Recently, I gave an interview to startup.info about innovation and how Manifest is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Startup Info is an entrepreneurs and innovation magazine devoted to shed light on the booming startup ecosystem worldwide. They have 100.000 monthly readers and 30.000 subscribers to our weekly newsletter.

“This too shall pass…”

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

We are all healthy and doing well. The truth is that I got the virus a few weeks ago and we went through a period of anxiety, but fortunately with very mild symptoms, so that no medication or hospitalization were needed. So apart from our isolation for 15 days, there was no other problem.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company

At the age of 23 I found myself working with a Greek Facility Management company which was offering no quality in its services in contrast to the multinational Facility Management companies which did provide high quality services but at very high prices. There, I found the “space” and created a Greek company by the standards of the multinational companies’ services but with low prices. This was the combination that brought us to the market-leading position we have been holding for several years.

How does your company innovate?

We innovate in three areas and they all have to do with the impeccable service of our clients.

1. A) We have developed our own FM cloud software by which we deliver a complete picture of the services offered to our clients and we measure the quality of our services and the speed of our response to their requests.
2. B) We have developed a know-how in all branches of Facility Management and we have managed to provide over 14 separate services by our own means and people, which ensures us a huge degree of control, as well as guarantees our immediate response.
3. C) We have created a unique training system for our over 800 people so that they can continuously improve their skills at work, thus gaining many benefits for themselves and our clients.

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

Manifest’s main feature is the ability to perform changes at high speed. When the virus hit our country, we were already prepared to deal with it in all areas.

This speed of change helped us, despite the intense difficulties, to have a gross development in our turnover of about 5-6%, but also to almost double our profitability.

Nevertheless, seeing the difficulties that the virus has brought to our market, we are worried and we remain vigilant about the future that does not seem to be too auspicious.

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources and what are the lessons learned?

Since we are a company with a purely human-centered character and due to the eventually successful year we were not required to reduce our staff or their benefits. On the contrary, we hired additional people and increased the salaries in some positions trying to counterbalance the negative climate that exists in the Greek market. We want our people to feel safe so that they can make the most of their potential. We hope that 2021 will also be a successful year, because the lesson we have learned from this global alert is to never stay complacent or remain inactive in unprecedented situations, but to take timely action so that we can always be one step ahead.

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient?

From the first moment we were ready to serve the special needs that arose given the situation, as well as the new demands of our clients. We have quickly created new anti-virus services and, in fact, we were the first to certify them in Greece. I believe that one of the great benefits we will get from all this will be the strengthening of our relationship with our clients, since we were always there to help them and to modify their services according to their new needs, even if this often was very difficult to be achieved.

Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat?

The truth is that no help was currently needed. The Greek government is providing significant assistance to the businesses being affected and in need of assistance. Our sector does not belong to those, but I think it is vital that this assistance is continued, because many businesses cannot properly function during this period.

Your final thoughts

We are moving into uncharted waters and this alone is enough to create a veil of negativity. Most people are at their limits as they feel that their health is constantly threatened, as well as that basic principles of their freedoms have been violated due to the situation.

Here, unity and composure are needed.

This is where businesses need to embrace their employees and provide them with the security they need.

Now governments must listen to their citizens and to act based on the good of the people.

Only one thing is certain and that is that all this will pass, because in the history of human civilization we have overcome much worse problems.

And that shall pass too, but it takes composure, optimism and no complacent.

View the interview at startup.info, here: SOURCE

Article to the Fortune Greece

February 2004. A 26-year-old enters a meeting with directors of a multinational company. He wears a fake wedding ring on his finger, to look bigger and more serious. His jacket “falls wide”. He has learned from a friend that the multinational, which is starting to operate in Greece in the cosmetics sector, is looking for a company to undertake the cleaning of its 40 stores in 10 cities across the country.

He tries to persuade them to work with him. When he realizes that the “game” is probably lost, he decides to take a risk: “look”, he tells them, “the job you want, we can do it better than anyone. In a short time, however, we will be too expensive to pay us. This is the offer and this is my card “.

