At Thursday’s “Stelios Bi-Communal Awards for Business Co-operation 2022”, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou awarded 10 bi-communal teams, 10 Greek Cypriot and 10 Turkish Cypriot business people, with the cash prize of €10,000.
Participation in the Bi-communal Business Co-operation Awards exceeded all expectations, as 58 groups of Greek and Turkish Cypriots (116 participants in total) submitted their joint application, claiming the cash prizes.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, creator and owner of the easy family of brands (www.easyHistory.info) and the founder and President of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation (https://steliosfoundation.com.cy/), offered €200,000 in total to the 10 best business proposals/teams.
At the award ceremony which took place online, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou congratulated the winners via zoom.
This year’s awards aimed to contribute mainly to the encouragement of business activities between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in business, with the ultimate goal of consolidating lasting peace on the island, which was the initiative to establish the awards in 2009.
Congratulating the winners’ Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said: “It is a great pleasure to see so many successful businesspeople set aside the differences created by politicians and work together to benefit their homeland’s economy and to consolidate peace on the island”.
The ten winning teams in alphabetical order:
1 Alexandros Philippides – Hasan Siber:
Olive growers. They met in 2007.
https://coliveoil.com/
2. Andreas Andreou – Emre Serdar:
Aluminium Producers. They met in 2015. Emre was awarded again in 2018.
https://daremtrading.com/, http://www.geopetaluminium.com/
3. Charalambos Leonidou – Hasan Ekingen:
Merchants of Leukarite embroidery. They met in 2003. They were awarded again in 2016.
http://lefkaracorner.com/Homepage,
https://www.facebook.com/leonandriart/
4. Christos Marangos – Mine Yucel:
They deal with market research services. They met in 2003.
https://cymar.com.cy/,
www.facebook.com/prologueconsulting/
Left: Christos Marangos – Right: Mine Yucel
5. Elena Christou – Kadir Yorgancioglou:
Sanitary Ware Traders. They met in 2014. They were awarded again in 2018.
https://reginapietra.com/, http://www.diremtradingltd.com/
Left: Kadir Yorgancioglou (Direm Trading) – Middle: Loucas Christou (Regina Pietra)
6. Ioannis Papadikos – Huseyin Yavuzkurt:
Fish Traders. They met in 2005. Ioannis was awarded again in 2018.
https://cyprus-is.com/el/listing/fishmarket-morphou-97294/
7. Kyriakos Platrites – Cafer Potinci:
Creators of the Medflora Museum. They met in 2002.
https://medfloramuseum.com/
8. Panagiotis Nicolaou – Baris Mustafa Toprakci:
Traders of traditional stone. They met in 2004.
https://www.facebook.com/cyprus.landscape,
https://www.facebook.com/Αχιλλέας-Νικολάου-Λτδ
9. Steven Stavrou – Burak Doluay:
They created a communication platform for Cypriot Entrepreneurs. They met in 2016. Burak was awarded again in 2019.
https://cyprusinno.com
10. Yioula Papakyriakou – Mariam Gokcebag:
Producers of lavender products.
They met in 2012.
http://www.lovetroodos.com/
It is worth mentioning that 50% of the winners had registered and won prizes in bi-communal award competitions of previous years, which is a very encouraging development.
It showcases that the cooperation between the two communities is ongoing.
This year’s event is the 12th edition of the Bi-communal awards.
Since 2009, the total value of the Bi-communal Cooperation Awards, including this year’s sum, amounts to €3,990,000.
