13th October 2010

On October 20th 2010, Stelios will announce the five winning teams of the second annual Stelios Award for Business Cooperation in Cyprus - 2010 at an evening reception hosted by the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot Chambers of Commerce. Members of the two chambers will hear Stelios speak on the importance of bi-communal trade in normalizing relations between the two communities as a lead-in to the exciting announcement of this year's winners of Stelios' Award.

The ten shortlisted entrepreneurial teams come from a range of disciplines, but all demonstrate island-wide entrepreneurial activity, and consist of at least one Greek-Cypriot and one Turkish-Cypriot partner. The shortlist for the Stelios Award for Business Cooperation in Cyprus - 2010 include:

Constantinos and Firat of Orkin, providing pest control solutions throughout the island of Cyprus;

Kyriacos and Hasan of Cypress Handcrafts, a long-time partnership producing and distributing traditional handicrafts from Cyprus;

Kyriacos and Can of C&K Natural Stones, two partners who sell stone, marble and other construction material throughout the island;

Andreas and Mustafa of eSelis, a partnership specializing in the digitization of books and documents;

Ioannis and Huseyin of United Distribution who produce and distribute bakery products throughout the island of Cyprus;

Harry and Emre of I.W.F.E., providing building cladding solutions on the island;

Christakis and Hasan of Sonostroke, developers of rehabilatory medical devices for stroke patients;

George, Erol and Tamer of Green Growth Energy Services, providing energy audits and renewable energy products and services for commercial real-estate;

Theodoros and Emre of AccountsTech, a partnership specializing in the development, marketing, distribution and technical support for accounting software;

Panayiotis Zintilis and Osman Nay of Berkal Market, a bakery in the north of the island expanding to the south.

The Stelios Award for Business Cooperation in Cyprus promotes island-wide, bi-communal business cooperation between entrepreneurs by giving promising ventures the funding boost they need to grow. Stelios is personally funding the awards through the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which is dedicated to the three E's - Education, Entrepreneurship and the Environment.

Commenting on the upcoming Award announcement, Stelios said:
"I am so pleased at the enthusiastic response to my Award again this year and am impressed at the breadth of business represented in this short-list and their commitment to partnership. I am a firm believer in business as a catalyst for bringing communities together and - especially now - it is crucial that entrepreneurs get the support and recognition that they deserve."