How this social entrepreneur overcame her fear of not making a difference
- Text by Daniel Tapper
- Photography by Robbie Lawrence
“I’ve always had a very deep love for Greece. I’m half Greek myself and spent much of my childhood being brought up there. So when the country was hit by an economic crash, and then one of the largest refugee crises in history, I knew I had to do something. The problem? I didn’t know where to start.
“The country is on its knees economically, tourism is suffering and the refugees themselves are in a desperate situation. Instead of joining an existing NGO, I decided to invite a team of entrepreneurs, company executives and venture capitalists to a boat off the island of Lesbos to discuss a new approach to the crisis. My hope was that these people would apply their passion, innovation and business-sense to solving a social issue.
“Eighteen people attended the first ‘Start-Up Boat’ meeting and the end product was an online platform called First-Contact, which provides the key information refugees lack when entering Europe. On the day it launched, the website attracted 18,000 hits, it now has hundreds of thousands of users.
“Since then, Start-Up Boat has created Migration Hub, a collection of four co-working spaces in Berlin, Athens, Lesbos and Samos, where those working on migration-related issues can work rent- free. And more recently, we’ve launched Marharcar, a carpooling service that connects volunteer drivers and coordinators with emergency refugee personnel to help deliver much needed supplies to the frontline. We currently enable 200 deliveries a day and are looking to expand to Macedonia.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learnt from all this is that it requires very little input to create game-changing ideas. If you can make a website, launch a newsletter and think like an entrepreneur, then you can effectively change the world.”
Keep track of our Millennial Hopes and Fears online special.
This article originally appeared in Huck 55 – The Freaked Out Issue. Buy it in the Huck Shop now or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
An epic portrait of 20th Century America
‘Al Satterwhite: A Retrospective’ brings together scenes from this storied chapter of American life, when long form reportage was the hallmark of legacy media.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”
Primal Scream’s legendary lead singer writes about the band’s latest album ‘Come Ahead’ and the themes of class, conflict and compassion that run throughout it.
Written by: Bobby Gillespie
Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene
‘Balloons and Feathers’ is an eclectic collection of images documenting the scene for over two decades.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results
Clambering through the wreckage of the Harris campaign, delving deeper into the election results and building on the networks that already exist, all hope is not gone writes Ben Smoke.
Written by: Ben Smoke
US Election night 2024 in Texas
Photographer Tom “TBow” Bowden travelled to Republican and Democratic watch parties around Houston, capturing their contrasting energies as results began to flow in.
Written by: Isaac Muk
In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners
See pictures from the competition organised by two titans of contemporary photography, which called upon artists to reject the digitalisation and over-perfectionism of our modern world, technology and image-making.
Written by: Huck