About Us
Our minimums can become their significant ones
Tulip Tree is a non-profit company (NPO) founded in April 2023 by Vasiliki and Christina Sotiropoulou and Konstantinos Christodoulou with the aim of implementing voluntary actions and programs in the fields of education, social development and environmental protection.
Since 2021, its founders have focused on raising awareness of volunteers and funds to support preschool children in the deprived areas of Rwanda's capital, Kigali. In this context, monetary and in-kind donations, on-site visits by donors and volunteers have been made and many new activities are planned for the future.
For the implementation of its initiatives, Tulip Tree collaborates with the educational organization Happy Hearts, which specializes in early childhood development and which, through its social programmes and in cooperation with local communities, supports pre-school education structures in deprived areas in Kigali.
Our Team
Christina Sotiropoulou
Founding Member
Christina was born in Athens and worked for 40 years in the private sector in large commercial enterprises, especially in the field of global imports of specialized industrial products, while she worked as a child sponsor for ActionAid Hellas and participated in a volunteer trip to Vietnam.
She has travelled to over 15 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, always aiming to see beyond the obvious and tourist attractions.
She volunteers with humanitarian organizations focusing on education and women's empowerment and has travelled with organizations' missions to Asia.
Particularly sensitive to issues of equal opportunities and access to early childhood education in developing countries.
For the last 8 years Christina has been an amateur photographer, she has attended many seminars, including those of Maro Kouris and Panos Kasimis, and has taken part in 3 group exhibitions. Her photographs from her two trips to Rwanda were the material for the creation of the photo book Murakaza Neza.
Vasiliki Sotiropoulou
Founding Member
Vasiliki Sotiropoulou was born in Athens and has been living in Thessaloniki since 2005 with her husband Konstantinos Christodoulou, co-founder of Tulip Tree.
She is a Social Worker with studies in Political Science and International Relations. For more than 15 years she worked in Non-Governmental Organizations in cooperation with the UNHCR and the Greek branch of the international organization "Save the Children".
Vasiliki has 20 years of experience in transnational cooperation and European co-funded programmes, as a member of the Management Organization Unit, while she has worked for the implementation of social programmes in Bulgaria, Azerbaijan etc.
For the last 5 years she has been working in the private sector as a Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for a multinational company. Her motto is "Do good even if it seems like little."
Konstantinos Christodoulou
Founding Member
Konstantinos Christodoulou was born and raised in Greece and is the husband of Vasiliki Sotiropoulou. He holds a degree in Geology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a PhD from the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He currently lives and works in Thessaloniki, Greece. He has extensive experience as a technical consultant in water resources management, environmental and technical water supply and road projects in Greece and abroad, both in the public and private sector. For the last twenty years he has been working at the Interreg Special Management Service of the Ministry of Development, dealing with European transnational and interregional cooperation programmes, specializing in technical and environmental protection projects. He loves mountains and nature excursions.
Advisory Committee
The advisory committee is made up of people with a common vision who with their knowledge can help, propose, protect and disseminate Tulip Tree's goals.
The knowledge and experience they have gained over the many years of their professional career is a great advantage for the company.
We thank them for their voluntary contribution and their important support.
Eirini Landavou
PhD, LLM (Civil Law), LLM (Cadastral Law), Lawyer at the Supreme Court.
After 20 years of experience in active law practice, with a strong involvement in family law, caring for children as the weakest link in the social structure is a constant concern and target. In this context, the possibility of even the smallest contribution to help every child and every vulnerable fellow human being is her driving force
Anneza Vidaki
With a bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Imperial College London, and 21 years of experience in the banking industry as a senior executive. She has been working in an NGO, ActionAid Hellas, for about 6 years as Ηead of the management team of the organization's private financial supporters. I consider herself a "global citizen" with empathy and awareness of the great injustices happening around us and everywhere, all over the world. She supports human-centered and environmental civil society organizations, national and international, non-profit, either as a simple financial supporter, as a volunteer or as an advocate putting her experience and knowledge at their disposal, aiming for a better, fairer world.
Yiannis Lianos
With a degree in Economics and Executive M.Sc from the Department of Financial Banking Management of the University of Piraeus, he has been working as a Financial Director in a large multinational company for the last 30 years.
Married and father of one child, with a special sensitivity to young children and vulnerable people wherever they are in the world. Yannis wishes to contribute with his financial knowledge and experience to issues related to financial management with transparency and consistency, and more generally to the rational and sustainable management of Tulip Tree's financial resources.
Emmy Takahashi-Moscowitz
Emy is a Senior Advisor in International Affairs with 32 years of experience in United Nations entities addressing refugee, migration, humanitarian, development, human rights and peace and security issues in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Emmy has a multicultural background and has lived and worked in diverse settings. Most of her career was spent with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) assisting, protecting and seeking solutions to forcibly displaced populations. Emmy has many years of experience in managing programmes, people and mobilizing resources for UN programmes, including five years in Brussels managing the UNHCR-European Union partnership. She has also worked in the UN Secretariat as Senior Political Advisor in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with a focus on Europe, Africa and disarmament.
“I consider that Tulip Tree has set itself an important mission. I hope to contribute towards the organization's objectives and help Tulip Tree to ensure impactful outcomes for vulnerable populations, children, and their communities.”
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Our Partners
Η Happy Hearts is a social enterprise specializing in early childhood development (ECD) founded in 2015 by Lydie Hakizimana, CEO.
H Happy Hearts is a growing network of bilingual (English & French) international kindergartens and nurseries using the Montessori teaching approach.
Kelly Irakli , founder of Greek Rwanda Travels , provides travel consultancy and travel arrangements, and works with Tulip Tree representatives who coordinate groups of supporters who want to travel to the country
Chronicle
Our Journey so far
Coverage of school expenses
In December 2021 we covered the costs for pre-school education for 10 children with a donation of 200 Euros.
In the following months we created the social networking group Support Rwandan Schools, aiming to collect donations (monetary and/or in kind).
First monetary donation $3.000
We continued with a campaign of support from team members Support Rwandan Schools and in June 2022 we made a monetary donation of approximately $3,000 to meet the needs of children in Rutunga and Gikomero districts.
This donation covered ...
Donation of school supplies & clothing
In January 2023 we organized a group trip to Rwanda for 10 donors - members of our team.
In the course of this visit and in collaboration with the prestigious Montessori School of Montessori Education in Kigali "Happy Hearts", we visited one of the schools we support in the Gikomero community and donated ...
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