AIESEC in GREECE National Report 2020-2021
CONTENT Presidents’ foreword,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,04 Our Essence………………………………………………………………………………..06 National Committee Stand and Strategies………………………………….08 National Touchpoints………………………………………………………………….10 National Presence………………………………………………………………………11 Our Products………………………………………………………………………………12 Our Members……………………………………………………………………………..17 Youth Speak Forum 2020……………………………………………………………18 Youth Speak Forum 2021……………………………………………………………20 Public Relations…………………………………………………………………………..22 Business Development………………………………………………………………..23 Finance and Legal………………………………………………………………………..26 Supervisory Group……………………………………………………………………...27 National Team 20.21…………………………………………………………………...29 National Team 21.22……………………………………………………………………30
PRESIDENTS’ FOREWORD Dear reader, You are about to get a glimpse of what happened in AIESEC in Greece from August of 2020 until July 2021. I started my term as elected president a bit before the pandemic crisis hit the globe, never imagined that one and a half year later we would still be talking about adapting to a new normal, in the world and inside AIESEC as well. In the start of 2020 we dealt with a crisis, this year I believe can be characterized as a year of, constant adaptation and change management. The whole organization was trying to stay ahead of the curve, most of the time dealing with the unknown. This is why I believe this year has brought out the brave and pioneer attitude of greek youth. I am very grateful and proud for the commitment, resilience and empathy our national team and each local committee showed towards developing the organization in such an unprecedented year. We managed to have a significant improvement in the management of our finances, our brand as well as in the management of the people in the organization. I truly believe in the importance of leading an organization the right values. I am more than grateful I had people with the same values working for this organization this year. All the things you are going to see in this report can be translated in young people developing themselves and affecting other people's lives for a greater purpose. I feel so lucky I got to work alongside this great generation of people that could accomplish so much in one year. AIESEC is an organization that is developing leadership in youth. Throughout this year we had to redefine how aiesec develops young leaders through a pandemic, how we can have cross cultural experiences without being able to travel. We made it possible to figure the alternative ways to bring aiesec’s mission in life, as this was one of the biggest responsibilities of this term. I see this as a great accomplishment of AIESEC in Greece for this year. Thank you.
Being a President for me is all about impacting and developing the people around you. Being committed to them and helping them achieve is what AIESEC in Greece needs to continue developing leadership for many years to come. STERGIOS BARTSOKAS LC Athens President 21.22
Being a President is all about combining your personal ambitions, the needs of your LC, and the wants of your people. If you merge all this into one vision and create a pleasant environment, you will unite all layers for one common cause: to take your LC and the entity forward to maximize the impact of AIESEC in Greece. GEORGIA KOUTSOUGERA LC UNIPI President 21.22
For me, being an LCP means being committed to your LC, coaching and guarding your LC, and serving the entity in the best possible way depending on its needs for a long lasting AIESEC in Greece. KATERINA TSAMOURA LC UoM President 21.22
Being the leader of your LC means responsibility for your people and your entity. It is a position that requires a lot of resilience, determination and courage as you need to always put your LC and entity first and take the best decisions for the future and the sustainability of our organization. IFIGENEIA BALAOURA LC NKUA President 21.22
Being an LCP in 21.22 is the most unique experience I have ever lived. You learn how to manage yourself, your team, your time and all that while being informed about the external environment. These are the most intense and beautiful 6 months I could ever ask for. In the end of the day we are here for our people and because of our people. NANA KARAVANA LC AUTH President 21.22
Being a President is for me that you have a duty to serve the entity and the LC you are coming from. You are here to impact people through your daily decision making and your stand, so you have the power to influence AIESEC and people that interact with the organization. Last but not least being President means that no matter the circumstances you keep the organization relevant and resilient. NIKOLETTA MAKRI LC Patras President 21.22
Being an LCP for your LC and the entity means being the one to do the conversations to make the organization better and take the responsibility to lead your LC towards success by establishing, growing, and upscaling things so that the next generation be even better. CHRISTOS MANOUSOS LC Crete President 21.22
OUR ESSENCE
WAVE STRATEGIES This year the national team of AIESEC in Greece was named WAVE. WAVE represented the strong power the ocean has and the calmness it brings out at the same time, as this was something that represented our team and as an extend AIESEC in Greece. The values we wanted to lead the organization with, were to be empathetic with the people around us, to give it all everyday for our greater purpose and act resilient in the face of changes and challenges. Through the three words of our vision and values, “commit. lead. revive.” we made our strategic plan for each semester of this year. We had to change a lot of things in the way that we planned this year because of all the uncertainty that existed in Greece and the world due to the pandemic. So we decided to create, instead of one long term plan, two more short term ones, one for each semester. Bellow you will find the milestones/strategies, on which we worked on this year in total, as we try to sum up both of plans, in order to create a holistic view of the year.
