Restart life after a tragedy; any help counts | Melissa Fleming & Alexis Pantazis | TEDxThessaloniki

In her TEDxThessaloniki talk in 2015, UNHCR’s spokesperson Melissa Fleming shared the amazing story of a young Syrian refugee, Doaa. Back then, no one could have imagined the extent of the refugee crisis that would find Europe, and indeed the world, unprepared. In this year’s event, Melissa sent a video giving us an update on Doaa’s tragic, yet hopeful, story. The next chapter of her life finds Doaa in Sweden with a scholarship towards her education.
Critical to that was the help of Alexis Pantazis, one of last year’s speakers, that was moved by Doaa’s story and awarded her the scholarship through his company. Alexis took the stage and in a Q&A session with TEDxThessaloniki curator, Elena Papadopoulou, explained the difficulties his company faced in order to award the scholarship and encourage every individual to contribute where nations and institutions, like the EU, fail to do so – a small contribution that can have a very big impact.

Melissa Fleming is a leading communications professional, working to draw attention, drive empathy and generate support for the world’s 50 million refugees and displaced people. As Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), she leads media teams to bring news and stories of people on the run to the public consciousness.

She is a champion for public communication through social media, including on her own Twitter account. She also leads an innovative multi-media production team producing refugee stories of survival and resilience. She believes in the power of public speaking to move audiences. Her TED talk, “Let’s help refugees thrive, not just survive,” has been viewed over 700,000 times around the world and has been subtitled in 20 languages. She is also co-organizer of TEDxPlaceDesNations in Geneva. She writes a regular column for the Guardian and is a contributor to UNHCR’s blog.

Alexis is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Hellas Direct, a new insurance company founded in 2011 with the view of changing the way Greek car insurance companies service their clients. The company specialises in car insurance, selling policies directly via the web and over the phone. Prior to Hellas Direct, Alexis was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs where he led principal investing and new strategic initiatives for the firm in the European investment management field. A former strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, Alexis also worked for Miramax Films in New York and the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission in Brussels. Over the past few years, Alexis has privately invested in a number of different ventures, focusing on angel financing and the strategic use of technology in the financial services space. He has held advisory roles and participated at Board level across a number of different start-up companies.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

(Greek) Elena Papadopoulou: Last year,
when we asked Melissa Fleming

to give a talk at TEDxThessaloniki 2015,

we could not possibly
have imagined the role

the refugee crisis
would be playing in our lives,

not only in Greece and Europe
but in the whole world.

Melissa’s talk, given
at last year’s TEDxThessaloniki event,

has been viewed over 1 million,
almost 1.5 million times on TED channel.

Her talk helped most of us
see in the face of Doaa

the faces of all the people
forced to flee their countries

in the hope of being able
to lead an “ordinary life,”

far away from the permanent threat of war.

Doaa was a lucky and heroic young woman.

She was among the few people
who survived a tragic shipwreck

that happened
in the Mediterranean Sea in 2014.

Fortunately, she managed
to survive and save a baby,

despite not knowing how to swim.

Melissa Fleming wished
to be here in person

and share with us the rest of the story.

That is to say: “What happened to Doaa?
Where is she today? What is she doing?”

Due to her work with the United Nations,
Melissa couldn’t join us today.

However, she has sent us a short video
that I would like us to watch.

(Video) Melissa Fleming: Hello friends
at TEDxThessaloniki, hello Elena.

Really great to be with you again
though only virtually.

I wish I was there in person.

Elena asked me to let you know
what has happened

since I was on stage this time last year
delivering a talk about Doaa Al Zamal,

the heroic Syrian refugee young woman

who survived one of the worst shipwrecks
on the Mediterranean sea, 500 people died

and she managed to save a baby girl
after 4 days on the water

and watching the love of her life,

her fiancé Bassam,
die in front of her eyes.

This was a tragic yet very hopeful story,
a story that has inspired so many people.

I am writing a book about her story.

