Celebrating The Meraki People

Partner Spotlight: The Meraki People

Celebrating The Meraki People

• Championing Change: Breathing new life into rural communities through groundbreaking regenerative bioeconomy initiatives.

• Trailblazing Achievement: Pioneering the Rural Innovation Hub in Arcadia and earning a pivotal role in the EU Soil Mission Horizon project.

• Why We're Celebrating Today: For transforming local challenges into global opportunities with unmatched passion and innovative impact.

Join the Celebration

I came back from 23 years in Canada to find my community totally altered. I was used to a bucolic culture that was thriving and developing only to discover: 

• 24 Empty villages that few decades ago were thriving communities. 

• An unprecedented demographic calamity took place for more than 20 years with youth flying away as no hope for a descent income generation was in sight.  

• Climate crisis felt around the globe had affected the water, the olives, the fruit and eatable nuts production, the fish & the Argolic golf, as well as a dying agricultural tapestry diminishing alarmingly

Income generation with new mindset was my private answer but how?

Raising awareness about Cyclical Bio Economy, regenerative agriculture starting with living soil and engaging the locals to something inspiring with hope! And bring a plethora of other stakeholders keen to turning calamity to Nature’s first factory

That is how Meraki People was born. Oct 2015 Dr Gunter Pauli, CEO of Novamont was invited to share his knowledge and expertise in the Village of Agiannis! He introduced to the 85 participants the concept of “the yeast economy” and renewable raw resources manufacturing as well as cascading income by valorizing waste. Necessary to implementation was the joining the microcosm with the macrocosm. A community bio fab lab was to raise awareness and provide tangible solutions to anyone interested in creating this new reality and a new income generation process in rural setting. Bio Based businesses to be explored. 

Human and financial resources were an absolute necessity and there were not ample and abundant. As a matter of fact they were scarce and the task was impossible! Day in day out reaching out to people resources and networks for 7 years were religiously pursued. Health Summits, participation in various incubators, climate kick events, trainings with the Blue Economy network, being encouraged and mentored by Mr Sheridan Tatsuno, Mr Fyodor Ovchinnikov of Evolutionary Futures Lab in California, several Academics from various disciplines and other people who were trying to create similar realities were approached.

Meraki People ( people with passion, dexterity, focus and commitment) was registered as a personal private SME in Astros with the mission of creating the International Bioeconomy Centre in Arcadia where teams would cocreate and codesign the new reality by entering ainto fertile dialogues and DOABLE ACTIONS towards creating both  physical and digital Rural Innovation Hub. Taking the brunches of olive trees and making them into fungi growth material were Ekofungi’s knowledge transfer to eatable organic fungi very small pilot production plan. 

THEN COVIT STRUCK and for two years all was shut. Not really as meetings, discoveries, networking and relationship building was the norm day in, day out! Regeneration Pollination, Global Community Bio Summit, Rural Impact Network, European Microfinance Network, all joined at that time. Reaching out, bootstrapping, preparing a book for bio economy literacy with Scientific Advisor Dr Constantine Vorgias of our National Kapodestrian University of Athens that Dr Gunter Pauli recited 18 tangible bio economy community projects that worked wonders around the globe described! 

Environmental literacy via Climate Fresk - an International NGO, the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs digital transformation education, a first retreat of 8 people that came and actually visited us on location all were our first invoices that started the “proof of concept” process!!  And we are still going strong

Academy of Entrepreneurship’s President Mr Andreas Stefanidis and his NGO, proposed cooperation and direct subcontracting to the Erasmus program of Cineforum to teach via film all social changes and challenges. It was an absolute success as it marked the beginning of a long term informal educational partnership and sustainable development. We found ourselves along with the farmers of the olive producer’s cooperative of Doliana, the New Agriculture New Generation, the Austrian Afforest4future NGO and last but not least the AI department of NKUA our National Univ Professor Demitrios Karras, all partners to an EU Soil Mission Horizon program GOV4ALL that Mr Tristano Bacchetti-De-Gregoris Project Coordinator, Founder and Head of research and innovation Soluciones Agrícolas Ecoinnovadoras SL invited me to join the remaining 26 other partners, for 4.5 years, in Spain France and Greece and lead the THYREA Living Lab. The total budget for the project 12 million Euros with the 370.000 Euros our part in it! 

Creating the Education System, the Pilot Regenerative Bio Economy Village retreats and the inviting bio based companies worldwide to showcase their products with us in the village will be the main sources of our income. SDG #12 interested parties will meet at the rural village of Agiannis in the Mt Parnonas area and have a tremendous, measurable Socio-Economic-Environmental impact of great magnitude in the Region, Nationally and Globally 

We aim to leave no one behind in this endeavor and to inspire change !