I do not know whether the optimism of youth or the strong will of our heroine in the next street story gave me a different picture of modern Greece. A picture disappearing in the news for economic collapse, years of recession or trade union unrest. Elspi Kanaropoulou is just one example among thousands of young Greeks who are willing to give their best to fight this and to build a better future. She is working hardly for her own well-being. And if it’s true that small business is the backbone of a healthy economy, then people like her will bring light in the tunnel of economic crisis.
Elspi Kanaropoulou is 26-year-old owner of the L'alba luce lights shop in downtown Athens. I can surely describe her as a friendly, ambitious and very positive young woman who knows what she wants and is struggling to achieve it. MA in Italian Philology, Elspi decided that she doesn’t want to work for a monthly pay and despite the difficult economic times she decided to start her own business. She found time to share with GRReporter readers her views on modern Greece and business enterprise in a crisis.
Birth of a young entrepreneur
My parents have a small production workshop for lighting fixtures and lampshades. As a child, I spent many hours around them, in the production and sale. I was still in elementary school when I made my first successful shade. It was blue-green for reading light. My father placed it in the showroom and sold it a few days later. I did my best and my parents were very proud of me. I was also glad that I've made something with my hands alone and someone has appreciated it enough to buy it and make it part of his home. Even then I felt that I could handle alone. You do not have to wait for someone to pay you a salary to do it in life. I knew that I want to be boss of myself long ago. I realize that the family background gave me the courage to believe in myself and start my own business. Moreover, trade is my passion. I enjoy working with people, which helps me a lot in work.
Italy is beautiful, but not like home
I went to Rome when I was 23 to take a master degree in my specialty Italian Philology. My stay in Italy was a very important period of my life. Rome, for me, was huge, chaotic and romantic city that can inspire you constantly. I grew up there as a person, but I did not plan to stay and settle forever. It is not much easier to get a job in Rome than in Athens. In fact, you can work there, but not if you want to develop, as was my idea. My stay abroad made me realize that there is no second place in the world as your own homeland, your home. My relationship with my family and friends is very strong, so after I finished my work there (in short, I took my training and diploma) I returned to Greece. I learned a lot for me and the world during this year and a half and would not change it for anything else. I already knew what I want to do in the future, so I had no reason to stay there.
The road is yours, go!
I already knew what I want to do when I graduated from the University. I had two ideas. The one was to open a private Italian and Spanish language school. However, I didn’t like the conditions of the franchise agreement. The other was to open my own lights shop. This was definitely more secure option, because I know the market and the process from the beginning to the end, and I like it in general. This decision was important for me because I felt that this would continue the family business. This is my contribution to its development.
I got a small loan from the bank so as to have an initial capital for the start. Then I applied as a young entrepreneur for one of the European programs for supporting the small and medium business. This enabled me to pay part of the loan and turn some money into commodity. The subsidy was allocated in three payments, the second of which was quite late - about two months, but the engine was driven and the shop was operating.
Meanwhile, I am teaching private lessons in Italian in my spare time. This is a financial help and diversity too. If I had to make a living just with lessons, however, most likely I would be tired at some point. Now it's something like a hobby.
Even the downpour will not stop me
Naturally there were a lot of problems and one of them was that right after the completion of the finishing work the store was flooded. Downpours in the autumn proved to be endless and as result I found a lake in the shop one morning. Wooden flooring was swollen so I had unexpected costs. If I were superstitious, I would say that someone put an evil spell on me. My closest people supported me in my decision to start my own business, but there were those who were quite skeptical, even derisive: “What shop you will open in these times,” said they. It didn’t even occur to them that most likely I’ve thought the things over and actually knew what I was doing.
When you're young and determined to prove yourself it is not very nice someone to hammer in your head that you should not risk and any initiative is a mistake. Actually, I know I'm young and even the things do not go well, I have other options before me. This will not stop me, however, try to create something of my own.
Step by step, the future is before us
I knew exactly what I want and what to expect when I got engaged with the opening of the company and the the whole idea of my own shop in general. I know I won’t be rich (she’s laughing). My goal is to make the name of the shop popular, to build up a customer network and to develop the business as better as possible. Eventually, at some point, I would like to be able not only to cover my costs but to set aside some of my earnings. My plan is to make L'alba luce a commercial chain, if everything is all right. .
The answer to the crisis is work
The crisis in Greece is a fact and there are problems at all levels in the country but the world goes on. The answer is always the same - work. The more you give of yourself, the more you achieve. I am an optimist at heart and I believe that those who work and give everything of themselves will cope with the problems facing them. It sounds like a cliche but it’s true – you reap what you sow. Many stores and shops closed in the last year, but for the most part these were enterprises that had experienced problems before the economic crisis. Simply the new truth uncovered financial woes of many of them and they were forced to cease their activities. Now we need calm, measured, positive thinking and action to see the course of the problems. The mass media largely contributed to the panic in the country and the balance was impaired.
Our generation
In my opinion, the system for employment increase in the country in recent years disserviced our generation. 90 percent of my fellow-students at the University had intended to graduate and find a job in the public administration. The permanent security of being and officer to the end, regardless of the vicissitudes in the country, killed the young Greeks’s sense of initiative and ideas. I think this crisis will make good to us, because now the only way to survive is to create something new or competitive, which will be useful to you as a person and your country in the process of positive economic growth recovery. An example is the fact that the Greek handmade luminaries are more demanded, their price is better than the price of the imported lighting fixtures and there is no difference in the quality.
At the age of 40...
At the age of 40 I am going to have at least another shop on Kifisias Boulevard to the northern suburbs, a family and as many children as I happen to have and a small apartment in Rome. It will be my personal space in this beloved city of mine. In fact, the first moment when I can afford to invest it would be in real estate right there.
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