PROVIDING QUALITY EXPERIENCES TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ORGANIZATION After evaluating our membership experiences we concluded that we would move on with two membership cycles for every year, as it was better for the members’ understanding of AIESEC experience. This evidently helped a lot in the increasement of pipeline and retention. In the first five months of the year we were observing a big need for more personal interaction that the members of the organization had, as also a change in the way we virtually operate. We tried many new things in the area of people management, with many different network touchpoints as a way to come closer with each other during quarantine. In the end of the day, we could have more touchpoints with more people through a virtual platform. Conferences, national meetings, scheduling events and weekly meetings needed to be adapted to “the new normal” and a reality that everything runs virtually. In the end in this year a different membership experience was introduced and it was the virtual one.
FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND INTERNAL PAYMENTS MANAGEMENT As from the start of 2020 the national committee and the local committees started having a big financial loss due to the unprecedented start of the pandemic, requiring physical meetings or travelling. So, one third of our annual plan had to be dedicated to financial recovery. First project was the financial model review and the way internal payments were charged. Working together with the local committees, we managed to make the processes more efficient for the financial management of the committees and furthermore the national committee, the positive results started showing from the second semester of our term. Second project was long term forecasting and budget cost cutting. Last but not least, starting from December 2020, we started researching for new revenue stream projects. On March 2021 we added Local Company Days in our portfolio and managed to sign the first contract two months later.
CUSTOMER CENTRICITY AND ENGAGEMENT The project of customer centricity was consisted of short term and long term plans. Since the outbreak of summer 2020 we had a lot of exchange participants that couldn’t attend their programs. Throughout the year we had some students also that were interested into going on an experience with aiesec in summer 2021. Seeing the needs that were rising, we needed to alter a bit the customer experience we had until then. First of all from the start of the term we created lists for each program required to be compatible to traveling, volunteering and having internships during covid. We needed at the same time to have every interested young person informed, about how the programs work during this period. On the other hand since programs would start working in summer 2021 we needed to keep the exchange participants engaged with AIESEC until then, with newsletters, groupchats and other forms of communication. Last but not least, the preparation of each local committee to manage interns and volunteers had to be very significant. This is why we were preparing 6 months for all programs that would happen during summer, about all regulations and conditions being in place. All these led to a smooth program delivery for AIESEC in Greece for the last summer.
