Inspire 2024: Start-ups and the importance of remaining steadfast to goals

Elena Meli co-founder and General Manager of the Bank of Cyprus’ Jinius platform, an online B2B and B2C marketplace, spoke on Thursday at the Inspire 2024 Entrepreneurial Festival about the advancements in the market on the Game Changer stage.

Meli spoke at a panel discussion with Threedium CEO Mike Charalambous, whose brand allows other commercial brands to deliver cutting-edge immersive commerce experiences, and with Constantinos Loizou, the CEO of EMBIO Diagnostics, an innovative global biotechnology company transforming detection of harmful bacterias through custom based hardware solutions and portable diagnostics.

All three speakers commented on the challenges and successes in running start-ups. They discussed the hardships in finding their investors to disrupt the markets in their respective fields. 

Commenting on Jinius, Meli said: “It is a cutting edge digital platform aiming to digitalise the Cypriot economy.” 

She added that there was difficulty in convincing the market of adopting Jinius, as many businesses in Cyprus give pushback, when it comes to adopting digital practices. 

On his part, Charalambous said that when starting their venture it was important to trust their gut feeling, while he added that they used Cyprus as a launchpad, and specifically BMW. 

Loizou told the audience that it is important to accept failure and rejection as a part of growing, when starting a business, but that it is important to understand the needs of the consumers. 

“Quitting was never an option,” Loizou said, in a comment about the challenges in starting a business. 

One of the challenges for Jinius is the culture change, Meli said, when describing the difficulties in Cyprus. However, she added that the company has a plan to expand and bring it beyond the country’s borders. 

All three said that the important thing when building an idea and business is to love what they are doing and to set goals and targets to keep going.