Successful for over six decades, the Group was established in 1940 by Nikos Karantokis, who founded Medcon Construction in 1956, setting the strongest of foundations for today’s multifaceted reality.

A present made up of involvement in many economic fields, including construction, land development and property management, hospitality, waste management and biological (organic) farming.

Τhe Group’s CEO is Dimitra Karantoki (daughter of the founder), with four other family members also active in the company; Petros Pierides (hotel management), Stephanos Pierides (construction, land development and waste management), Rebecca Pierides (hotel management) and Elena Christophorou (biological farming).

Construction

The early years: Second World War, Cyprus Independence and the Turkish Invasion (1944 – 1974)

During the 1940s, when Cyprus was still a colony, Nikos Karantokis took up construction projects for the British army. In 1956 that materialised into an organised entity, Medcon Construction and following the declaration of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, he undertook large scale state projects, such as the Lefkara dam, the Nicosia-Kyrenia main road, running through Klepini, expanding the Nicosia airport runway, building the Moni power station and the Limassol pier.

He also constructed a number of major construction works, such as the Salamis Bay and Aspelia hotels in Limassol, The Hilton in Nicosia and the Karantoki Building in central Nicosia.

The post-1974 era and Dubai (1974-2000)

The 1974 tragedy froze construction in Cyprus and Nikos Karantokis steered Medcon towards UAE (Dubai). Al Naboodah Medcon was established in a joint venture with a local company, undertaking a number of large scale projects from 1975 through to 1986, including Deira Tower, Nakhali Tower, the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway, extending the Dubai airport runway and the Jebel Ali highway.

As the situation in Cyprus stabilised, Medcon could not stay away from contributing to the country’s growth and recovery and returned to the island, renewed, dynamic and with valuable added experience.

The company built the Kalavasos and Asprokremmos dams, the Nicosia-Limassol highway and the Limassol bypass, three significant works of demanding technical expertise. Major construction works include the Limassol General Hospital, the Sunwing hotel in Ayia Napa, Churchill Limassol, Medcon tower and the Ayia Paraskevi building in Nicosia, the Eden Beach Hotel and Apartments in Limassol.

Modern times (2000 – 2022)

Nikos Karantokis handed over the baton to his daughter Demetra in 1995, who took over as President of the Group. Under her leadership, Medcon continued on its successful path of noteworthy projects, such as the vertical port road in Limassol, the Rizoelia, Strovolos and Ayios Athanasios flyovers and the Ayia Napa and Paralimni roundabouts. The Group also constructed more than 50% of the Limassol Sewerage System 5^th phase and the Zygi Fishing Shelter.

Major construction works include Evelina Court in Nicosia, the Crowne Plaza Limassol hotel renovation and expansion, the expansion of the Caterways factory and the study, construction and operation of the Limassol District waste management facilities.

In all, Medcon has completed over 750 projects.

Land development and property management

Completed works .

The company has developed and manages the Karantokis Tower (Nicosia), Medcon Tower (Nicosia), Karantokis Building (Nicosia) and Eden Beach (Limassol).

Future works

The company has recently announced the construction if the Alakati housing work in Lakatamia, en environmentally friendly building made of 25 elegant, separately designed and fenced residences, combining primary location with unique aesthetics and modern home comforts.

Innovative solutions

Medcon Construction was the first to introduce a series of innovating solutions, such as:

Prestressed Concrete: Compressed during construction in a way that strengthens against tensile strength on operation by introducing high resistance tendons. It’s first use was at the Strovolos roundabout.

Reinforced Earth©: Α patented technology of reinforcing embankments and retaining. First use was at the Strovolos roundabout

Slip-forming: Α construction method in which concrete is laid in a constantly moving form. Τhe sliding formation is used for tall structures, such as bridges, towers, buildings and dams, as well as horizontal constructions, such as paving. It’s first use was to build a clinker silo at Vassilikon cement factory.

Urban solid waste management

The Karantokis Group recently expanded towards efficient and environmentally responsible urban solid waste management. Since 2014, it’s been cooperating with ANAERGIA international group, a global innovator in organic waste management, which uses anaerobic processing to produce energy and/or renewable natural gas, RNG. The goal here is to reduce the processing cost and greenhouse gases emissions.

