Report of the “The Business of Food” program

“The Business of Food” the training program of Wise Greece it was a great success!

1,360 people from every corner of Greece attended the training program “The Business of Food” with 96% stating that they received valuable practical knowledge that will be useful for their business steps, while 99% would recommend the seminar to friends and acquaintances!

 

The program was created by the non-profit Wise Greece to support people facing unemployment in big cities and the periphery, as well as young people who want to take their first professional steps. “The Business of Food” focused, as its title suggests, on entrepreneurship around food production, as in Greece we have access to excellent raw materials, which if properly highlighted will be able to offer many employment opportunities.

The aim of the program was to give skills to the participants and to offer them practical knowledge that will be useful to them with whatever they eventually deal with in the future. Through the online sessions, the experienced trainers conveyed their personal experiences, while successful food producers, as well as beloved Chefs such as Argyro Barbarigou and Andreas Lagos, shared with the participants their own path to success in order to inspire and motivate them.

 

Specifically, in “The Business of Food” the participants learned, among other things, how to create their own product line, how to draw up a basic business and financial plan and how to look for the appropriate sales network in Greece, but also abroad. They discovered how to turn their ideas and history into marketing tools, what to pay attention to in the packaging of their products and what kind of services the modern consumer asks for. At the same time, they were informed about the global trends in product production, online Marketing and how they can launch advertising campaigns on their own and create original material that will be of interest to consumers!

 

Some of the participants stated:

“I was impressed by everyone’s positivity and encouragement. Through the seminar I learned that nothing is impossible and that if I have a will I can achieve something innovative!” , Dimitra T. from N. Fokidas

 

“I learned how to make my own business plan, in an easy and understandable way, because it was analyzed on an existing company with real data”‘ Fotini Ch. from Drama Prefecture

 

“It’s hard to meet such personalities who will talk to you openly about the steps you need to take to grow! Most seminars are general and theoretical… I watched it with my sister and now we are thinking about how we will apply what we learned.”

 

The results
The participants amounted to 1360 from 200 parts of Greece, with 35% of them referring to towns and villages in remote areas.

The percentage of women reached 70% and of men 30%.

Based on the statistics from the questionnaires completed by the participants, the difference in their knowledge is large, with 80.2% of them stating that they did not know at all before the seminar the terms Business plan and Marketing plan, while after the end 95% of them stated that they have a complete picture and understood the terms.

96% of the participants know the food industry better immediately after the seminar and that they got practical knowledge that will help in any professional step.

60% feel closer now to opening their own business, while 92% think of entrepreneurship as a potential career.

 

The project was implemented by the non-profit Organization Wise Greece in the framework of the Active citizens fund program, under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Family Policy and Gender Equality.