Interview of Dionysis Ammolochitis on MadeinGreece.news: "One afternoon I decided that I could do it alone at 26".

Exclusive, Made in Greece: Manifest and Dionysis Ammolochitis. “One afternoon, at 26, I decided I could do it on my own.” Today: 600 employees and €10 million in turnover

A story full of dreams, ambition, passion and daring, but also countless difficulties. Dionysis Ammolochitis’s path to entrepreneurship and success was anything but easy. He started with zero capital, having quit his job as a salesman at a cleaning company and having asked his mother to leave her job too. From then on, there was only one way forward. There was no room for mistakes, or for regrets.

At just 26, he was already running his own company, called Manifest, which today has more than 600 employees and a presence in more than 8 countries. According to Mr Ammolochitis, the secret of success is a well-organised plan, the passion every young entrepreneur needs, and the people who make up the company’s growth team.

Manifest operates in facility management and offers services such as security, cleaning, technical works and catering.

Even before the company’s first year was out, Dionysis Ammolochitis knew where he wanted to take Manifest. Today that vision has grown, and it will keep burning inside him until the company reaches 2,500 employees and €40,000,000 in turnover. And after that? Even greater expectations!

After a significant career in business, and drawing on the valuable experience he gained along the way, Mr Ammolochitis now also writes on his blog (http://ammolochitis.gr/el/blog) about self-improvement and entrepreneurship.

MadeinGreece.news spoke with Mr Dionysis Ammolochitis, who shared his journey, with its difficulties and its successes, as well as his plans for the future.

Key points from the interview:

  • From an early age I was destined to take over my father’s business
  • My father left us, and my mother and I (my sister had already married) suddenly had to survive on our own
  • One afternoon I decided that I could do it on my own! I wanted to create my own company and see my plan through
  • I had an abundance of passion and daring, two qualities that, whenever I abandoned them, led me to dead ends and poor results
  • We serve more than 1,100 buildings in Greece, and 75% of our clients are multinational companies
  • what makes Manifest special is its people
  • There is no greater satisfaction for me than overcoming the obstacles and problems put in my way, continuing to thrive and moving towards my goals
  • My main goal, as an entrepreneur, is to see the share of great people working in my businesses grow
  • The business environment in Greece may not favour growth, yet we have seen 15 years of continuous growth
  • I envision a Manifest that will employ 2,500 people and have €40,000,000 in turnover, and that will be a model company for the whole of Europe

 

What is the story behind Manifest? When and how did it all start? What were the stages, the inspiration, the trigger?

From an early age I was destined to take over my father’s business, a small workshop making industrial products, while my mother devoted her life to raising me and my sister (14 months younger) and worked from time to time, more as a hobby, since she had no technical training for anything more systematic.

By the time I was 20, much of that had changed. My father left us, and my mother and I (my sister had already married) suddenly had to survive on our own, with no secure job or income, with none of the basics of our survival taken care of, not knowing what to do. That is how our calm and secure life came to an end.

The truth is that this whole situation, the details of which are not at all pleasant, stirred up a lot of negative emotions in me, and I can say I lived with constant anger. I felt that what we were going through was unfair, and I was deeply hurt seeing the worry about our future in my mother’s eyes.

During that period I found an outlet in self-improvement books, which I bought and devoured by the dozen. That is how the flame of success and self-belief was rekindled in me. So I sat down and made plans, I wrote down my goals and began to be disciplined about sticking to my plans.
It is worth mentioning that my main plan was to create a cleaning company.

At 26 I was still living with my mother, who by the way was 42 at the time, and we were getting by. I had already been working for six months as a salesman at a cleaning company (I had given up my career selling photocopiers, where I earned three times as much). And then something inevitable happened. One afternoon I decided that I could do it on my own! I wanted to create my own company and see my plan through. So the first thing I did was resign from my job and ask my mother to resign from hers and join me to help at Manifest (I had already registered the company name when I asked her). My mother agreed on the spot, and Manifest was just getting started.

 

What was the beginning like? What obstacles did you face?