The young man leaves the meeting with a heartbeat. Shortly afterwards he receives a positive answer. He stops his car on the side and starts crying, firstly out of joy, because he and his mother were saved and secondly, because he had no idea how to do the job: he had no people, no materials, no tools; he had nothing. The story of Dionysis Ammolochitis , founder of the Facility Management company “Manifest”, which started from scratch – essentially from that meeting in 2004, when all of Greece was waiting for the Athens Olympics – today reached its services in more than 1,100 buildings (75% of foreign multinationals), to employ almost 700 people, operating in eight countries abroad and generating a turnover of over 10 million euros at group level last year (compared to 7.5 million in 2017), with pre-tax profits of about 206,000 euros (against a loss of over 70,100 euros per year 2017).

The Manifest Services , which explains Dionysis Ammolochitis, aims to become the largest employer in its sector in Europe in the coming years, providing cleaning services, technical maintenance, renovations, catering and security, having entered into an industry with great potential internationally: the Facility Management, which is estimated to represent 3.5% of GDP in developed countries and “loosens” the hands of companies, which want to deal exclusively with their object, without having to take care of e.g. for the cleanliness or technical maintenance of their building.

“This is the way: take the risk”

In the context of an interview with Mr. Ammolochitis at APE-MPEwas asked about the story of that February and the role that audacity plays in entrepreneurship. “At that time I had nothing to lose, because είχα I had nothing. The truth is that (…) I pursue what I want to achieve. So, when I saw in the conversation that the whole thing was going to be lost, I took a risk and played it all, saying that we are the best company in the market and that in a little while they will not be able to pay us. I knew then, from books I read, but now I am sure from experience, that the interlocutor welcomes the one who has faith in himself and believes it and expresses it and it is true λοιπόν Riskara and through that I learned – and now I believe that “It’s one of the basic facts about a stomp pad and it’s still there, and it’s the right thing to do.”

But how did you smell the opportunity in the market? What gap did he see?

“I had the opportunity, trying to achieve my goal, because it was nothing accidental, to work as a salesman for a few months in a company that provided similar services (cleaning and rodenticide). So I saw a lot of things, I got in touch with the market and I tested its needs and what I realized then was that there was a gap: there were very few companies that provided services with high standards, but also very high prices. And beyond that there were too many companies with low prices, but also low standards. So there was no middle ground, a company that could provide services with multinational specifications and Greek market prices and there I found the gap and I entered and we had this rapid development “emphasizes Dionysis Ammolochitis, who did not hesitate to resign from his position as a salesman in an IT company, in order to work in a lower paid position in the field of cleaning, because something like that brought him closer to the goal. In fact, when he resigned from this second position, to do something of his own, he asked his mother to leave her job as a supervisor in a brochure distribution company, to start the business together. All this was done in four days. Friday to Monday. to start the business together. All this was done in four days. Friday to Monday. to start the business together. All this was done in four days. Friday to Monday.

“Seller, to get the ‘smell’!”

After all, is it important to have someone as a salesperson in the industry you want to be in before you decide to start your own business? “I think it is very important to have an idea of the job. I’m not saying you know it perfectly well, but you must have come in contact with what you want to do. “Especially if what you want to do is something very innovative, you have to get in touch with similar objects before you try, to get the smell,” he explains, while being asked if something counts more than the resume in hiring someone in Manifest, he answers: ” I do not see what a resume says, no matter how special it sounds, what I look at is the time spent in a company and the way the resume is set up, which shows me the style and aesthetics of the candidate. This is a first feeling, in which I count neither studies nor anything other than a resume. Considering that man as a character is a – I do not distinguish between professional and personal life – I like stable people, those who make a decision and try to implement it, no matter how many obstacles life sends them. “A person constantly changing company, changing jobs every nine months or a year and a half, does not show me stability.”