NATIONAL TOUCHPOINTS GROW The first touchpoint with all executive boards of AIESEC in Greece. Since the number of people was not big and we kept all COVID measures, we managed to make it physically. Main objective was to get to know the strategies of the new national team. Dates: 1-4 August 2020 | Attendees: 35
HEADCO A conference for all the members of AIESEC in Greece, to connect with each other and with the essence of the organization, have a lot of trainings from the national team and workshops from our national partners. This conference happened virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dates: 16-19 October 2020 | Attendees: 265
BOOTCAMPS A summit hosted by the national team for the elected executive boards, with the main objective to train them on how to be an executive board member and align the new teams with the national strategies. This summit happened virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dates: 20-21 December 2020 | Attendees: 40
INITIATE A conference for the smoothest change of generations of executive board teams. Closing the experience of the outgoing executive boards, celebrating and opening the experience of the new ones. There were trainings from the national team, national strategies presentation and workshops by our national partners. This conference happened virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dates: 9-12 January 2021 | Attendees: 70
TEAM LEADERS SUMMIT A summit for all the selected team leaders of AIESEC in Greece. Since it is a layer of the organization where young people have the opportunity to lead a team for the first time, we give the opportunity to train them from the more experienced people in the organization, in order to have strong leaders in the organization. This summit happened virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dates: 28-29 August 2020 and 15-16 January 2021 | Attendees: 47 & 45
HEADCO A conference for all the members of AIESEC in Greece, to connect with each other and with the essence of the organization, have a lot of trainings from the national team and workshops from our national partners. This conference happened virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dates: 2-5 April 2021 | Attendees: 284
NATIONAL PRESENCE Thessaloniki
Ioannina
Komotini
Volos
Mytilene
Patras
Kalamata Athens Crete
INCOMING GLOBAL VOLUNTEER Through Global Volunteer young people have the opportunity to develop their leadership through a volunteering project that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Meanwhile the project supports the NGO/organization cause by empowering the processes it runs and enriching them. In numbers
41 255
EXPERIENCES DELIVERED EXPERIENCES APROVED
Top country partners
Italy
Germany
Ukraine
Main SDGs we contributed to
All experiences took place, from April on and all according to national and international COVID-19 regulations.
OUTGOING GLOBAL VOLUNTEER Through Global Volunteer young people have the opportunity to develop their leadership through a volunteering project that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In numbers
85 306
EXPERIENCES DELIVERED EXPERIENCES BOOKED
Top country partners
Italy
Romania
Egypt
Main SDGs we contributed to
“I chose this project because I wanted an experience in a very different culture than mine. Get out of my comfort zone and contribute to help reduce inequalities and empower people. Although we don’t speak the same language and the locals don’t know English we always find a way to communicate and the people are very nice and helpful with the foreigners. " Maria, Egypt
INCOMING GLOBAL TALENT Through Global Talent young people have the opportunity to develop their leadership while boosting their career through an international internship. Meanwhile the project supports the company/start-up by connecting companies with young bright minds and help them fulfill their business needs with international students and recent graduates. In numbers
19 24
EXPERIENCES DELIVERED EXPERIENCES APPROVED
Top country partners
The Netherlands
Italy
Serbia
Main fields of work Marketing Business Administration Information Technology
Incoming Global Talent this year was globally awarded at the International Congress, for the collaboration we had with Italy. Local Committee of AIESEC in NKUA also got nominated for excellence in this product’s performance. All experiences took place, from April on and all according to national and international COVID-19 regulations.
OUTGOING GLOBAL TALENT Through Global Talent young people have the opportunity to develop their leadership while boosting their career through an international internship. In numbers
32
EXPERIENCES DELIVERED
19
EXPERIENCES APPROVED
Top country partners
The Netherlands
Romania
Main fields of work Marketing Business Administration Information Technology Business Development
Egypt
OUTGOING GLOBAL TEACHER Through Global Volunteer young people have the opportunity to develop their leadership while boosting your career opportunities through an international teaching internship. In numbers
6 11
EXPERIENCES DELIVERED EXPERIENCES APPROVED
Top country partners
Poland
Egypt
Spain
Main fields of work Language Teaching Music Teaching
“In my project the main goal was to teaching English to kids, talk about lots of different topics, exchange opinions and see through the world through a different pair of eyes. I learned patience is a more basic virtue than I thought. Living in the moment is the most important lesson I got from living abroad.” Eleftheria Poland
Outgoing Global Teacher this year was globally awarded at the International Congress, for product excellence and for the collaboration we had with Poland. Local Committee of AIESEC in AUTH also got awarded for excellence in this product internationally. All experiences took place, from April on and all according to national and international COVID-19 regulations.
OUR MEMBERS Managing a people oriented organization, taught us a lot on how important it is to stay close with your team, get to know them and form a deeper bond. This year since everything was happening on a virtual form, every member of the organization needed to put an extra effort to keep make this possible. I think this is one of the big successes that every member contributed in.
