Within the context of our research project, an important action to enhance entrepreneurship in the senior care industry took place in collaboration with the 2-year (2023-25) postgraduate students of the Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program in Business Administration of the Athens University of Economics and Business (https://mba.aueb.gr). Specifically, in the course titled "Entrepreneurship and innovation" attended by 19 students in the winter semester 2024-25, the instructor Helen Salavou, Associate Professor and Scientific Coordinator of ELIDEK provided guidance along the 12 3-hour lectures for the development of five group-based business plans focusing on the senior care industry, as shown in Table 1 below:
Table 1. Business Plans
Team | Members | Business Idea description | Company name (slogan) |
TEAM 1 | 4 | Providing physical and digital activities to improve the lifestyle, well-being and social inclusion of the elderly | Seniors Playce |
TEAM 2 | 4 | Specialized medical care services for the elderly | Lifelink |
TEAM 3 | 4 | Digital platform for seniors with subscription services for wellness, entertainment and social inclusion | Reviva |
TEAM 4 | 4 | Mobile application for diagnostic medical tests and health monitoring using reminders to the elderly | ΥγειαApp |
TEAM 5 | 3 | Provision of companionship, daily care and travel accompaniment services for the elderly | Better life for all |
The business plans were presented on January 13, 2025 to a 4-member evaluation committee, which consisted of 4 members of ELIDEK's research team, and more specifically:
Salavou Eleni
Kyriakopoulos Panos
Mamakou Xenia
Sofikitis Manos
Initially, there was a 10-minute presentation of the progress of the research project, about which they were informed at the beginning of the course, in September 2024, and they sought additional information on the website www.react.aueb.gr. Then the presentations of business plans took place. The available time for each presentation was 15 minutes and then followed a short discussion between the members of the evaluation committee and the team for clarifications, remarks, comments and guidance.
After completing the presentations, the committee concluded and justified that group 2 presented the best business idea. Two criteria were used for the evaluation, namely the idea originality and feasibility.
In conclusion, this action in collaboration with the Athens University of Economics and Business allowed 19 young people with high performance expectations in the labor market, not only to enhance their entrepreneurial skills but also to be informed about the problems of the senior care industry by proposing solutions through new venture creation. At the same time, they were given the opportunity of networking with organizations and institutions with the help of the research team, which will facilitate the transformation of their ideas into action. Based on the feedback of the postgraduate students, the participants not only appreciated the opportunity of being informed through the website but also acknowledged the multiplied impact of the deliverables on our country given that the Aging Index of Greece is above the European Union average.
Read the teams' testimonials
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