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.