Utilising the OREX technology at the company’s modern waste processing management facilities in Limassol, provides residents of the district with the lowest of solid waste management in the western world.

The Group plans to expand its waste management activities to the Nicosia district, building a new biological processing unit.

‘We look forward to maintaining strong cooperation bonds with local government so the waste collected can be utilised as resources, reducing costs and achieving the national recycling goals.

Biological farming

The Akaki estate is the latest addition to the Karantokis Group. Run by Elena Christoforou, it secured a LACON biological farming certification in 2021. It produces excellent quality virgin olive oil, grapefruit and oranges. The Group is looking into expanding its activities in the sector.

Quality as principle and driving force

The Karantokis Group has charted a successful course for over six decades, starting out in the 1940s with Nikos Karantokis, who established Medcon Construction in 1956 and set the solid foundations of today’s multi-dimensional reality.

The Karantokis Group is involved in vital sectors of socio-economic life, such as construction, land development and property management, tourism and hospitality, waste management and biological crops. The Group’s CEO is Dimitra Karantoki, daughter of the founder. She spoke to us about the history of the business, today’s realities and the future.

What’s it like heading out a group with such a long successful history?

In taking on such a responsibility and carrying on the work of a man like my father, you have to really be prepared and determined to build on what others forged before you. You adapt this long history to the new realities, develop new sectors utilising the opportunities arising or creating your own and then passing on the baton to the new generation who will build on the past, leaving their own separate imprint.

Is it tougher leading a Group involved in many sectors?

It’s creative. The guiding principle is for every activity to operate independently of the other.

What does the history carry to the present reality and future prospects?

Quite simply, the very history of our country; many businesses were founded in the 1950s and 1960s by self made people from poor or low income families (my father was born to a poor family of Afaneia). These entrepreneurs created the first business structure of the country and their companies and successors continue their contribution to the country’s economy. One of these businesses is our Group.

Group DNA

What determined the Group’s DNA and what’s it made up of?

You can build anything from virtually nothing, as long as you have vision guiding your actions. Our personnel is our greatest asset, we respect them, appreciate their contribution and firmly believe that our progress depends on maintaining this relationship over time. This is our DNA synthesis.

Founder’s advice

What is it you cherish the most from your father’s advice?

There are many wisdom pearls that I cherish. One of them is the fact that you need luck to succeed. And luck was ‘being at the right place at the right time’. Another piece of advice was being courteous and well-mannered to your associates, competitors and opponents, but when necessary, remind them who you are and what are the limits of your tolerance.

A family business

What differentiates your Group in its fields of activity?

Emphasis on quality, without monopolising our philosophy, is clearly the Group’s driving force. We will never compromise relations with associates or personnel for the sake of profit and last but not least we are and will remain a family Group, run by members of the family. Owners/management team and personnel are a collective, united force.

Landmarks

Major landmarks during the Group’s long time history?

Many, but the following have defined our history.

• The 1960s/70s when Medcon undertook many of the most important public and private sector works of the time.

• 

  Τhe Limassol Pier (1973), another large scale project.

  The establishment of Al Nabooda Medcon in Dubai in 1975, which contributed to a great extent to the development of the Emirate and provided the necessary funds for the Group to return to Cyprus, following the Turkish invasion of 1974.

• The expansion of the Group to the hotel industry in 1975 and the franchise cooperation with InterContinental Hotels Group [IHG] in 1999, in building our own hotel in Limassol.
• The Group’s synergy with Anaergia (through Db Technologies), in the study, construction and operation of waste management facilities (Medcon Db Technologies).

Companies are obliged to maintain ethical and responsible behaviour

‘Businesses gave back to society and assisted groups and individuals in need, long before such contribution was codified as Corporate Social Responsibility’, says Dimitra Karantoki, the Group’s President and CEO.