And one of the fellow speakers
at the conference last year,

Alexis Pantazis,
of the company Hellas Direct,

was also inspired by Doaa’s speech

and he and his company awarded her
a very generous scholarship,

which really helped her.

She‘s now been resettled
with her family to Sweden

and she is putting it
towards her education.

It’s really helping her
to start her new life.

I think it inspired his company
and also his clients as well

not just to hear about the usual story

of large numbers of Syrian refugees,

other refugees arriving
on the shores of Greece.

No other country
has received so many refugees

but a single story,
a single story that inspired him

and inspired his fellow....
I admit, all of his company.

I went to visit them in Athens,

a wonderful group of people
who just said, "How can we help?"

I really think this company
by doing so is showing

that if you help one individual,
you are telling a larger story,

you are helping that person a lot but
it also has an echo and a ripple effect.

It shows that one person,
one company can do and influence a lot.

Private sector is doing a lot
to help in the refugee crisis.

This is a crisis
that is the worst since WWII.

We have 60 million people
forcibly displaced.

And no time since WWII have we had
so many people on the run.

Governments can’t do it alone
and as you see

-- you are sitting in Thessaloniki,
very close to the border of the FYROM --

the countries are reacting in ways now

which is shutting people off
rather than embracing them.

We are seeing, hearing wonderful stories
of individual actions

by local Greek citizens,
I can’t even tell - I read one a day.

It really warms my heart.

A baker in Ιdomeni who took in
families in his home

because he couldn’t stand
to see them suffering in the cold.

One after the other these kind of stories,

private companies coming in
to provide food, shelter.

Local NGOs filling in gaps of governments.

I think we are a time right now
where the compassion is losing out

over the fear that is taking over,

the fear that is being
exploited by politicians

who are really worried, more worried
about losing their power

than they are about protecting people
who are fleeing from war and persecution.

So all I wanted to say is thank you
for this opportunity to speak.

Who would have known
last year at this time

that Greece would become the center stage

for the biggest refugee crisis
that the world has seen in a long time.

It is really, really difficult,

the humanitarian situation
right now in Greece

and I really thank you all
for caring and for doing your part.

Thanks and have
a great TEDxThessaloniki 2016.

(Applause)

(Greek) EP: Melissa really wished to be
here and share these few words with us.

So, I considered this video
would be a unique opportunity

for us to see what happens when
the lights of TEDxThessaloniki dim,

after all these stories have been told.

What do they leave us with?
What do they encourage us to do?

What do they inspire us to do

so that each one of us can contribute
to our world the way they can?

Following Melissa,
we asked Alexis Pantazis,

whom Melissa mentioned in the video,

to give a talk at last year’s
TEDxThessaloniki.

We approached him
in his capacity of an entrepreneur,

namely, the founder of Hellas Direct.

So when he came to speak and we started
talking about his presentation,

we expected that he would
give a talk about entrepreneurship.

However, Alexis surprised us,
thankfully in a pleasant way,

and he focused on a different topic,

which proved to be of great importance
in entrepreneurship

and it has to do with one’s “mindset.”

Alexis focused on the mentality
of refugees and immigrants,

on creating opportunities

and, why not, to make them
work to their benefit.

So, last year, at TEDxThessaloniki,

Alexis met Melissa and the other speakers

and he decided to do something
to help or to contribute,

in his own way and through his company.

Alexis Pantazis is here with us today

and I would like to invite him up on stage
to discuss a few things

and share with you the way
they went on to work together

or, if you prefer, what his contribution
to Doaa’s story has been.

Alexis.
(Applause)

Welcome! I am glad
that you are here with us.

Most of us really wonder what is going on.

We come in to this hall
- there are 700 of us in this building -

we get to know each other,
listen to ideas, feel inspired,

but what happens
when we leave this venue?

(English) So would you like
to explain us briefly

what happened when you met with Melissa

and how this whole story
became related to Hellas Direct?

Alexis Pantazis: Last year, the last
but one speaker was myself

and the last one was Melissa.