217 members 83% Retention 9/10 average NPS
The AIESEC Membership is an opportunity for young people to develop leadership qualities by living a practical team experience in a challenging environment (as members or leaders of a team).
Keynotes Workshops
Auspices Action Space
Did you know that young people make up 40% of the world population? But how many of us are left idle in the face of what is happening around us? At YouthSpeak Forum 2020 get ready to raise the volume and gain a different perspective on the world!
YouthSpeak Forum 2020 was conducted in October virtually for the first time. There were 6 partners, 18 in-kind partners, 20 media partners, 22 speakers and more than 200 attendees that participated in the event.
Media
In-kinds
Keynotes
Workshops
Auspices
In a world that is constantly changing, the way young people respond to change is a key factor. Last year the youth did Unmute. This year? The YouthSpeak Forum MODE ON is coming to: • Bring the 17 SDGs close to society, to enhance their progress. • Align the youth with the continuous changes of the society. • Change our mentality, so that we become the best version of ourselves.
YouthSpeak Forum 2020 was conducted in March virtually as well, there was a venue for the host and the organizing team in Athens chamber of commerce. There were 4 partners, 11 in-kind partners, 26 media partners, 9 speakers and more than 360 attendees that participated in the event.
Media
In-kinds
Public Relations This year for Public Relations of AIESEC in Greece, was about organizing the two big events of YouthSpeak forum, working together with the Alumni association to celebrate our 65 year anniversary but also support AIESEC and working on our strategic alliances and media partnerships in order for more young people, companies and organizations to engage with AIESEC in Greece. In the year of 2021, as for many organizations, our daily operations and focuses changed, this meant a shift on our external representation as well.
Youth Organizations In our partnership with European Reliance this year we cooperated throughout the year on 23 scholarships for NGOs in Greece, as the company participated in the Global Volunteer program.
NGOs
Companies & Incubators
Media
Events Attendance ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
ESN Elections Coaching & Leadership Conference QS Sustainability Forum MBA Mastertools Unlimited Abilities Days' Mackinsey & Company explore Day Business Day
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Ethelon Days HIGGS - Bootcamps Learning how to be a student Internships conference of University of Macedonia HIGGS event Global Shapers Survey EGG Sustainability Week
Partnerships Since September 2020 we understood the need of upscaling and be up-to date with the new digital reality that the pandemic carried. As National Team we decided to bring back projects such as mentorship for our capacity building in the top layers, company days because the need of connecting the youth with labor market was more intense than ever before. At the same time, the virtual trainings continued with the campaign of campaign, 5 skills, to our membership in order to support them on how to manage teams virtually, what are the threats that may occur in this virtual reality and how they can support their team in order to keep being productive. In this idea of delivering virtual trainings/webinars, company days, mentorship companies supported us, by giving us their insights and their working style in this global shift. As AIESEC i n Greece, we introduced these 3 as the newest addition to the Partnership Portfolio, and we are more that happy that Vodafone, PwC and P&G, responded positively to our proposals.
Increase our Main Partners Starbucks RTD became this year one of the Main Partners of AIESEC in Greece. This year company continue to support us with scholarships. As an additional project, Starbucks RTD was the main partner that we collaborated with for our innovation project Case Study, in April 2021, by delivering business cases related to marketing, product development, research & analysis to our membership inside our National Conference HeADCo.
Support our new Partnership Portfolio With Vodafone & CU Greece we delivered together the 2 out of 5 skills that youth needed at this time , the Digital Skills & Agility. Also we delivered the first virtual company day of the term 20.21. The purpose of these 2 was for the AIESECers to get to know the new skills they are going to use to the new era but also get to know better one of our traditional partners and meet the opportunities out there even in the pandemic.
Support our new Partnership Portfolio With PwC Greece we delivered the 3rd skill under the umbrella of the Communication, the Business Writing. Also we delivered the second virtual Company Day and an Audit Training to the Finance Department. The purpose of these two was for our membership to learn and enhance the power of communication through the writing form in a business environment and also to get to know the opportunities of one of our traditional partner. Lastly, we had the chance to learn in a more customized way about audit processes in a virtual era.
