Mitsotakis: Companies should give equities to employees, for a new business culture

Mitsotakis was speaking at the bank's event for the presentation of the new "Know your customer" tool, which facilitates the access of small and medium enterprises to bank financing.
The prime minister participated in a discussion with entrepreneurs who took advantage of existing HDB programmes and cited the example of the Greek start-up company Augmenta, which was recently sold for 110 million dollars, of which five million dollars were the gains earned by the employees. 

"Employee equity participation is of great importance. Perhaps it should be set as a condition for some financial instruments, even if only with a small percentage. It creates a new business culture and a new generation of healthy entrepreneurship," the prime minister underlined.

Referring to his previous employment in the field of venture capital, he pointed out that what has been done in recent years at the Hellenic Development Bank could not have been implemented with the previous government, which he attributed to ignorance and ideological inflexibility. He also highlighted the additional benefits for businesses, beyond financing, such as access to external expertise to improve the company, access to a wider network of suppliers and customers, etc.

The prime minister underlined the speed with which HDB moved during the pandemic, which helped save businesses that were closed by government order, thus also protecting jobs.

"We have financially supported small and medium-sized enterprises and we will continue to do so. We want more competition and strict supervision rules," stressed Mitsotakis. He also mentioned that this year, if all goes well, will lead to a new record in income from tourism.