The “flaw” of the procedure freak can attract multinationals as customers

Multinationals and large customers – such as those served by Manifest, including Nestle, Cosco, Mercedes-Benz, COCA COLA, Siemens, Samsung, Athens International Airport, Intracom, Marina Floisvou – are usually demanding. So how does a company that has just been established win them over? “I have a lot of flaws and one of them is that I am a procedure freak, I put a lot of emphasis on the process. Any process that takes place in the Manifest is recorded in a document, certified by all those involved and ends up being a process for which comprehension exercises are created, in order for those newcomers to study and understand it, so that they can quickly enter the company culture. This element made me fall in love with the multinationals, because they work that way too. So, “Starting the company and working with that logic, I could only work with these companies – as I did,” he says. The interval of course required a lot of nights and a lot of work, but when the first multinational “unlocked” and entered the clientele of Manifest, then one big company brought the other and gradually the company became a leader in its industry.

“To build such contacts and attract such customers, you have to be very extroverted as a company, with very developed marketing and very good public relations. Obviously you have to have super sales skills, but also to take risks in your speech, that is, to raise the bar, but also to deliver what you say. Also, be in love with quality. “No matter what happens, no matter how much the customer certifies that you are good, not to be happy with what you deliver, to eat all the time and even to take care of even the little things and to correct them as much as you can”, he points out .

Do you want to become a startu per? Learn the simple math of finance

In his opinion, what is the most catastrophic mistake made by the founders of start-ups in Greece? “I think the worst mistakes have to do with two shortcomings. First, the lack of how to sell. People need to be extroverted, create sales themselves, be the best sellers in their company. And the second is the lack of knowledge of financial management. From day one, startupers need to get into concepts like cash flow and budget, because companies with this kind of shortage close to the truth and not a lack of sales. I believe that a startuper can not and should not pay dearly for someone who knows financially well. He should learn all the basic principles on his own, since all finance is clearly based on common sense,

Ensure the support of your own people, do not wait for the perfect moment, go out to sell, learn to communicate

Asked what would be the three most important tips he would give to someone who wants to turn to business, he puts in the first place the consent of the family. “The first and most important thing for someone starting a company is to go to his / her parents, wife / husband, children, friends and get their consent, in the sense that they are the ones who should support. Entrepreneurship is a way of life. The businessman should for many years forget about vacations, eight hours of sleep, many more things… I do not want to make them black, but he must have the support of his own people, so that he does not have side problems, he can is dedicated to what he does.

According to Dionysis Ammolochitis, it is equally important to know that the ideal moment never comes. “The second thing I keep saying is’ I start today, man. Do not wait for the perfect moment, because it simply does not exist and will never exist. Go to your accountant and start activities tomorrow morning “. Let the matter end. And third: people who want to become entrepreneurs need to be trained in extroversion. To learn to communicate, to express themselves. I was lucky and started my career doing door-to-door salesmanship and this is the perfect method of learning extroversion. Go out, get chips or cloths or your product and go sell them yourself. Learn to communicate! ” suggests.

Goal: The largest employer for Facility Management in Europe

What is the next big goal for Manifest? “We have immediate plans. First, for the country’s largest industry, tourism: we have made a turn and are helping hotels better organize their support services. In fact, we have started with very large collaborations and our bar is very high. Secondly, for technology: we are developing our own software (software) the Trulios application at the moment and we are creating a system that can make us unique in our industry, offering our customers an overall and clear picture of their building. Thirdly, the goal is to become the largest employer in Europe in our industry, but not only in terms of numbers, but by positively influencing and inspiring people, nurturing them to bring out their professionalism, so that

Decriminalization of profit with low taxation for high profits

If Dionysis Ammolochitis took over as finance minister tomorrow, he says, the first thing he would do the next day would be to reverse the country’s tax culture in order to decriminalize profits. “Did you make too much profit? Enjoy a very low tax rate. Learn to make a profit, that’s the point. The state should encourage the creation of profitable companies and reward good results, profitable companies. This way, tax evasion will be combated and people will not be afraid to show profits! “If this changes, the private sector can drag the whole of Greece into development,” he estimates.