And as I was finishing my talk
and I started walking towards the back,

Melissa who I spent
quite a bit of time with

- clearly because we were the only ones
stuck there - we talked a lot about Doaa

and as she started coming on to the stage
I could actually observe from the side

- I didn’t manage to get to my seat -

the facial expressions
of all the people in the audience.

And I don’t know how many of you guys
were here last year

but Melissa gave a very touching,
emotional speech about the story of Doaa.

And what I‘ve realized

in the one day more or less
that we spent together with Melissa

is that the story of Doaa
represents a number of stories.

I would say thousands or even
millions now of stories of refugees.

And one of the things that I noticed

as I was coming through
the curtain on the main room

was that people were actually crying.

And what I've realized is
that if we give an example

which is a human person of a big tragedy
like the one we are going through now

to normal people like myself, yourselves,
everybody who was in that room,

then people can relate to it
and they can relate to it more.

So, we spoke with Melissa
at the dinner afterwards

and it was a pretty emotional moment

because she gave
a really amazing presentation

and I ask her,
“So what is going on with Doaa?”

because that was last year,
she survived 4 days into the sea,

she saved one life,
she was granted the Award of bravery,

if I remember well,
from the Athens Academy.

And Melissa said that, well, unfortunately

there was a lot of hype
when everything happened,

there was a lot of headlines in the press.

There was a lot of talk,
they invited her to different events

and then slowly but steadily
as these things go, nobody really cared.

Melissa and her team did an amazing job

in trying to get her
to get some legal papers

in order to go to Sweden
which was her end goal

but Doaa was going through
a bit of a rough patch.

She wasn’ t really feeling
positive about the future,

the whole experience had sunk in.

She couldn’t see opportunity for her
to be able to go abroad

and continue what she set out to do

with her fiancé at the time
who unfortunately died in the wreck,

and that was to study.

She wanted to study to be a lawyer

in order to fight injustice
in the whole world.

So, speaking with Melissa
I was trying to figure out,

“Is there a way that I as an individual or
we as a company, we could help in this?”

And we feel quite strongly about
giving scholarships and we've done so

since the day that Emilios, my business
partner and I founded the company.

But, "Is it possible that
we could get involved in this?"

And Melissa was
very, very supportive in this.

We started talking, the whole
process took about 6 months.

Marilaura, who works with me, spent
a lot of time speaking with Melissa

on what’s the best way to do it

and then you stumble
into Greek bureaucracy,

where in order to give money,
it’s even harder than to make money.

(Laughter)

So, we didn’t know whether
we should give the money to Melissa

to give the money to Doaa;
Doaa didn’t have an account.

So, we went through
a lot of back and forths

but I think for us the bottom line was

that we decided that we are going
to use Doaa’s story as a symbol,

as a small gesture on our part

to follow on from the spirit
of TEDxThessaloniki last year,

grant her the scholarship for the degree
that she really wanted to do.

As you heard from Melissa before,
Doaa is now in Sweden

so that’s great news for everybody

and we just wanted to signal to other
companies, individuals, organizations

that if everybody
does their own little bit,

then we can really make a difference.

EP: So, your personal motive
or the motive of Hellas Direct

was basically to make a difference in any
way that you thought would be possible?

AP: I think for us it was
a combination of two things.

The first one is:
in what we do as a company,

we are trying to change
the way our industry

- which is insurance industry -
is being done.

So, we are trying, as we say,
to rethink the whole chain.

We heard a lot of good stories before

whether it is from Alex Loizou

to talk about the buy-in
of the whole company behind a culture.

So for us it is almost what we do
in all other aspects of our lives,

so this was just an extension on
the corporate social responsibility side.

Now, on that one, from the day
we started the company

we've given a number of scholarships.

We gave two scholarships to people

to go and study in London
at the City University.

We gave two scholarships
to kids of policemen

because we felt that that as a group
were not rewarded enough

for the contribution that they did

at least I road accidents which
is what we really care about.