Support our new Partnership Portfolio With P&G Greece we started a new cycle of mentorship sessions. We focused on Human Resources, Marketing, Finance and Sales Departments. The sessions were delivered to National Heads and their teams if needed. The purpose was for our organisation to look up on the same processes in a more professional and company environment and learn new ways of operating , by exchanging ideas and receiving feedback from our partner.
Business Development During the year 2020-2021 many companies and organizations partnered with AIESEC and helped us go one step further towards achieving our vision as an organization.
Strategic Partners
Bayer Hellas is one of our Strategic & Traditional partners and one of the companies that contribute both as exchange and funding partners. This year with Bayer Hellas we presented a keynote speech in YouthSpeak Forum and cooperated throughout the year on 10 scholarships for NGOs in Greece, as the company participated in the Global Volunteer program. European Reliance is one of our Strategic & Traditional partners and one of the companies that contribute as the main exchange partner. This year we cooperated on 23 scholarships for NGOs in Greece, as the company participated in the Global Volunteer program.
Main Partners Vodafone Greece is a main Learning partner of AIESEC in Greece for one more year as well. This year we cooperated the YouthSpeak forum event as we presented an action space in YSF October 2020 and a keynote in YSF April 2021. Vodafone also attended out National conference on January by delivering a session with the theme “Learn to unlearn to relearn”. After the conference the company also introduced itself to our member on “Vodafone Day”. Vodafone CU delivered 2 out of 5 skills with them being Digital Tools & Agility Training . We had another training session this year as well being about Social Media, Telco & Techo Training. PwC Greece is a traditional partner of AIESEC in Greece and one of the companies that contribute as a main funding partners. This year PwC participated in YouthSpeak forum October 2020 and April 2021 with a workshop. Throughout the year PwC offered two types of training to the AIESEC members, one about “Business Writing” , being part of the 5 skills and the other one was an Audit training offered to the finance department of the organization in Greece. PwC was further introduced to the members of AIESEC in PwC day.
P&G is a traditional partner of AIESEC in Greece and one of the companies that contribute as a funding partner. In this year P&G participated in YouthSpeak Forum 2020 by delivering a workshop and attended also our National Conference in January with a training session themed “Initiate the future in you”. Mentorship was another project that P&G offered mentorship sessions to our HR, Marketing, Sales and Finance departments of AIESEC in Greece.
Main Partners Starbucks RTD is one of the main partners of AIESEC in Greece this year and one of the companies that contributed as exchange and funding partner. This year the company supported with 5 Global Volunteer Scholarships and participated in our National Conference in April with a Case Study that all our members got to contribute in.
Supportive Partners
Deree- The American College of Greece is one of the traditional Partners of AIESEC in Greece. This year the company participated in YouthSpeak Forum October 2020 and April 2021 by delivering a Keynote speech in each one.
ElvalHalcor is one of the Supportive Partners of AIESEC in Greece and a company that contributes as an exchange partner. The last two years the company supported with 5 scholarships for Global Talent. EY is one of the supportive Partners of AIESEC in Greece and a company that contributes as a funding partner. This year the company participated in YouthSpeak Forum October 2020 and April 2021 by delivering a Workshop for the attendees.
Business Development area and Engage with AIESEC programs this year were globally nominated at the International Congress.
FINANCES Highlights of the year
There was a need to focus a lot on financial management of the national and the local committees due to many unprecedented events that the pandemic caused. We managed to have 80% of our plan achieved in profit and 36% of our plan achieved in income. This is very important considering we have been trying to recover in a year still financially affected from COVID-19.
The financial plan needed to be reviewed every 3 months, with projections on optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. This helped us a lot to take more long term decisions for the entity. Our expenses were minimized to the ones mostly needed and we needed to switch the main source of revenue, since exchanges couldn’t happen in the same amount. We reviewed the model of internal payments, in order to balance the organization’s cashflow. Along with scenarios planning, having risk assessment for the organization’s operations needed to be in place as well. Assessing financial, reputational and health risks as precisely and measurably as possible.
