Vamvakou is a village on the western side of Mount Parnonas in Laconia. It takes just under 3 hours to get there from Athens, around an hour from Tripoli, an hour and a half from Kalamata Airport and only 50 minutes from Sparta.
The village had once had over 200 students attending the there school in the 19th century, but lately it followed the fate of many places in mountainous Greece, deserted with boarded up or half-destroyed houses, and fewer than 10 permanent residents and now not a single pupil. In 2018, the Social Cooperative Enterprise (SCE) “Vamvakou Revival” was founded with the aim of bringing sustainable development to the village. It was formed by a group of friends, originally from this part of Laconia, who associated the village with the happy summers of their childhood. The project continues to receive financial and moral support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation as Vamvakou was the birthplace of Stavros Niarchos.
Four years after the foundation of Vamvakou Revival, the village looks quite different, as Haralambos Vasilakos, one of the Vamvakou Revival co-founders told Travel.gr. – ‘The café- restaurant “Voureiko” was created, the guesthouse “Rouga tis Vamvakous” was built, the village’s traditional accomodation was renovated, hiking and cycling trails were opened, the redevelopment of Vamvakou’s playground was completed and, of course, the school was transformed into a space where educational programs, cultural events and innovation workshops take place, the V. Lab (Vamvakou Technology Lab). In addition, the Vamvakou Agricultural Cooperative ‘Parnon Poèma’ and the Vamvakou Women’s Cooperative ‘Vamvakia’ have already been established –in fact our first products, walnuts, chestnuts and olives, will become available on the market very soon,” he adds.
Thanks to the work of Vamvakou Revival, the number of permanent residents has grown from 9 in 2019 to 26, while Vamvakou welcomes over 12,000 visitors throughout the year. The success has sparked the interest of other small villages in Greece looking for a revival.
“We gained experience from our collaboration with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, from the network of partners involved in the project, from our interaction with residents, institutions and organisations. We believe that we can share all the best practices but also our mistakes, with people who are interested in breathing new life into their villages. We’re already helping with other similar efforts, like in Fokida, Argolida and Ilia,” Eleni Mami, another Vamvakou Revival co- founder mentions.
A hub for start-ups on the slopes of Parnonas
The next goal of the Vamvakou Revival team is to attract entrepreneurial activity, which will be key to growing the permanent population of Vamvakou. The Vamvakou Incubator programme aims to attract young entrepreneurs, start-ups, and business groups of up to 5 people who have a business idea that meets the needs and development opportunities of the Peloponnese region in the fields of agriculture, food, tourism, culture, technology and innovation.
Applications for those who want to be part of this much smaller and nature-oriented Greek Silicon Valley have been open for some time and will run until Friday, December 9. This will be followed by the assessment of the businesses from the beginning of the New Year and shortly afterwards they will receive support. A total of 10 businesses will be selected, 5 businesses based in Vamvakou and 5 businesses in the wider Peloponnese Region. “In the agri-food sector, we are looking for ventures that can make good use of the natural wealth of Parnonas and the Peloponnese in general, in order to create agri-food products or offer services in the primary sector. In culture, we are looking for initiatives that combine the
intangible cultural heritage with modern design and highlight the culture of Vamvakou, Parnonas, and the Peloponnese. In the tourism sector, we are looking for ideas that offer a complete and unique experience to its visitors relating to sports, nature, wellness and conferences, while in the technology and innovation sector, we want ideas and solutions based on innovation and technology in resource management, optimization of the existing production process, and facilitating access to basic services – e.g., civil protection, health, education, agriculture, production optimization, circular economy. Of course, in all areas a key evaluation criterion will be sustainability,” Eleni Mami adds.
Selected businesses based in Vamvakou will be provided with workspace and access to equipment – PCs, high-speed internet, work desks, printers, and electronic equipment. At the same time, they will be able to attend training workshops, programmes, seminars, individual and group professional counselling sessions with specialised consultants, coaches, and mentors, and will also be provided with free third-party consultancy support – for example, legal, accounting and administrative support, establishment process, branding identity, website, and social media design.
“We aspire for the Vamvakou Incubator to serve as a model space for entrepreneurship and development of new ideas and also to contribute to the cultivation of entrepreneurial culture in the region. Beneficiaries will not win money but will receive all the help and know-how needed to turn an idea into a viable business. At the same time, they will have access and connections with partner institutions and organisations, financial instruments, and investors. The duration of the support programme is until the end of 2023. Of course, the goal of the incubator is that the businesses established through it will be sustainable and long-lasting, not just a firework,” Anargiros Verdilos, Vamvakou Revival co-founder, explains.
However, the people of Vamvakou Revival recognise the difficulty of the task at hand; “Setting up a business in a place like Vamvakou and returning to the villages in general is not a simple task. It takes awareness, vision, strategy, planning, collaborative spirit, time, a lot of patience, and it requires a change of mindset and flexibility, as it is certain that reality often throws plans off-course. But we know the difficulties of Vamvakou and entrepreneurship here better than anyone else. We are ready to pass on this knowledge,” Anargiros Verdilos adds.
“This venture will obviously be successful when the 10 new business established here, continue to exist and be viable many years later,” Haralambos Vasilakos notes. Vamvakou Revival was founded in 2018. Since then, the pandemic, with all the changes it has caused in everyday and working life, has taken place; a development that can be seen as an unexpected ally for small places and initiatives like the Vamvakou Incubator.
“The pandemic triggered a global trend of returning back to the countryside, while, at the same time, it significantly changed work life. Working remotely has created new opportunities and it has now been proven that the countryside also harbours its own opportunities, if you’re willing to look and work for them. We think that it no longer matters where your business is based, as most communications are done via the internet and distances seem to have disappeared. The important thing is to find fertile ground, to have the desire and the passion to create something new. We believe that Vamvakou is such a place, “Eleni Mami says.
The first baby in 3 decades
When Vamvakou Revival was established it set the very ambitious goal of reopening the village school, which as mentioned above, once had over 200 students. “It’s the most difficult challenge. In any case, it had to be preceded by the creation and configuration of the necessary infrastructure that could attract new residents and, of course, make their lives more functional and safer. We have come a considerable distance in this direction but, to be perfectly honest, we have a long way to go. However, a promising start was made with the first baby born in th village in nearly three decades; the first potential school student. We hope that others will follow our example and choose Vamvakou, a place that is being reborn, as the place of their permanent residence and work,” concludes Mr. Vasilakos.
Read also:
Kaloskopi Restart: Rebirth effort for mountain village in the Fokida area
The villages of Mount Parnonas, the hidden treasure of Greece
Nature, Relaxation and Activities at 4 Peloponnese Mountain Villages
