Ilias Poulias

We are very happy to add Ilias Poulias to our speaker line up. Trained as an engineer at Imperial College, London, and having worked in banking, finance, retail, real estate and telecommunications in London, Athens and Central America, Ilias Poulias is one of the co-founders and managers of the “Fundación Poulias” for children, established in 2007 in Guatemala.

Ilias first moved to Guatemala with his brother Alexandros for business reasons and is one of the few Greeks to become established in the Central American region through a series of successful businesses. Ilias initially founded – and now acts as director of – an international trading and retail chain; he then developed a high end cultural and shopping center in Antigua Guatemala, a Unesco World Heritage site. He also co-founded the first mobile marketing company in Guatemala providing value added services to telecom operators, which has now expanded to Central and South America.

The idea for the Foundation occurred to the Poulias brothers in 2003 following their daily interaction with a small group of seven children who lived around their warehouse. Formally established in 2007, the “Fundación Poulias”, as it is called, is dedicated to children living below the poverty line in crime infested areas.  Its goal is to help them achieve their full potential through education while also providing for their health and nutrition.

Following a proposition by the local Greek community, Ilias was nominated by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs as honorary Consul of Greece and to cater to its nationals in Guatemala.