Stevia Hellas Cooperative planning investments totaling 8 million euros

Stevia Hellas Cooperative, a Greek company producing products based on extracts of stevia plant, is planning to invest a total of 8 million euros for the creation of a unit to process stevia leaves and produce the final products, company CEO Christos Stamatis told US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt during the latter's brief visit at the cooperative's headquarters in Lamia last week.

The investment plan is scheduled to begin in April and is expected to be completed within the following five years and will be financed by the cooperative's own resources and through investment funds, he said.

“Our cooperative is the only large scale stevia producer throughout Europe,” Stamatis said. “The door for the first big industry we cooperated with, opened up through ACCI, in which we participated as an enterprise. Incubators and other public or private initiatives have supported us since we first started.”

Stamatis briefed Pyatt about the production of stevia, the cooperative's innovative activities, collaborations with industries and educational institutions as well as the company's future plans.

The ambassador suggested that the Cooperative should strengthen its presence in conferences such as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 which, with the support of the embassy, can achieve support its aspirations.

The cooperative receives scientific support from Rutgers University, and its “New Agriculture for New Generation program” and the American Farm School in Greece.

It also supports women's entrepreneurship, with 30 percent of its producers being women.