Panos Odyssey
PANOS ODYSSEY - MY STORY
On a spring day in 1958, Panagiotis Papadopoulos, "Panos” was born in one of the most historical and fascinating parts of Athens. Elefsis - home of the ancient, where the "Elefsinian Mysteries" once set the scene.
At the time of his birth, things were difficult in Greece; the country was just about to begin its recovery from the devastation of the Second World War and of the two communist uprisings that followed. Jobs were hard to come by and salaries were low. People had to get by, through hard work and the tightening of the belt. However, even under those conditions there was ample supply of one commodity. HOPE. It was during those years that”Panos” started the first part of his journey. Growing up with his older brother Spiros and sister, the rather shy little boy learned two things at a very early age; the first was the value of hard work, the second was his super ability to organize things.
He was eight years old when he first offered his services to the small neighborhood store. Amused the owner hired him. To his surprise the little shy boy first managed to dress a window. A few weeks later, after discovering and cleaning off some old dusty things he made his debut as salesman – and sold everything.
ODYSSEUS LEFT ITHAKA
In a country where, at the time, the political affiliation of the newspaper one read could make, or destroy, a career, what young Panos was doing was tantamount to a revolution. This intellectual aggressiveness followed him through high school, into his student's time in electronic engineering. Throughout his school years he worked during the summers, later on he found work in a foundry. It was really heavy work even for the biggest and toughest of men. But Panos, small as he was, and fragile looking, managed to outperform the others.
Parallel to this, his other activities began to attract attention. He wrote letters to local authorities, to the press and to various governmental agencies, pointing out wrongdoings, misgivings, injustices, corruption, fraud and nepotism. He would discover them, uncover them, and expose them. It was a noble war he had started – a war which he unfortunately was never going to win.
The established canters of power began to take notice of him. They then became annoyed. They started giving him warnings. He continued. They began to act against him. The police, instead of going after the guilty parties he reported, started to threaten him, persecuting him to the point where he was left with no other choice but to leave the country, or face annihilation, professional as well as physical.
EXILE IN SWEDEN
Sweden 1977. The young man with the southern sun still in his eyes sets foot in his new home. It was there that he found the environment in which his personality could develop and thrive. The gentle, profoundly democratic, humanistic, principled. Swedish society was just the environment he needed in order, to allow his ideas to grow and turn fertile, and his personality to eventually turn productive.
This does not mean that things turned in his favor right away. He faced many problems at the beginning. Lack of money, a new language etc. But for someone like Panos, the solution to such problems was easy, there was only one answer. Work; and he worked in shipping and he studied day and night.
As he learned Swedish he began to venture into new forms of work. He began to teach Greek, and if all this was not enough he began to study sociology. Methodically, systematically, he moved forward. Being a perfectionist, (in an intellectual and not in a scholarly way), he continued to study the language with passion. He also took some pedagogic courses in order to improve his Greek teaching skills. Not that he was thinking of making a career out of it. With Panos it's really simple. When he does something he must do it thoroughly.
SEARCHING FOR HIS ELEMENT
Starting his soul-searching he found sociology. What could he do with it? His first attempt became a big success - a sociological study on nightclubs. Such a study, on top of all his other activities meant that he had to make significant sacrifices. He hardly slept at all. He worked and studied during daytime, and collected research material and worked all night. The outcome? Total justification.
The study was published by the press, and was considered to be the most complete of its kind on the subject. The young Greek established his relationship with the press. A relationship that has been in harmony ever since. In spite of everything, something was not right. He realized that although such studies could be very interesting, this was not what he wanted to dedicate his life to.
While these things were going on, there was the ever constant need to support himself financially. It was during this period that he first thought of becoming involved with clothes. Methodical as he was, he started exploring various possibilities. He started putting ends together and risking all the savings he had. He bought some undergarments, packed his car and drove out in the country to sell them. Determined to succeed in making business he went from place to place - those were not easy times. Any other man, with less determination would have given up.
FINDING HIS TRUE CALL
Panos is not the type who gives up easily. He tried and he tried again, until something started to happen, Unbelievable as it may seem he started making money. Simultaneously, his ever present intellect was scanning the horizon for ideas and possibilities, searching for the new, the original. BANG!!! It happened. He himself does not know exactly the how, or the when. One thing is certain. Panos put the theoretical science of sociology into commercial application.
Once he had the original idea, he needed to develop it. The result was the establishment of Panos Emporio AB in a small office in Gothenburg. The embryo of what today is the largest manufacturer of swimwear in Scandinavia, a company with an ever expanding present and a limitless future.
All this was the result of the determination, imagination and intellect of one man who came more or less as a boy to this country- with his dreams as his only weapon. He's a modern Odysseus travelling, from or to Ithaca (which way is not important). Perhaps the most important thing is the journey itself, and perhaps the journey is also the destination.
For Panos the journey is still very young..
