A competition aiming to encourage innovative startup entrepreneurship kick-starts on Wednesday afternoon in Nicosia, with organizers saying they target entrepreneurs “with an intercommunal vision in Cyprus”.
Winners of the “Startups4Peace” competition are set to win tickets to “Slush”, a major startups and tech event taking place in Helsinki next November and December, that attracts annually around 15,000 people who seek to communicate their ideas and get access to funding.
Ghita Wallin, the Chief Marketing Officer of Slush talked to the Cyprus News Agency on how startups and peace intertwine in this event and explained that entrepreneurship is a great way to do things differently. Slush and the startup scene in Finland have been able to change attitudes and create growth in economically challenging times, she underlined.
The Nicosia event launches the second edition of the Startups4Peace competition, aiming to encourage innovative startup entrepreneurship. Organizers say the event is open to anyone, but is primarily directed towards startup communities “with an intercommunal vision”.
According to Wallin, the first Slush was organized in Helsinki in 2008 by six entrepreneurs who felt that there wasn’t enough risk capital in Finland. Therefore, they invited fellow entrepreneurs in order to attract international investors, she notes.”For small countries such as Finland and Cyprus the same logic applies. In order to be internationally attractive, we need to reach a critical volume” she says and notes that collaboration is key in this endeavor.
People behind startups in Finland are largely students with an interested in entrepreneurship. In Nicosia, Wallin says she expects to meet a diverse crowd looking to make a positive difference through entrepreneurship. “Participation is open to all, and hopefully we can reach to people who are prepared to see Cyprus as a whole,” she adds.
Speaking on the “prize” of the competition, that is a chance to attend the next Slush, Wallin says the event in Helsinki attracts 1,700 startups, 780 investors and hundreds of media representatives from all around the world. The two-day event, between November 30 and December 1, 2016, is a great opportunity for startups to learn, meet like-minded people, and get access to funding, she notes.
The kick-off event at the Nicosia buffer zone starts at 17.00 on Wednesday, June 29, at the Home for Cooperation. Startups4Peace is an initiative by the Embassy of Finland in Cyprus and is organized in partnership with the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce. Application forms are available on the website of the Embassy of Finland and those interested can apply via email until August 31, 2016.
