We would like to inform all students and faculty that ACT will be open as usual tomorrow, Monday, January 9.

The Anatolia School of Business at ACT joined forces with NN and 3K Investment Partners in order to organize a unique event on Behavioral Finance, which combined the experience of all partners.

The event successfully took place on November 30, 2016, at the Bissell Library at ACT, in front of a wide range of participants of various ages and from various industries. At first, ACT's instructor George Anastasiadis shared his long-term experience on national and regional economics, focusing on the conflict between national and global macroeconomic goals that sustain the global crisis. The second speaker, Theo Lizardos Chief Sales support 3K IP delivered a highly interesting speech on behavioral parameters and how these influence people's choices. He concluded that usually people and investors do not always act rationally, due to social factors. An interesting discussion followed, based on participants' interest on both global crisis and behavioral influence, moderated by Dr. Nikos Hourvouliades, Head of the Anatolia School of Business. The event concluded with a reception that kept discussion active and renewed interest for another similar event in the future.

The participation and the great interest (more than 130 participants) featured the opening of the MITEF Greece Startup Competition 2017 in Thessaloniki held at the Bissell Library of the American College of Thessaloniki, on December 5, 2016.  The event was co-organized by MITEF Greece, Anatolia School of Business and Venture Garden.  Dr.Panos Vlahos, President of Anatolia College, made the opening speech emphasizing on the special support that Anatolia College offers on the current forms of Entrepreneurship based on its innovative programs.  During this special event, the participants had the unique opportunity to listen to Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis, Founder and Director of Interactive Robots and Media Lab, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who presented Interactive Robots and Media Lab and shared interesting insights on the latest developments in robotics and its usefulness in improving the future quality of human life in the fields of medicine, industry, entertainment, education, etc.  Following, Mr. Vassilis Papakonstantinou, Chaiman of MITEF Greece, informed the audience about the competition and Dr. Dimitris Kontarinis, Director of the Entrepreneurship Hub, Anatolia School of Business at ACT presented the four teams of Thessaloniki, EventReception.com, Elektronio Handcrafted Vehicles, ErgoSensePro and BAeTI which managed to be among the 25 semifinalist teams of the MITEF Greece Startup Competition 2016.  It should be noted that two of them, Elektronio Handcrafted Vehicles and BAeTI, are VentureGarden Thessaloniki graduates.

Applications for the 3^rd MITEF Greece Startup Competition are open to all eligible teams/startups till midnight December 30th, 2016. For more information regarding the MITEF Greece Startup Competition application, please advice the FAQ’s page and the Eligibility page.

For detailed information on the specific legal rules and terms of participation, please follow Rules & Terms of Participation page.

A live crowdfunding event is always an exciting happening

Especially when there is dinner and wine afterwards for participants!

Last Wednesday, the Dukakis Center and FEAST Thessaloniki joined forces to host an innovative crowd-funding event at WE Thessaloniki. “A Taste of Change” was an unforgettable fun(d)raising event focusing on new social challenges.

To kick things off Dorie Clark, best-selling author and CEO of Clark Strategic Communications, gave a Dukakis Lecture entitled “Marketing for Social Change,” in which she focused on a whole range of considerations in strategic marketing.

After a stirring finale in which Dorie Clark defined public service and citizenship in a most satisfying way ("If we want to be citizens, I think it is important for all of us to be thinking about ways to be of service"), representatives of three local non-profits stepped up to pitch their socially entrepreneurial projects to the sizable audience of 70 strong.

Those presenting were the following; CEPI – Citizen Engagement Policy Innovation, Citizens& Activists, and Give. Each team was given ten minutes to present their inventive and original ideas to the audience, with a view toward winning the gate to fund their projects. The audience was then invited to vote for their preferred project.

CEPI focused on the creation of a channel in which contemporary issues and policies could be discussed, rated and shared among users. Citizens& Activists introduced a platform in an attempt to bring together a community of activists. Meanwhile Give, the winning team, introduced a platform aiming at bringing together physically challenged people in need of clinical help with activists or professionals.

FEAST Thessaloniki have considerable experience hosting this sort of event at venues like WE, and came into the collaboration with the Dukakis Center highly recommended by the US Consulate General of Thessaloniki and the Municipality of Thessaloniki.

