My name is, Thanos Karathanos, I’m a chemist, president of the union of Greek enologists and I teach at the University of Thessaly, department of food technology.
What is the profile of unemployed youth?
The young people that have finished their university studies and currently looking for work, we could say that this is a category, as well as a number of young people that haven’t went in a university level school. We can say, that those are the 2 main categories that the young unemployed youth belong in our area.
What are the main barriers of young people to set up a business?
In general, I would say that the long crisis period that was present for many years, in our area, which is an agricultural region, arrived later, but continues to be present, especially in the employment sector.
Additionally, as an agricultural region, we do not have big industries, so that the youth could be adsorbed in working positions/ places, those we would say are the main reasons for the youth to find a job.
I would say that the main obstacles are connected to the culture that our society has, that is against entrepreneurship. We have a culture of officers/clerks, as I usually say, and this prevents a lot of people from trying their strengths in entrepreneurship.
How can young people get access to entrepreneurship?
Everything that is connected to education, is a weapon for the youth, such as training and vocational training, that private and public organization are providing training programs, that are enhancing and supporting training and information, as a weapon for the youth, beyond their studies to specialize, mostly in sectors that are connected to agriculture and food.
How can the different actors cooperate to make it possible?
Any interaction between: universities, bodies, organizations, chambers of commerce, as well as individually, entrepreneurs that employ people, should widely share the information on job demands, on new places, additionally, they should accept young people to do their internships, according to the field that the youth would like to follow.
This is the reason that all the training programs are focused on the needs of the young people and the knowledge of the labor market.
