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Talking about success in times of crisis may sound like an oxymoron but the stories of young people successful in their fields and who are away from the lime lights always inspire. And if nothing else they show at least there is "light in the tunnel."

They are under the age of 40 and all are men because the study has been conducted by the male magazine L'Officiel Hellas Hommes. George and Irkalis Lambropoulos are the two young talents in audiovisual technology behind the company 2 Monochannels. They have presented Greece on the 11^th Biennale of Architecture in Venice (2008) and have worked on projects for the sound planning of the Mastiha Museum in Chios and the Numismatic Museum in Yanena. "The beginning is always difficult because people do not know what you are able to offer. We were in New York when we started with people who trusted us to carry out demanding projects," said the two innovators in the audio-visual systems for the magazine L'Officiel Hellas.

The story of Alekos Papadatos started at the Sorbonne where he studied economics but decided to take the risk and pursue his childhood dream - drawing comics. So, he established the animation studio Spicy Toons and is in collaboration with major studios in France, England, Belgium and Germany. The great Greek graphic novel by Apostolos Doksiadis and lecturer in informatics Christos Papadimitriou applauded by readers worldwide was published in October 2008. Have a look at it! Critics say the drawings by Alekos Papadatos and his wife Annie Di Donna touch perfection.

There are many heirs of large estates in Greece but few are those who take the family business and develop it in the world. One of them is Dimosthenis Kazaglis who has a company for cigars. He was awarded three times for the largest sales worldwide from 2005 to 2010! Mr. Kazaglis says that his mother was the first woman dealing with cigars. She has won the greatest recognition for her work in 1965 when Cubans have honorary awarded her Man of the Year prize as there was no such prize for a woman! The son took his mother's business and the risks and changes he had to make have led to success in the end. Mr. Kazaglis says for himself and the way he works that everything is the result of his temper and of the fact that he can not stand still.  

The young Greek Jade El Mehdawi is very successful in the field of technologies. He is the creator of the video game Darkfall! and his company Aventurine exports 99% of the games it produces to more than 120 countries. Mr. Mehdaui says he was interested in video games for the challenge "Because they are one of the most difficult things in computing since they combine technology, art and culture!"

There is variety of talents in the country and the following example proves this: the winner of the Dakar Rally 2003 - Vassilis Orphanos - lives in Greece. Many of the biggest names in sport lost their lives during the ordeal to drive through the desert. Vassilis Orphanos has participated in the Dakar Rally several times after his victory and is now part of the team of Aprilia! He published his book Soul in the Sand in 2007 and says he wrote it to "give a young person an incentive to pursue his dream no matter how elusive it looks!"

The young Greek writer Nikos Mandis who is the author of a collection of stories Alias and the novel Snow in Summer is a philosopher but natural too. According to him, "we should  divorce the desire to achieve what we can not achieve, to be what we can not be and to want things that we can not have."

The photographer Yannis Hadziaslanis graduated in England but returned to Greece. He feels much more South European and south-east Mediterranean countries fascinate him. He photographed buildings in Bahrain, Manama, in expensive and poor neighbourhoods for his latest project thus presenting people’s way of life. He completely agrees with the views of Roland Barthes who said that pictures of landscapes should be made in a way that suggests they fit to live not just to be visited.