How everything started

The original idea of Bloode occurred when the two founders, Natalia Kritsali and Natalia Bougadellis, were still in high-school. Bougadellis’ grand-mother was gravely ill, suffering from an autoimmune disorder, and was in need of constant blood transfusions. At the time she was in Lemnos, an island in the Northern Aegean where the local hospital did not have a constant blood bank. At first they used all available resources but quickly the blood donated by friends and relatives was just not enough! The situation was getting very exhausting to both the tampered old woman and her loved ones. Finally, after the humiliating process of begging for blood the problem was solved and right on time some blood was found. This incident was the spark for the idea of Bloode and the two girls joined their forces in order to solve the blood shortage in Greece and make the system friendlier and less stressful for both patients and relatives.

May 2014 found Natalia Kritsali in Athens studying Management Science and Technology in Athens University of Economics and Business and Natalia Bougadellis in New York studying cinematography. Their knowledge and experiences lead them to the final decision of beginning with the Bloode project. Shortly afterwards Panagiotis Sfikas and George Stavropoulos joined the Bloode team. Panagiotis is studying MBA International in Athens University of Economics and Business and George is studying Management and Economics of Telecommunication Networks in University of Athens. Bloode managed to win the first prize in Social Impact Awards 2014. Today its route is overwhelmingly successful, more members have joined the team. Bloode organizes blood donation events every month and blood donors have reached the number of 1300.