The Award is in its second year and presents five entrepreneurs with EUR50,000 each for their work in promoting business cooperation in Cyprus. Entrants must be at least one Greek-Cypriot and one Turkish-Cypriot who work together in a business venture.

Last year's winners, selected from almost fifty entries, were:

The Highgate School - a school offering integrated trilingual education from pre-K to grade 12 in Nicosia; represented by educators Maria Theochari and Zubeyir Agaoglu.

Papazor Enterprises Ltd. - an internet-based car and villa rental service represented by Izzet Zorlu and Stathis Papaefstathiou.

C&A Agricultural Products - represented by Unsal Ozbilenler and Christakis Varnava, C&A packs, distributes and exports agricultural products grown island-wide.

The Three Ladies Team - represented by Praxoula A. Kyriacou and Özlem O_uz, is an economic research and consulting company advising clients on intra-island trade.

OSP Continental Trading Ltd. - manufactures PVC windows and doors for sale island-wide and is represented by Andreas Petrides, Özker Ìldeniz and Soner Yetkili.

The Award promotes island-wide, bi-communal business cooperation between entrepreneurs by giving promising ventures the funding boost they need to grow. The Award is funded personally by Stelios through the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which is dedicated to the three E's - Education, Entrepreneurship and the Environment. Commenting on the forthcoming Networking Event, Stelios said:

"I am delighted to be launching this Award again after having such success in our first year. 

"Cyprus is an island very close to my heart and I'm delighted to be able to help those entrepreneurs who are bringing the two sides together.

"The quality of the entries last year was very strong - I'm hoping my decision becomes even harder this year!"

The prize - administrated by the ALBA Business School in Athens, and presented at the November gala award ceremony hosted by the Entrepreneurs Club in Greece - is worth €50,000 and will help to give the winners the funding they need to enable their business to grow. 

The first award was presented in 2008 to Brian and Aris Karey, who have expanded their idea - Simply Burgers, fresh, healthy and fast food - to ten franchised locations throughout Greece.

The second year of the Award for Young Entrepreneur in Greece saw the team at zoo.gr - Greece's innovative social networking, gaming and internet marketing company - being presented the Award by Stelios himself.

While Greece has a proud history of business dynasties, it is less well known for small entrepreneurial businesses.  With his Award for Young Entrepreneur in Greece, Stelios aims to raise awareness of the important contribution entrepreneurs make to economic growth and society in general.

Commenting on the awards, Stelios said:

"I am delighted to be launching the third successive award for young Greek entrepreneurs and now, more than ever, we need to support promising young businessmen and women who are trying to grow their businesses. 

"If you want to build for the future, you have to help young people today. In difficult times, it becomes even more important for promising entrepreneurs to have access to funding. When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to have my father's support when I set up my first business. I want to provide that same support to today's entrepreneurs."