Greece's new startup culture: technology and seagrass sunglasses

Greek student Stavros Tsompanidis was walking on a beach when he saw a business idea in the piles of dried-up seagrass. He decided to recycle it to make iPhone cases, sunglasses and gift boxes. Four years on, his startup, PHEE, sells its products across Greece and abroad. He represents a change in mind-set among young Greeks who are turning to entrepreneurship as a result of the crisis.

"If we don't act, in the next five years we'll be saying the same things: that Greece isn't going well, that there are no jobs... that we have a new program by the International Monetary Fund and European Union to support us," the 25-year-old said.

Greek startups are mushrooming in a financial crisis that started in 2008. The economy is only just recovering. It shrank by a quarter and cut off traditional routes to employment - jobs in government and family businesses.

"Startups"...