We've given a number
of research grants so the fact

that we managed to divert some
of these efforts onto Doaa in this case,

I think it sends an extra message of maybe

we can think of it a bit
differently as an organization.

EP: Do you believe
that the appropriate attitude

for either companies
or for civil society actors,

in crisis of such magnitude
as we are going through at the moment -

what do you think would be the right
or more appropriate kind of mindset

that we would need to maybe adopt or try?

AP: I think as a mindset everybody
has to react in the way that they see fit

and everybody’s values differ,
whether it is on ethical levels

or on ideological levels
or financial levels or any other way.

I think one of the things
that we are realizing now,

especially in the European Union,

is that we cannot expect
things to be done by the state

or by the European Union as a Union.

And everybody has different agendas,

everybody has different capabilities,
different political beliefs,

so individuals and companies have
a much more important role to play.

Unfortunately, in this part of the world

and in Cyprus where I am from
it's exactly the same,

we tend to rely a lot
on the role of the state,

that this is not my problem,
they will do it,

and this day and age
this does not seem to work.

So, I think any contribution on that

is at least changing gradually
the mentality of people.

EP: Going back to your talk
and actually the message of your talk,

you basically concentrated saying

that what it takes is
a different kind of mindset

that usually refugees
or immigrants tend to have

and that has a positive effect
on the economy of a country

and maybe in evolving
the society of a country.

Do you think that we are actually
going through a same kind of situation

either in Greece or in Europe,

because basically we are
more or less under the same terms?

I mean, we have
a lot of immigrants and refugees

that are going through our countries.

Is this a same kind of opportunity
that we may be facing with?

AP: I think it’s a huge opportunity,

but one thing we need to do
as Europeans and as global citizens is,

“How you turn what is
now a humanitarian crisis

into a full integration
of these people into society?”

And I am not talking
about a flattening of cultures,

religion and all that and languages.

I am really talking about how
can we get these Syrian people coming in

and integrate them in a way
that they are productive,

that there is social cohesion
that actually works.

When you look at the demographics
of the European Union

and compare them to the immigrants
coming in, they are very different.

We are an aging, dying continent

and suddenly you have an influx
of very young capable people.

And clearly some of them
are poor and uneducated,

some of them are doctors and whatever.

So, I think there is a lot of value
these people can bring.

You will always have
xenophobia in these situations.

Out of interest, I was looking
at what was the reaction of people

when the Vietnamese refugees
in the 1970s came into the US

and what happened
when the Jewish population

after the 2nd World War,
they went into Cyprus of all places

at that time for holding camps similar
to the ones you have in Ιdomeni now,

before they went
to the newly formed Israel,

and when you a look at some
of the headlines of the papers

they're the same as they are now,

people like Donald Trump
saying, "I am going to build a wall,"

it’s exactly that reaction.

So, I think to your point, I think
some of these reactions are very natural,

some of them you could even argue
that some of them are justified,

but yeah, in the middle to long-term,

I think I am very optimistic
about what is happening now.

EP: OK. One last question.

What would you respond to any criticism

that these kinds of initiatives like
you took through your company,

some say that it is sheer marketing.

What would you respond to such a response?

(Laughter)

AP: I wish it wasn’t [UNCLEAR]
I think there are two angles here.

The first one is that I think you can see
the culture of a company just from...

in this day and age you cannot lie

about what your culture is as a company,

whether it’s TOMS shoes giving things out
as you purchase their products,

whether it’s a coffee
or a bread manufacturing in Kenya.

I think you can see through
both the entrepreneurs

and the culture of the overall company.

So, I think on this one people
can judge for themselves, I think.

At the same time though,
in a very cynical way,

if efforts like this one are driven by
marketing dynamics for different companies

and that means that companies do much more

because they believe
that it helps their image

it’s something that unless they do
the competition will get in front of them

and all that then, by all means.

I mean, it ends up in a broader good.

So, on this one that is
what I would answer.

EP: Thank you very much.
(Greek) Thank you Alex.

AP: Thank you.

(Applause)