Empowering Future Leaders: How one submit changed a young engineer’s career path - The story of Thanasis

It was an afternoon in Thessaloniki. Thanasis Tsimpris was sitting in front of his screen, with the programme announcement open in front of him.

A Chemical Engineering graduate from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with some early professional experience already under his belt, he knew the kind of role he was looking for: technical, meaningful, and somewhere he could learn from people with real-world experience.

When he came across the Empowering Future Leaders Graduate Program, it felt like the right fit. 

So, he applied. What happened next, he didn’t see coming. 

The selection process was unlike anything he expected. 

It wasn’t simply about qualifications or experience. It was about how he thought under pressure, how he collaborated with people he’d just met, and how he approached situations where there was no textbook answer. Each stage raised the bar. Each email telling him he’d made it to the next round only made him want more. 

“I enjoyed every part of the process, and I would have been glad I took part even if I hadn’t made it through.” 

But something else was happening along the way. 

For years, he had defined himself through a single lens: the engineer. That was his identity, his direction, the story he had always told himself. Yet as he progressed through the Program, challenged himself in unfamiliar situations, and met people whose careers he admired, that story began to feel incomplete. 

Not wrong. Just narrower than it needed to be. 

There were other paths. And one of them, it turned out, suited him better than anything he had planned. 

The call came a little while after the final interview. He had been selected. 

It wasn’t just relief. It was something deeper: the realization that people who barely knew him had recognized something in him worth believing in. 

“When you go through all those stages, and you’re finally selected, it means the people who assessed you believed in you, in what you’re capable of, but above all, in who you are. It’s a powerful vote of confidence.” 

Accepting the offer meant leaving Thessaloniki, the city where he grew up, along with the routines and familiarity of everyday life. 

It wasn’t a small decision. But his focus was already shifting toward what came next. 

Today, he works at EKO in a commercial role he never would have imagined for himself when he first submitted that application. And this month, he’ll experience the EKO Acropolis Rally (25–28 June) from the inside, as part of the team behind one of Greece’s biggest sporting events. 

None of it was part of the plan. All of it started with one click. 

So, when people ask what he would say to someone who is still hesitating before applying, his answer comes easily: “Don’t overthink it. Hit submit.” 

Thanasis thought he knew exactly where his career was headed. 

He was wrong; in the best possible way. 

If you’re waiting until you’re 100% sure, you might be waiting too long. 

Sometimes the opportunities that shape your future are the ones you never planned for. 

This article was originally published on protothema.gr on 09 June 2026.