The Bakers’ way — Kypseli Market
The project
During the course of this semester at Panteion University’s Startup Lab, we were given the opportunity to chose among 4 projects/challenges and offer solutions.
One of these projects was the reform and utilization of the Market of Kypseli, a challenge presented to our class by the organization responsible for the reform, aka “ Impact Hub Athens”.
This challenge immediately sparked The Bakers’ (our team) interest, being the only one having to do with Social Innovation and Ubran Togetherness.
The problem(s)
Immediately, we noticed there were quite a few issues that needed to be addressed. After interviewing several people in the area, we derived that the main the issue, is that of the lack of interaction among the citizens of Kypseli.
Being a very culturally rich area, Kypseli comprises of several ethnically and economically diverse groups. These groups though, are mostly alienated from one another and there are no opportunities for bonding. As we were told by many, the area has the feeling “of a big city, not a neighborhood”.
Solution
After many bouts of brainstorming we realised that the most effective way to bring these groups together and turn Kypseli into a big, cultural melting pot is the arts.
Our concept was to spark a collaboration of theatres (approximately 10 in number) and turn them into a meeting point for all the residents of Kypseli and the surrounding areas, disregarding their social or economic status.
The way to achieve this would be a bi-anual, week-long festival, offering various theatrical shows. In order to ensure the equal involvement of everyone, we came up with the idea of the concept “Εισιτήριο σε αναμονή” / “ Ticket on hold” (For every full priced ticket, the person buying it has the option to buy another one for half the price. The half priced ticket will be equal to the full priced one and will be available for those who can’t afford a ticket at all — unemployed, students, the elderly etc.).
Before setting our idea on stone we communicated with most of the theatres in the area, explaining them the conecpt. To our surprise we were greeted with enthusiasm by all of them.
All we were missing now was the involvement of the Market, and we had just the solution for that : At the beginning of the festival a big party in and around the Market of Kypseli will take place, where everyone will have the option to bring homemade food and drinks and interact with each other. Food is known to bring people together and we are counting on that.
Finishing Words
After this project came to an end, we stepped back and reviewed our thought process. We noticed that there were some difficulties that were not easy to overcome but we tried our best to figure out a solution and a business model (based on zero-sum games) best suitable for Kypseli’s needs.
To conclude, it’s important to note that Kypseli is a special place for some of our team members. We really put all of our thought and hard work into this project, not only because it was a class assignment, but because we really wanted to. After all, even the idea of helping others is a priceless reward.
Team: The Bakers
Frossini Drakouli
Charis Zarbalas
Jason Verbis
Martha Davari
Asimina Christodoulatou
Danai Kontitsi
Our Mentors
Betty Tsakarestou | Katerina Vlassopoulou | #SpyrosKapetanakis| #DimitrisKokkinakis
#ADandPRLab #StartupLab #ImpactHubAthens