My interview at Crikos

Interview with Dionysis Ammolochitis, CEO of Manifest, on CriKos: “The story of a successful businessman who started his empire from scratch, simply believing in himself!”

Do you wake up every day and say to yourself “I am the luckiest person in the world”? Do you know many people who can say that? Let me answer for you… with a big NO!

Today, however, I met a young, successful and charming businessman who started his story by saying “I am very lucky” and his name is Dionysis Ammolochitis! Do not confuse me though as luck has absolutely nothing to do with his success. The result is due to hard work, self-confidence, zeal, perseverance, patience and all the positive “essentials” that you can find in the dictionary! A man who punches  “It’s not possible”  and turns it into  ” Do you want to bet it “?

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But why does he think he is lucky? Well, she happens to have a mom who brought him to life in her teens, believed in him from the first moment and supported him in every way possible. In short, what most of us take for granted, he praises and is grateful for! Raising a child alone and taking care of their survival by doing any work was a very difficult and wonderful task… I guess he is lucky in the end.

It all started when, having already worked for a few years, Dionysis at 26 asked his mother to stop working and start their own business. She of course accepted it without a second thought! They sold a small asset, raised € 9000 and in 2003, Dionysis and his mother founded Manifest, a facility management company that they did not know at the time would be a leader in the Greek market in the coming years!

A few months after the founding of Manifest, working 24 hours a day and doing all the work on their own, Dionysis was informed about a large retail company looking for facility management services. He immediately closed a meeting with them and appeared with his team (his mother and her friend) having a very professional presence. He made a very competitive offer, but what secured him the deal was the imposing and proud attitude of a winner! As he told me:  “I told them … look gentlemen,  this price we have given you is very good and you have until the end of the week to answer us  as after that,  this agreement  ceases  to be valid! If you do not close  the deal now, in a few years you will not be able to afford us “!!! Even if you say confident or let me say… “many guts”! And of course, they got the deal the same day!

They flew to the clouds of joy and at the same time cried because they had neither the experience, nor the human resources, nor the assets to serve 60 stores all over Greece! Of course, they successfully completed the project and still have their clients to this day. At present it is by far the leading company in their field in Greece, providing facilities management services, such as cleaning, technical maintenance of buildings, renovations, relocation, security and catering services.

Believe me, I have left many painful details and all the challenges he has faced so far! One would expect to be a tough-inaccessible businessman with everything he has achieved and gone through, but instead, Dionysis Ammolochitis is a true gentleman… polite, generous, open-hearted, approachable and willing to contribute to society! He has delivered many speeches and seminars helping young entrepreneurs, giving them his valuable knowledge, as well as know-how and tools to make their ideas and dreams come true easier and faster without going through everything he has gone through.

Read the article of News247.gr “The Greek who took the mop and built an empire“.

The greek dream of Dionysis Ammolochitis of Manifest, trusted today by the biggest multinationals and has a presence in 10 countries.

The dream has no homeland. You do not need to cross the Atlantic to live the “American dream”, you can live it and here it is enough to identify the gaps in the market, to have insight, courage and a little audacity. Figures that fit well in the case of Dionysis Ammolochitis, President and CEO of Manifest, which currently holds a leading position in the facility management industry.

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At the beginning of the last decade, as a salesman in a large IT company, shortly before he turned 25, Dionysis regularly visited a customer who was active in building cleaning. Shortly afterwards he received an offer from the owner of the company to come and work as a salesman in his own company. A difficult decision considering that you have to leave a large group in the most dynamic industry, that of IT, to go and sell to customers cleanings and rodenticides.

Dionysis Ammolochitis dared it but sat in his new job for only six months. So many people needed to understand that in this particular job there was a huge gap that the companies operating until then could not fill. What was this gap? the cleaning companies did not meet, or rather did not even know what they are, the quality standards required by the multinationals operating in Greece.