Every beginning is hard. I don’t need to go into detail, because I don’t think the details matter much. What matters is that I had an abundance of passion and daring, two qualities that, whenever I abandoned them, led me to dead ends and poor results. On the other hand, whenever I was passionate about my work and took risks, things took off around me. I am talking about the absolute and clear importance of being passionate about what you do, of living and breathing it. For me, that is the only road to success.

What services does Manifest offer today, and how has the market responded?

We provide facility management services in areas such as cleaning, security, technical maintenance, renovations, landscaping, pest and rodent control, corporate event organisation, corporate restaurant management and more.

We serve more than 1,100 buildings in Greece, and 75% of our clients are multinational companies. To name a few: Athens International Airport, Intracom, Nestlé, COSCO, Mercedes-Benz, Flisvos Marina, Coca-Cola, Siemens, Samsung and many more, which you can see on our website.

What are the key qualities that make Manifest stand out?

Manifest’s key qualities centre on the undivided attention I give it myself, as well as on the people who are the pillars of my company. Taking this opportunity, I would like to especially thank all my colleagues, as well as everyone on the staff of our projects, whose contribution turns our goals into reality.

So what makes Manifest special is its people.

 

What were the best and the most difficult moments of your business career?

The best moments were definitely the most difficult ones. Yes, you read that right. You see, for me happiness is not living a calm but mediocre life, nor the absence of obstacles, but living the life you dream of. The one certain thing is that when someone makes progress, there will be many obstacles and many people who will try to stop them. There is no greater satisfaction for me than overcoming the obstacles and problems put in my way, continuing to thrive and moving towards my goals.

Manifest is one of the 21 businesses that will receive support from the “OPAP Forward” programme. How do you feel about this, and what does this recognition mean?

OPAP funds a very worthwhile programme in partnership with Endeavor to help selected businesses do even better. I am very proud that, out of the hundreds of businesses that applied, we are among the 21 selected, and in fact we are the only service company among the 21 companies in the programme. It is also worth mentioning that, even now, at the start of the programme, we are thrilled by the scale and quality of the input we are receiving. I sincerely thank them!

Innovation, competitiveness and outward orientation are the three key words that lead to success. How did you manage to bring these three elements into your field, placing you among the leaders in the industry?

These elements, innovation, competitiveness and outward orientation, are created by positive teams. That is where my attention has always been, and always will be. The intention and commitment of a company’s people to achieve their goals is what leads to success, and it is one of the hardest issues every business faces. Unfortunately, the share of people in our society who are passionate about their work and fulfil their personal goals through it is low. That is where our efforts are focused, since the value of every business is directly linked to the quality of the people who make it up.

My main goal, as an entrepreneur, is to see the share of great people working in my businesses grow. And when I talk about great people, I mean those who set goals and achieve them, both professionally and personally, those who can get a job done without a lot of talk, those who do not work just to pay their bills, but who want to earn good money and leave their mark on the industry.

We created the site “Made in Greece.news”. How Greek is your own creation?

First of all, congratulations on your site! Anything with the word Greece in it is welcome. I also love my country very much and I am determined to help it. I know we have quite a few weaknesses, but, as paradoxical as this may sound at the moment, I know very well that our strengths as a country outnumber them and will prevail in the end. This is not about optimism, it is based purely on logic. Let’s not forget that we are among the warmest and most hard-working people in the world, we value family very highly, we have strong self-confidence, and much more.

And yes, my creation is 100% Greek, and I am proud of it! The business environment in Greece may not favour growth, yet we have seen 15 years of continuous growth.

Today, after the journey you have described, you have made a significant move into the international market. In how many countries are you present, and which ones?

As a founding member of the “21stFM Alliance”, we are the only Greek company in the industry with a presence in 8 countries in Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia).

Where do you dream of taking Manifest in the future? What are your next plans?

There is no limit. Just think that today we employ more than 600 people in Greece. Our turnover for 2018 is expected to exceed €10,000,000, with our company having doubled in size over the last four years. So I envision a Manifest that will employ 2,500 people and have €40,000,000 in turnover, and that will be a model company for the whole of Europe. Once I achieve this goal, I will multiply it by five.

Website: Manifest / http://ammolochitis.gr/index.php/el/ / Facebook

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