She gave us an outlook of the company’s social responsibility practices and actions:

‘It is such great satisfaction to give back to society, your country, people in need. This philosophy formed part of business structure, long before it was dubbed Corporate Social Responsibility, ever since the time companies made financial contributions to women’s activist groups. I’ve discovered thank you follow up letters in my father’s archive, sent by emblematic Limassol mayor Yiorgos Katsounotos, about the company’s contribution to the city, as well as former US ambassadors on the annual donations towards Cypriot students Fullbright scholarships in the US. Our Group’s social contribution is multi-dimensional, across many sectors. One such example is Limassol, where we executed a large part of the city’s sewerage system, during the Andreas Christou tenure, also constructing and delivering a park.

Other financial contributions include the Professional Artists Foundation in Nicosia; we have also sponsored the participation of Cypriot Stephanie Solomonidi in the 8 Commonwealth States campaign in Antarctica.

We are frequent blood donors and the Crowne Plaza Limassol team is active in the chain’s community programme, such as IHG Giving For Good.

The framework of Corporate Social Responsibility includes promoting equality in the workplace and doing away with the ‘glass ceiling’, an approach I have introduced and is now central to the organisation’s philosophy.

Corporate Social Responsibility includes responsible business behaviour in many sectors, such as environmental practices, namely ‘environmental sustainability’. And also, to be sure, ethics remain a fundamental aspect of business practice’.

An international brand of hotel industry

A construction explosion hit Cyprus in the early 70s and Medcon Construction was right in the middle of it, taking over two large scale projects; building Aspelia Hotel and Salamis Bay in Famagusta. During that same time, Medcon was also constructing quite an innovative work for its time, the Limassol Pier.

Experience in building hotels and the company’s business involvement in Limassol for the work on the pier, created the circumstances for the purchase in 1973 of an under construction hotel in the city.

In spite of this move, Nikos Karantokis did have his doubts whether such an investment in Limassol would turn out profitable, as Famagusta and Kyrenia were the islands’ top tourist destinations at the time. Limassol was just making its early tourist steps.

But these destinations were lost to the invading Turkish troops in 1974 and the purchase of the Limassol hotel unexpectedly turned into a supreme investment opportunity.

It opened its doors in May 1979 as The Churchill Limassol.

In addition, following the closure of the luxury Ledra Palace hotel in 1974 (today on the Nicosia buffer zone), the capital urgently needed hotel beds, so the company stepped in and constructed a 50 room boutique hotel in Nicosia, The Churchill, which opened in 1975 and closed down two decades later.

It was a welcoming, warm, cosy place, with fine dining and great service; it formed the venue for a series of memorable events led by the late antique expert Titi Koudounaris. It turned into a bright cultural spark, embraced with love and optimism by the people of Nicosia, during the tough early post war years.

In 1978, the company bought Pinewood Valley, a 20 room hotel, built in the 1940s, beautifully perched in the Troodos forest, between the Marathasa mountain villages of Pedhoulas and Prodromos.

 

The hotel was renovated, expanded in capacity and opened in 1980 as The Churchill Pinewood Valley, hosting guests through to 2005. To paraphrase the desert setting, it was a forest oasis, boasting lush gardens, a swimming pool and tennis court, with access to nature paths. It was cherished by Cypriot weekend ‘getawayers’, European hikers, bird watchers and those who simply wanted an escape from the coastal clichés, to enjoy the mountain view.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for very long, as the rapid tourist development of the coast led to the equally fast decline of mountain resorts, resulting in the hotel’s closure.

Strategic planning by the tourism ministry for the rejuvenation of mountain resorts has begun paying off.

‘What we can all hope for, is Pinewood rediscovering the prestige it deserves’, the company remarked.

The Churchill Limassol – Holiday Inn Limassol

The Churchill Limassol opened its doors on May 1^st 1979 as one of the most luxurious hotels of its time, with brilliant standards of comfort and high quality cuisine.

During the 1980s, a series of talented visiting foreign chefs essentially turned the hotel’s kitchen to a cooking workshop for ambitious, young and upcoming Cypriot chefs.

The best talents now had the opportunity of further training abroad by distinguished chefs, such as Maître Chef des Cuisines Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester in London.

Cypriot chefs returned to the island with knowledge of the basic principles of ‘Nouvelle Cuisine’ and ‘Cuisine naturelle’, putting their newly found skills to the test at the Churchill Limassol, both in terms of cooking and table hospitality.

