“Quality is not an act, it’s a habit.”

“Winning the Cyprus Business Woman of the Year Award in 2010 for the launch of the first online theatre ticketing system in Cyprus was a turning point and a huge boost for my morale. I’m now very proud to have been appointed Ambassador of the Cyprus Business Woman Awards and am looking forward to encouraging other women entrepreneurs to surge forward.”

Where did your career start?
I was raised in an artistic family and realised my dream to follow my father’s footsteps with an orchestral career. Although I had been having violin and piano lessons, it was rather late at 16 that I had to put in a huge effort to reach university level. My parents instilled a huge sense of discipline in me which has remained a desirable character trait.

While in my final year at university, I was also accepted as an extra violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra which gave me an invaluable opportunity to gain a huge amount of experience. They are days I recall with great happiness and pride, to go to work with my Dad and be on the stage with him. Now as a parent myself, I realise that it must have been a huge responsibility for him too.

After graduating, I joined on a permanent basis and had an orchestral career for almost 16 years before launching my own tour operating company. In retrospect, I was probably quite crazy — leaving a steady job and doing what I love, but my entrepreneurial spirit and desire to be my own boss was greater.

What was your connection with President Nelson Mandela?
I specialised in the Middle East and slowly the company grew. We had a super team selling to the travel industry and doing incentive tours for big companies. One of the most humbling experiences came from my meeting and working with President Nelson Mandela. I had bought a 10 seater Piper Chieftain aeroplane for VIP Charter flights into Africa, but simultaneously had seen the plight of starving children. After various negotiations, we received the help and support of President Mandela and took an Antonov full of food to Angola. The joy and gratitude of those women and children waiting in a long line in the burning African sun to meet us with the President will remain etched in my memory for ever.

In 2000 though I realised that despite all the elation and joy at the demise of apartheid, we were living in a dangerous city which had the dubious accolade of being crime capital of the world. So, I moved to Cyprus and literally started up again.

What has the success been in combining your music and Journalist careers?
All my music degrees stood me in good stead and I was appointed as a music producer at the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation with my own classical music show each weekday and on Monday evenings. I trained as a journalist with the London School of Journalism and had my own column in the English newspapers.

In the vain hope that I might be able to climb the corporate ladder at the CYBC, I had completed an MBA, which had finally proved useful. Never let it be said that whatever knowledge you acquire is wasted.

One of the many difficulties in working for a bureaucratic organisation is that you are not given any artistic freedom or opportunity to climb the corporate ladder. To put it bluntly, it was just a constant battle which left me drained, exhausted and very demoralised. After much contemplation, after 15 years, I finally found the courage to leave my permanent position at the CYBC and now only have a part-time post in order to produce and present the cultural magazine programme “6 to 8 with Saskia” and a couple of music programmes.

What are the objectives of your company?
I re-branded the company Apollon International Connections merging all my skills acquired from the music, travel and business world. I have created a more balanced and happier state of mind, with a renewed energy and zest to succeed. It’s become a multi-faceted company presenting concerts and festivals, artist and event management and the Apollon International Magazine, a publication merging sports, arts and culture.

We’ve already presented successful, sold-out concerts in New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall, London’s Cadogan Hall and a concert in South Africa. We are in our 3rd year of the Apollon International Arts Festival, which is held in the luxurious Annabelle Hotel each October.

I’m also a Co-Director of Creative Women with Olga Balakleets, who is well known in Cyprus particularly for the Cyprus Russia Gala held at the Presidential Palace each September. Creative Women was founded to inspire and connect creative women around the world through business. As we know, higher creativity leads to greater innovation within the business environment, so is an important skill for leaders. We want to advance and link the creative, business and leadership skills of entrepreneurial women around the world. Each year, we will have a conference in a different, international venue and focus on various current and pertinent issues.

We launch in Cyprus, in April at the Elysium Hotel, with the Patronage of Mrs Andri Anastasiades and an extremely high profile panel of speakers coming from all over the world. It’s a wonderful opportunity for networking, and I feel very enthusiastic about the entire project. These are exciting times.

How does your company, attracting International connections to Cyprus, integrate with the Pafos 2017 project and do you feel as CEO, that you have had support from cultural initiatives in Cyprus and EU?
This is a tricky question – I applaud the initiative of Pafos 2017 and am not sure if people understand the magnitude of what the island has been accorded with the title European Capital of Culture. For me, this is not only for Paphos, but an accolade and opportunity which should be enveloped by the entire island. I haven’t investigated the budgets, but it seems that Pafos2017 is restricted financially, so although there was no collaboration with Apollon International Connections at all in 2015, I’m hoping that 2016 and 2017 will be different. I firmly believe that more positive results can be achieved through collaboration, merging and exchanging of ideas. It seems often in Cyprus, that there is a fear of collaboration, with many individual cultural organisations working alone instead of together. Working independently is fine in a country like Germany for example, with a huge population and cultural background, but not in Cyprus where the cultural target market is restricted. I hope Pafos2017 will cooperate and we can combine our focus and efforts to represent it as a cultural city to the European market

Do you see Cyprus as a developing attraction for Cultural Tourism?
Unfortunately not at the moment. In order for Cultural Tourism to be supremely successful, it requires vision, cohesion and long-term planning, (and I mean at least a 10-year plan) with a change of mind-set from both the government and the general public. It’s about unity of thought, and as we see from Cypriot politicians, they cannot seem to agree on anything. Cultural programmes should be decided on by specialists in the field — one would not have a school teacher doing brain surgery, so why would people without experience be making decisions about culture? It’s more about teamwork, brainstorming, using the extensive resources of professionals we do have on the island, asking those who have “made it” abroad…It’s a thesis in itself and I probably should not say more. Although I’m under no illusion that it is a drop in the ocean in comparison to what is needed, in my own small way.

I’ve tried to develop three cultural tourism products: Cyprus International Food Festival, Cyprus Travel Pass and Apollon International festival. I’m hoping that all three of these projects will grow and develop in the next 5 years.