Scheme to empower refugee women vying for EU award

Two Greek businesswomen are due to travel to Berlin next week for the final leg of the European Social Innovation Competition after making it onto the short list of 30 participants from among 1,000 entries from 36 countries.

Elisavet Koulouri and Vivian Karavia will be vying for one of three 50,000-euros cash prizes to be paid out by the European Commission for their initiative Solidarity Salt, a social enterprise aimed at empowering women refugees in Greece. The idea behind the initiative is to create employment opportunities and a replicable working model for other businesses.

The scheme will employ refugee women in an enterprise that sells Greek sea salt via traditional retailers in packages that will tell the story of the women who put each batch together.

The product will also be sold online at a later date.