18-year-old Valentinos Tzekas–featured in Forbes–believes that startups like his own will help get Greece back on its feet economically.

“We tried making phone calls, sending messages and look frantically for check ins on Facebook, to see which of our friends were in each bar, in order to -make the best decision. It was proving impossible, and we were losing precious time. It was at that moment I realised the solution was to have all of this information directly on our phones.” – Tzekas

Tzekas created a social app called Near – Check Who’s Nearby. Basically, it checks to see which of your friends are nearby in order to avoid sending a mass of texts and Facebook messages whenever a person wants to hang out. According to Forbes, he spent days working from 7 am to 3 am in order to turn this simple idea into a reality.

“They have lost their hope of a better future. They become reluctant to innovate. They stopped dreaming big,” says Tzekas. “My own friends, in trying to keep me safe, keep telling me about the odds of failing and wasting time and money. They say I can’t make a living as an entrepreneur in Greece. ‘Get a degree and a job.’ is what they say. Personally, I consider them to be closed-minded. No one really understands your dreams but you have to stick to your guns. If you think you can do it, do it.”

With admirable dreams and great empathy, Tzekas sees past this app as merely a way for him to make money. He sees startups such as this one as hope for the economic security of Greece.

At the moment, Tzekas is working on his college degree while selling his app himself with his “one many army.”

“I’d love to build a talented, support team and of course, find the funding needed to take things to the next stage. I always knew that I was going to be a web developer and an entrepreneur; actually, I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s my passion and I live for it. I’ll keep chasing my dreams, and I believe the best is yet to come.”