Loucas Pouroulis (South Africa)

Loucas Pouroulis, Greek Cypriot by birth, settled in South Africa in 1964. Holding an Honours degree in mineral technology, he very quickly became involved in the country's mining industry, and in 1977 he founded the Salene Group of Companies - a privately held South African mining group producing gold, platinum, diamonds, titanium and emeralds. Pouroulis also operates businesses outside South Africa: Tharisa Mineral, mines platinum and chromium (London Stock Exchange); Keaton Energy, a carbon mine (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is run by his son Phoebus; Trans-Africa Resources mines gold in Rwanda, Congo, Mauritius and Senegal; Petra Diamonds, managed by his other son, Adonis, operates in South Africa, Angola and Sierra Leone.

Pouroulis at Kathimerini
Pouroulis at Eland Platinum
Pouroulis at Miningmx

Napoleon Perdis (Australia)

Napoleon Perdis (born 19 March 1970) is an Australian makeup artist and businessman. Napoleon's parents were Greek immigrants, who settled in Sydney's western suburbs.

Napoleon Perdis has created a line of cosmetic products which he sells through 59 concept stores across Australia and New Zealand. His cosmetics are available from a total of 800 locations and in recent years, his business has expanded to the United States.

Perdis at Wikipedia
Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics

Mike Lazaridis (Canada)

Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Mike Lazaridis was five years old when his family moved to Canada in 1966, settling in Windsor, Ontario. He is the founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), which created and manufactures the wildly popular BlackBerry Wireless Handheld. He is also the chancellor of the University of Waterloo, and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was named Canada's Nation Builder of the Year for 2002 by readers of the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Lazaridis began with a $15,000 loan from his parents, a small government grant and a contract from General Motors, and along with Mike Barnstijn and Douglas Fregin launched RIM, which would become one of Canada's largest and most successful high-tech companies that would later develop the BlackBerry. On October 23, 2000, Lazaridis founded the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics .

Lazaridis at Wikipedia
Research In Motion Website

Stelios Haji-Ioannou (UK)

stelios Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, KBE, born 14 February 1967 in Athens is a Greek-Cypriot born British entrepreneur. At 40 years of age Stelios, who prefers to be called by his first name, is best known for creating easyJet PLC when he was 28. He is often credited as the pioneer who changed the European aviation scene for the benefit of millions of consumers. A serial entrepreneur, Stelios has established more than 17 ventures, the first of which was Stelmar Shipping at the age of 25. In November 2006 Stelios received a knighthood from Queen Elisabeth II for services to entrepreneurship.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou - Official Website
Haji-Ioannou at Wikipedia

Nick Gitsis (USA)

gitsis Greek-American Nick Gitsis is the co-founder and Director of South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR). Awarded as the “Best Airline of the Year” for two consecutive years (2002 and 2003) by the Philippines’ largest Consumers Excellence Award, SEAIR is a pioneer company in Philippine aviation that serves a total of 18 sectors nationwide.

South East Asian Airlines Website
Gitsis Interview at Airtransport News

Paspaley Pearls (Australia)

paspaley_main1 Nick Paspaley went to Darwin from Western Australia in 1937 to join his brother Michael. Their family had originally settled in Port Hedland in 1919 when they left their Greek island home of Castellorizo. While most of the pearling industry was left, literally, high and dry, Nicholas Paspaley had a vision for a new future. Having witnessed the success of the Japanese in culturing Akoya pearls in Japan, Nicholas Paspaley dreamed of bringing the same technology to the South Seas.That was the beginning of the journey that would take the Paspaley name to the top of the pearling industry. Over the next half century and through a long and often disappointing process of trial and error, Nicholas Paspaley's vision became reality with Paspaley emerging as the world's leading producer of quality South Sea cultured pearls.

Paspaley Pearls Website

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