Feast members Argyro Barata and Niki Vouimta organized the soup event portion of the evening, including lining up sponsors for dinner and for extra prizes. The Dukakis Center hosted Ms Clark and organized follow up mentoring sessions at the Bissell Library with the individual teams.

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All photos by Alexandros Tsaousis

The Anatolia School of Business at ACT

invites you to a lecture on:

Senses - Emotions - Investment Decisions

Speakers:

Theo Lizardos

Chief Sales, Sales Support & Marketing Officer, 3K Investment Partners

George Anastasiadis

Instructor, Anatolia School of Business, ACT

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

5:30 pm

Bissell Library, ACT

The lecture will take place in Greek.

Cocktails will follow 

RSVP by Monday, November 28

tel. 2310 398 383

The  GreenHouse event in Kozani, received great interest and  participation. 64 applied for the event while 38 people  participated.

The free intensive three-day entrepreneurship workshop was organized by VentureGarden. VentureGarden is the result of co-creation by two leading educational institutions, ALBA Graduate Business School at The American College of Greece in Athens and Anatolia School of Business of The American College of Thessaloniki in Thessaloniki, with the support of The Hellenic Initiative. VentureGarden in collaboration with the University of Western Macedonia, with the support of Kozani Municipality and the Chamber of Kozani organised the Greenhouse event in Kozani.  Its purpose was to familiarize participants with entrepreneurial thinking and action, encourage the development of their ideas, and offer them useful tools in their first business steps.  During the weekend each idea was examined in depth and 11 teams had the opportunity to make a final presentation (pitch) and present their business plans to a judging committee. The two winning teams will have the opportunity to attend remotely the integrated training program of VentureGarden.

On November 21^st 2016, Ms. Aliki Arouh (Anatolia alumna) from the Archives of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Dr. Aigli Brouskou (ACT professor), Anthropologist, and Ms. Areti Makri (ACT alumna) from the Historical Archives of Macedonia presented at the ACT Bissell Library their joint research project titled: "The interface between official archives and oral testimonies. The story of Dario, a baby Shoah survivor from Salonica". It is a unique project that refers to the incredible story of a Jewish newborn that was left in the care of the Aghios Stylianos Foundling Home in Thessaloniki for his protection in 1943. The boy survived the Holocaust against all odds and was discovered by the researchers living in Canada.

It was an event organized by the ACT, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences with the support of the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service and it was well attended (among others) by Anatolia and ACT colleagues and a good number of ACT and Study Abroad students who were later involved into a dynamic discussion.

More on his story you can find in the article: http://www.ekathimerini.com/212055/article/ekathimerini/community/untangling-the-tale-of-a-jewish-wwii-orphan-in-thessaloniki

The Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service at ACT celebrated the American general election on November 8 with a public reception at the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki.

Nearly 200 friends and well-wishers attended, snacked on wine and cheese, and watched a special election day program throughout the evening. Among those present were US Consul General Rebecca Fong, representatives of the municipalities of Thessaloniki and of Pylea-Hortiatis, representatives of the American College of Thessaloniki and the American Farm School, and scores of students from ACT and the Universities of Macedonia and Thessaloniki, including a contingent of American study abroad students from ACT.

Joining co-hosts Lambrini Nassis, Esq., Adjunct Professor on International Relations at ACT, and David Wisner, Executive Director of the Dukakis Center, on the program were, via Skype, Michael Ertel (R), Supervisor of Elections, Seminole County (Florida), John Koenig (D), former US Ambassador to Cyprus, Democratic delegate (Washington State), and Alec Mally (D), former US Consul General of Thessaloniki, Democrats Abroad Greece.

Guests also took a poll, designed by ACT alumnus Pantelis Rafail, with questions on the candidates and campaigns, and the state of democratic governance in the United States. Hillary Clinton won a straw poll by a margin of 70%-30%, while most of those who took the poll agreed that the campaigns were among the most negative in recent memory.

A majority of those polled expressed faith in the integrity of the American political process and the relative health of democratic governance in the United States.

The gathering broke up too early in the evening to review exit polls and election results.