SUPERVISORY GROUP Petroula Karagianni Supervisory Group Chairwoman Operations Manager Omilia LtD
The term 2020-2021 has also been stigmatized by the CoViD-19 pandemic and its restrictions that influence the lives of all, of business, of universities and as a result of the core activity of AIESEC. The Supervisory Group is a body formed by a diverse group of people, from business as well as from academia, alumni and not alumni, aimed at ensuring continuity and at guiding strategic planning for AIESEC over time. It is also in the founding principles of this body of experienced volunteers, to guide AIESEC in Greece through critical moments. As a Group we have been impressed by the passion, ethos and commitment the AIESEC members and their national leadership team have shown over the past year. They have managed to keep the organization safe from all risks – health, financial, reputational – and at the same time, they have managed to maintain their partnerships with private and public organizations, Academia, foreign AIESEC entities and not-for-profit stakeholders. It has been remarkable for us to witness the way they have remained agile and innovative towards making sure that the Greek students - members of AIESEC, have the opportunity to experience the learning environment that the organization has to offer, even on a virtual manner. I would particularly like to mention and recognize Kyriaki Daskaloudi’s leadership, who as a National President, managed to remain calm, focused, made several hard decisions in order to keep AIESEC on the right track and at the same time treated her people with empathy, kindness and an open heart. We believe that the next term, under Vassia Kardasi’s leadership, has all the skills and potential to lead the organization safely out of the pandemic and capitalize on the opportunity of the Incoming and Outgoing Internships program, as well as of the continuous Learning & Development of their members, in order to grow AIESEC’s impact for Greece and for Greek youth. We wish them all the best. I would like to thank Epaminondas, Eva, Harris, Hermione, Makis, Manto, Maria, Nikos, Stelios and Tasos for their contribution to the Group this past year, as everyone’s experience and shared wisdom has been extremely beneficial for AIESEC and the role it plays in the Greek society. Thank you. Yours Sincerely, Petroula Karagianni Supervisory Group Chairperson 2020-2023 Operations Manager Omilia Conversational Intelligence
SUPERVISORY GROUP MEMBERS Manto Patsaoura SG Member General Manager at kariera.gr
Makis Bouras President of Alumni Association Account Manager at PERFORMANCE Technologies S.A.
Eva Karamariou SG Member Deputy HR Manager Webhelp
Epaminondas Farmakis SG Member Founder Human Rights360 & Program Director EEA Grants at HumanRights360
Stelios Charalampakis SG Member Associate Director - Business Development EY Greece
Harris Pitsilos
Ermioni Coco Former President of AIESEC in Greece Regional Manager of AIESEC in Europe
SG Member Business Consultant & Design Sprint Facilitator at Krataion Consulting
Tasos Pagakis SG Members Co-Founder at BMB | Borrow my Brain Consulting
Maria Vakola SG Member Professor of Organizational Psychology, Change Management, Human Resources at AUEB
Solomon Mordohai SG Member Chief HR Officer at Etraveli Group
Nikos Vettas SG Members Professor of Economics at AUEB / General Manager Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research
MEMBERS COMMITTEE 20.21 Kyriaki Daskaloudi National President
Lia Pinakoulaki National VP outgoing Global Volunteer
Aggelos Kokona National VP Marketing
Christiana Tsompani National VP Business Development
Ana Tsitsa National VP Public Relations
Ioanna Papa National VP People Management
Vasia Kardasi National VP Finance
Chrysa Manou National VP incoming Global Volunteer
Mariela Fonseca National VP incoming Global Talent
Zoi Kotsou National VP outgoing Global Talent
MEMBERS COMMITTEE 21.22
Vasia Kardasi National President
Elena Prsidi National VP incoming Global Exchanges
Sofia Tilikidou National VP People Management & Organizational Development
Georgia Vasiliou National VP outgoing Global Exchanges
Irene Tsili National VP Finance
Ionas Giamarellos National VP Business Development
Michalis Mouzourakis National VP Marketing
Vasiliki Papanikolaou National VP Public Relations
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