If we want to create large companies, export significant quantities abroad and innovate aggressively, we have to become much more ambitious.
Ambition requires thinking big. Not settling for less. Going above and beyond. Surpassing our limits and pushing the bar higher. Making the impossible possible.
We have a large number of amazing Greek entrepreneurs and scientists, some with great achievements, but we still have very few landmark results to show around.
Ambition requires a small dose of ‘craziness’.
2,300 years ago, our ancestors built a large statue two-thirds the height of the modern Statue of Liberty at the entrance of a Greek port. How absolutely crazy.
What could be the modern equivalent of a crazy idea like the Colossus of Rhodes today? That’s what we should be thinking. And then just go and make it happen.
Mario Gabriele has a great piece about building European Ambition. We lack that on a European level, but we also fall remarkably short of it in Greece too. Alex Alexakis has argued we need to create 10x more Greek entrepreneurs. I’ve talked about giving birth to 10s of new Onasses over the next 50 years.
Regardless of how we frame our freshly ambitious vision, what is clear is that Greece should start aiming much higher.
Remembering and reminding
Leonardo Da Vinci is often recognized as one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived.
It might be more than 500 years since he died, but Italy still leverages his global allure at every opportunity. Italians are proud to base an entire promotional campaign for their businesses around his innovative profile.
Much like Italy, Greece has made a long list of contributions that have stood the test of time and have defined the human condition for millennia. We have a rich history since the days of Ancient Greece that foreigners often make better use of than us.
For reasons I cannot explain, we do not like leveraging our past successes. It feels like we are almost embarrassed by the distance between what we had been in the past and what we are today. But that’s just silly.
Greece needs to remember who it was but also remind the world where it comes from.
The long history of Greek civilization offers a globally recognizable signal, a powerful brand and innumerable contributions that have made the world a better place.
This is one of our greatest — and most underutilized — assets.
Narratives matters, and we already have some of the most amazing stories in the world to tell. Let’s start telling them.
A new Greek miracle
Let me end with a confession: I do not like miracles.
Miracles are at best one-offs and at worst have a way of turning into nightmares. This is especially true in economics. That’s why I prefer hard coded data, being close to reality and allowing myself to change my mind as facts change.
And yet, Greek history is full of examples where miraculous things have happened against all odds and beyond any expectations.
One could say that building the first globally recognizable Greek business would fit in the category of a miracle.
Our beliefs mold our behavior and our psychology shapes our actions.
What if some Greeks believed really strongly that we could create this miracle and then worked really hard to turn it into a reality?
Let’s dream it. And then go f*cking build it.
🏭 Economy & Business
Industrial production for Nov 2024 increased 4.8%, 3rd highest in EU
Industrial production grows 4.4% in Q3 2024 (vs -8.2% drop in Q3 2023)
Manufacturing gross value added in economy grows to €19.9B in 2023
Greek housing market is overvalued, according to new BoG study
Greek banks start responding to new legislation with new offerings
Greece chosen as base of one of two new EU secure satellite hubs
Chevron expresses interest in Greek energy exploration
🤖 Tech & Startups
Successful Greek startups share some common traits
Greek NLP Toolkit was designed specifically for modern Greek
Skretas Lab work highlighted by Springwise (and previously here too)
Tunic Pay chosen as one of UK’s top 100 Startups — congrats Nicky!
BigPi Ventures adds serial founder and investor Guy Krief as Partner
33East just launched its new Cyprus-based €26M fund
Intryc raised 3.1M in seed funding led by General Catalyst
Founder Institute Greek cohort starts again on Feb 11
🙌 Celebrating Greek wins
Katerina Sakellaropoulou ends a respectful tenure as Greek President
Kalamata is enjoying its own multi-decade success story
📌 Spotlight: AI lessons in Greek from top expert
Constantine Caramanis, Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, is one of the top AI experts in the world.
He recently released an introductory course for Machine Learning in Greek.
The course is perfect for anyone looking for a good intro into AI. I have watched 1/3 of the episodes, and despite prior knowledge, I have already learned more.
Better start preparing for that singularity moment, right?
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Until next time!
Top level write ups. I'm hooked I gotta say.
Having left Greece more than a decade ago, I'm glad to hear things are finally taking a constructive and ambitious direction. I can see the challenges - Greece spent decades with a mindset of "minimum effort, maximum return." That's about as far as you can get from building globally competitive companies.
The ancient Greek leverage angle makes perfect sense. When I lived there, most Greeks had a surprisingly shallow understanding of ancient Greek achievements compared to educated foreigners. It's like having a Ferrari in your garage but never learning to drive.
But here's what I'm curious about: What specific changes are you seeing on the ground? You mention a shift toward ambition and innovation - I'd love to hear concrete examples. Because transforming a national business culture takes more than hope and good intentions. It takes a generation of entrepreneurs willing to build things the hard way, and a government to support it, or at least not kill it.