The conference titled “Climate Change and Agri-Food: Adaptation, Innovation, and Sustainable Entrepreneurship” was successfully held on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at the ATRAKTOS multipurpose venue in Athens.
🤝 Organization and Support
The event was organized by AWomanCanBe.org in collaboration with EIT Food.
- Aegis (Under the Auspices of): The Ministry of Rural Development and Food and the University of Thessaly (which served as the Training Associate for the program this year).
- Active Participation: Included in the actions of the EU Climate Pact.
- Grand Sponsor: Nikolopoulou Foods company.
🎤 A Day Dedicated to Climate Action & Women’s Entrepreneurship
The event was honored with greetings from:
- Takis Theodorikakos, Minister of Development.
- Charalambos Billinis, Rector of the University of Thessaly.
Keynote Speech
Professor Chrysi Laspidou, Vice Rector, delivered the keynote speech titled: “From the Climate Crisis to Sustainable Prosperity: The Role of Innovation and Education in the Agri-Food Transformation.”
This was followed by two discussion panels on the challenges and solutions in the agri-food sector due to climate change, with contributions from experts in:
- Research
- Certification
- Energy
- Financing
- Sustainable Production
🚀 Pitching Event: When Ideas Take a Stand for the Future
During the conference, the participants of the EWA – Empowering Women in Agrifood program presented their business ideas (Pitching Event) in front of a judging panel and the audience, competing for cash prizes totaling €15,000.
The EWA Program
Under the program, 10 female start-up founders received continuous support for 6 months through:
- Online training and individualized mentoring.
- Access to investors, experts, and entrepreneurs.
1st Prize — €10,000 was awarded to Anastasia Fountouli from Thessaly, with her business idea Cricketos (utilizing edible insects as a source of sustainable protein). She stated: “This distinction reinforces the company’s mission to provide consumers with ecological fertilizer that also acts as a soil conditioner, and sustainable protein for our pets, leveraging the potential of insects. At the same time, it highlights the role Thessaly can play in the transition to more circular agri-food systems, through the utilization of organic waste to create new, quality products.
I warmly thank A Woman Can Be organization for the support and organization of the program, as well as the professors of One Planet Thessaly at the University of Thessaly for the training and guidance they provided on entrepreneurship.”
2nd Prize — “Nikolopoulou Foods Award“ – €5,000 was won by Chrysi Papagiannaki, with her business idea PestAgroFoodNIR (a portable device for estimating the presence of pesticides in food). She stated that this award will support the further research and development of her business idea and facilitate the pursuit of future funding for the creation of the first prototype.
3rd Place and the ticket to participate in the “Women in Agrifood Summit” in Warsaw, was won by entrepreneur Julija Volobujeva, co-founder of PeaceByPeas with Greek chickpea and soy tempeh.
The presentations were evaluated by a three-member judging committee. The Idea Showcase Zone, where mentees set up their “booths” and presented live samples and prototype products, received particular attention.
The event was coordinated by the co-founders of AWomanCanBe.org, Vanessa Archontidou and Angeliki Pantazi, as well as the project leader, Konstantina Togaridou.
Panel Participants (In order of speech)
- Vasilis Zorapas, Head of Hydrogeology & Hydrology Department, Hellenic Authority for Geological and Mineral Research (EAGME)
- Marialena Kanellopoulou, Head of Sustainability & System Certification Division, COSMOCERT SA
- Yiannis Stamatonikolos, Business Consultant, Head of Europe for SDSN Youth of the United Nations
- Voula Tsiara, Executive Director of Agricultural Banking, Piraeus Bank
- Nikolaos Katsoulas, Head of the Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly
- Eleni Pappa, Head of Educational Programs, Open Farm
- Ioannis Senko, Beezeus Beekeeper, founder of Vomvos ecobuzz, ApisEra cooperative
- Konstantinos Filippakopoulos, General Manager of ICG AE
Panel Coordination
- Christina Giavasoglou (Journalist, ESG Stories)
- Victoria Apostolopoulou (Chief Editor at the agricultural newspaper Ypaithros Chora)