He studied what the big players in Facility Management abroad do and somehow he decided to resign, and with his mother as his first employee he founded the Manifest. He wore strict suits and a fake wedding ring to look older as he was afraid that the young man of his age [had not yet turned 25] and his presentation would not allow his interlocutors to take him seriously and began to close appointment. As he mentioned in a presentation of the company, at first he wore both hats, that of the president of the company and the man who took the mop and cleaned the stairs.

What is the Manifest today ? It is a company with more than 500 employees providing specialized services in 1,000 buildings with customers such as Coca Cola and Nestle. The years of recession, in the last five years managed to double its size while 2015, one of the most difficult years in the Greek economy for Manifest was the best year both for turnover (about 7 million euros) and for profits that increased by 300% compared to 2014.

In its activities in addition to cleaning, technical maintenance and security services, it provides landscaping, waste management, consumables and catering services.

Investment found SouthBridge recently invested € 3.5 million, giving Manifest the opportunity to accelerate growth and expand. Now Manifest through the 21stFM alliance of which it is a founding member is the only Greek company in the industry with a presence in almost 10 countries in Europe.

As far as the employees are concerned, the company follows a regular reward program with cash prizes while it also organizes events such as children’s parties. In the past, the ratio of foreigners to Greek workers was 80% -20%, something that has changed to 60% -40% in the last year as more and more Greeks “admit” to catch the mop.

Source

For 2019, the forecasts for the financial course of Manifest are equally impressive as the founder of the company, Dionysis Ammolochitis, points out to insider.gr, the turnover with the new projects undertaken by the company, will increase by 30% compared to 2018 .

Interview here::

Manifest , one of the leading Greek building management companies (Facility Management), continues to record rapid growth .

The company that in recent years has managed to multiply its size, despite the crisis, set a new record in 2018, dramatically increasing both sales and the number of its projects and employees.

In particular, in 2018 the turnover of Manifest amounted to 10.09 million euros. from 7.59 million euros in 2017, recording an increase of 32.9%.
Equally spectacular is the increase in the number of its employees by 53.3%, which last year amounted to 690, from 450 in 2017, with a corresponding increase in its staff by 54.5%. 

Finally, the Manifesto, whose clientele includes large companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestle, the International Airport “El. Venizelos “, IKEA etc, recently added another large client to its portfolio. 

This is a luxury hotel in Vouliagmeni, one of the largest investments made in our country and is expected to be operational in early April. 

For 2019, the forecasts for the financial course of Manifest are equally impressive as the founder of the company, Dionysis Ammolochitis , points out to insider.gr, the turnover with the new projects undertaken by the company, will increase by 30% compared to 2018 .
Today, “we are a productive and growing team of professionals, with 690 employees that provide specialized services to 1,100 buildings,” says Mr. Ammolochitis.

One of the comparative advantages of Manifest is Trulios the most modern system of real-time digitization of control and evaluation of integrated facilities management services. 

Trulios is a comprehensive tool for managing, monitoring, communicating and collaborating between clients, companies and workgroups.

A software that increases efficiency, productivity and reduces the costs of business operation by offering speed, transparency and simultaneous information by monitoring online the effectiveness of our services for each installation of the client company.

Its innovative function optimizes the business at the touch of a button either on the mobile or on the computer, offering the possibility to all its customers, for each installation and for unlimited users, to have access to the control of the services delivered at that time, as well as and requests – issues that have been recorded. 

“The private sector needs more attention”

But how does Mr. Ammolochitis judge, who, as mentioned above, employs dozens of employees and believes that they are the driving force of any company, the government’s decision to increase the minimum wage? 

“I think the private sector needs more attention and reward. The increase in the minimum wage is positive, but it should be part of a more general assistance to the private sector. 

“The constant changes in taxation and insurance do not help entrepreneurship, while a meritocratic policy is needed from the banks”, he states characteristically. 

Manifest CEO Dionysis Ammolochitis refers to the establishment and development of the rapidly growing branch of integrated Facility Management services and the role of his company in it.

(Video availlable only in Greek language)