Visit to Staramaki Social Cooperative Enterprise

In the context of supporting innovative entrepreneurship that focuses on ESG, the Bank collaborates with Investing for Purpose, an organisation whose aim is to highlight sustainable and positive impact investments. Following this cooperation, we were invited to visit the headquarters of Staramaki SCE.
 
Staramaki SCE was founded in 2019 with the main object of producing natural straws for beverages that are made from wheat stems. Single-use plastic straws greatly burden the environment and end up in the sea, with devastating consequences for both animals and humans. Staramaki's vision is to replace plastic straws and within the next few years promote the use of exclusively natural straws that have zero environmental footprint. The company also invests in the local economy of Kilkis, utilizing degraded land and employing workers from vulnerable social groups living in the wider region.
 
On Wednesday, 26 June, executives of the bank and NBG Business Seeds visited Staramaki's facilities and were impressed by the social work carried out. In the discussion that followed, Staramaki representatives had the opportunity to present the company's business growth plan and talk about the opportunities that are arising in sustainable and positive social impact investments.