Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou presents the 20 winners for “Stelios Bi-Communal Awards for Business Co-operation 2022”

Today, at the “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 to each team member.

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 easyHistory.info and the founder and President of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, offered 200,000 euros in total to the 10 best business proposals/teams.

At the award ceremony and announcement of the ten winning teams, which took place online on April 28, 2022, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou congratulated the winners via zoom. Media representatives and the 116 participants who claimed the award attended the online ceremony.

This year’s awards aimed to contribute mainly to the encouragement of business activities between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot people in business, with the ultimate goal of consolidating lasting peace on the island, which was the initiative to establish the awards back in 2009.

Congratulating the winners and participants, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou stated: “It is a great pleasure to see so many successful business people 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/
Left: Hasan Siber – Right: Alexandros Philippides

2.

Andreas Andreou – Emre Serdar:
Aluminium Producers. They met in 2015. Emre was awarded again in 2018.
https://daremtrading.com/, http://www.geopetaluminium.com/
Left: Andreas Andreou – Right: Emre Serdar

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/
Left: Hasan Ekingen – Right Charalambos Leonidou

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/
Left: Huseyin Yavuzkurt – Right: Ioannis Papadikos

7.

Kyriakos Platrites – Cafer Potinci:
Creators of the Medflora Museum. They met in 2002.
https://medfloramuseum.com/
Left: Cafer Potinci – Right: Kyriakos Platrites

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
Right: Baris Mustafa Toprakci – Top Right: Panagiotis Nicolaou

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
Left: Steven Stravrou – Right:Burak Doluay

10.

Yioula Papakyriakou – Mariam Gokcebag:
Producers of lavender products.
They met in 2012.
http://www.lovetroodos.com/
Left: Mariam Gokcebag – Right: Youla Papakyriakou

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 for business cooperation in Cyprus. From 2009 until today, the total value of the Bi-communal Cooperation Awards, including this year’s sum, amounts to € 3,990,000.