Founder of Kanava Hotels & Resorts Kalia Konstantinidou, Greece’s Minister of Tourism Harry Theocharis, the U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt, and Elpida, Founder of Mexoxo, at the “Small Places Big Dreams” launch event.
“Small Places Big Dreams” an educational program powered and implemented by Mexoxo with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece.
Kanava Hotels & Resorts is sponsor of “Small Places Big Dreams”, a U.S. Embassy-funded educational program, launched by Mexoxo and dedicated to empowering and building capacity for women entrepreneurs working in the Greek tourism sector.
Elpida founded Mexoxo AMK in 2013 with the vision to unleash every woman’s potential anywhere at any time. The mission of the organization is to support 5 million women by 2030 to achieve socio-economic growth. Since its inception, Mexoxo has empowered 5,500 women in 16 countries and has recorded an indirect impact of 22,000 women as every woman who is empowered supports four more within her family or community. It is worth noting that Mexoxo has created opportunities of 1 million USD in total value to support its women either via growth opportunities, funding, or education.
Kalia Konstantinidou, Founder of Kanava Hotels & Resorts said, “We are beyond happy and honored to have joined forces with Mexoxo for this unique educational program. Sharing the same values, commitment, and vision for women’s socio-economic empowerment with Mexoxo, we feel that this project is a natural continuation of our own conduct, since we have always strived for equal opportunities in our company and encourage our teams to endorse the same mentality. Our company has the intention to participate with an even more active role in this project, with the aim to transmit our knowledge, but also to share our passion and inspire women to seek a career in the tourism industry. We are confident that this program will unfold to all the participants a bright future and will make the industry shine with their talent.”
The U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt said during the launch event of the program, “The U.S. Embassy is proud to join forces with Mexoxo to realize our shared vision for empowering women leaders. Our engagement with Mexoxo is part of our larger effort to support the revitalization of the Greek economy and in particular Greece’s vital tourism industry. We are proud to be collaborating closely with Greece’s Minister of Tourism Harry Theocharis, whose smart, safe, and ambitious approach has helped to make 2021 the year of American tourism in Greece. We want to make sure that Greek women entrepreneurs can take full advantage of the growing opportunities in A group of people posing for a photo
Description automatically generatedthis sector as Greece opens and welcomes tourists back and are proud so see the strong partnerships with American businesses like Google, whose Google Grow project is supporting women’s economic empowerment and Mexoxo.”
The program is placed under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, General Secretariat for Demography and Family Policy and Gender Equality, General Secretariat for Justice and Human Rights, Association of Greek Regions, Central Union of Municipalities of Greece, Business Association of Tourism Accommodation in Greece, Cyclades Chamber of Commerce, and the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation.
The recruitment process has begun last month and by the end of September 2021, 300 women from the tourism industry in Greece will be selected to participate in the program and take advantage of this unique opportunity.
The curriculum of the educational program "Small Places Big Dreams'' is provided by Grow with Google, the École hôtelière de Lausanne, and the Metropolitan College. The scope is to enrich the knowledge of Greek women within the tourism industry and accelerate their adaptation to the sudden digital transformation occurred by COVID-19. The main objective of the program is to upskill 300 Greek women from the tourism field to achieve socio-economic growth. Mexoxo designed this program together with AQ Strategy aiming to focus on tourism that is one of the most important pillars of the Greek national GDP.
"Small Places Big Dreams" will provide mentorship to all beneficiaries, webinars held by tourism experts, digital marketing courses, and the #BreakYourCeiling empowerment course by Elpida.
Finally, all participants will attend the graduation ceremony that will take place on March 8th, 2022, on International Women's Day, with the participation of expert keynote speakers from the U.S. and Greece.
As part of Kanava Hotels & Resorts’ intention to be actively involved in the program, two bootcamps will also be hosted in their facilities in October 2022, with invited speakers and mentors. Each bootcamp will take place for three days and the special sessions will be attended by 20 graduates.
Sponsors of the program are Lancôme, Blue Star Ferries and Kanava Hotels & Resorts.
Supporters of the program are Assessment.gr, AQ Strategy, Blinkist and Athens Capital Center Hotel – Mgallery.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