The Churchill Limassol remains a point of reference as the top cooking and hospitality ‘school’ of Cyprus, where today’s veterans of the field were taught fundamental principles.

It was established for two decades as an independent hotel.

But change became necessary from the mid 90s, with rising local competition and the internet increasingly transforming the travel industry. The company launched cooperation with a global organisation aimed at pushing the hotel forward with the competitive advantage of branding. On May 1^st 1999, Churchill Hotel Management signed a franchise deal with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). The hotel officially became a member of the Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts family.

Crowne Plaza Limassol

In the following decades there was a dramatic transformation of the business and tourist environment in Cyprus, capped by the country’s accession to the EU, which turned Limassol into an attractive destination for international business.

Shipping and financial services grew, as the city hosted an increasing number of travelling professionals. The Karantokis Group saw an ideal opportunity of taking the next step.

The hotel in question, situated in a primal coastal location of down town Limassol was a perfect candidate as the leading business hotel in the city. The Group’s IHG associates aligned with this new vision and on May 1^st 2011, following major renovation and upgrading of facilities, the hotel became part of Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, το premium corporate commercial IHG brand name, designed to cover the needs of the modern travelling professional.

For a decade now, the hotel has maintained its high standards, securing a number of awards and certifications, both as an employer and an establishment, including an Equal Opportunity Employer Award by the ministry of Labour and Social Excellence in recognition of the successful implementation of the PANDORA EQUAL programme on the Balance of Professional Life.

‘Our greatest reward is the fact that we have members of our Group celebrating 30 and 40 years of service, dedicating their most productive years to the vision of our company. In our 40^th anniversary celebration in 2019, we duly honoured this ‘Club of 40’.

Certifications and Awards

The Crowne Plaza Limassol has received the following awards, in recognition of excellent service:

• IHG Torchbearer 2020: A recognition for hotels achieving excellence in hospitality, with top marks in the ‘All Round Customer Experience’, as well as all the Winning Metrics. Such measurements are conducted through the HeartBeat poll, sent to customers following their stay at any IHG hotel globally.

• IHG Managing Director Award 2020: Rebecca Pieridi, CEO of Churchill Hotel Management Ltd., owner and managing company of Crowne Plaza Limassol received the «IHG Managing Director» award for Southern Europe in 2020. IHG presents these awards to the managers of associated hotels, as they are essentially ambassadors of its prestige and turned the IHG vision into reality, for customers, colleagues and the public.

Rebecca Pieridi was ‘IHG Managing Director’ for Southern Europe in 2020.

• Business / City Hotel 2020

Crowne Plaza Limassol received the bronze awards for Best Urban Hotel and/or Professionals Hotel at the 2^nd annual ‘Cyprus Tourism Awards’. It was the only one to receive a distinction in this category.

• Crowne Plaza Hotel of the Year

Crowne Plaza Limassol received the Southern Europe Hotel of the Year 2019, awarded to only one Crown Plaza hotel annually, a mark of the IHG chain’s highest distinction, as it recognises collective effort in providing excellent hospitality, both in terms of customer service and labour relations as well as social work. It was a success for Cyprus and the whole team was very proud to shine a tourist beacon on Cyprus as a quality international destination, particularly for the travelling professional.

It has shown to be resilient, but there’s still a long way to go

Mrs.Karantoki offers up her own interesting take on post-pandemic realities.

Cyprus is facing difficult circumstances. Covid followed in the footsteps of the financial crisis, before the economy had a chance to recover. How do you see conditions?

The economy has shown to be resilient in quite a tough year. But it will be severely tested. Businesses are feeling the pressure from the rise of prices in raw materials, increasing operational costs brought on by covid measures and not least the absence of personnel, who were either infected or close contacts of confirmed cases. 2022 will be a watershed year, as we learn to live with covid; we’re all going to be tested. If you add the existing shortages of personnel in all sectors of the economy, with the vital tourism and hotel industries particularly impacted, the challenges are quite evident. Hiring employees from third countries is a one way street and the sooner we realise and act on it, the more we can hope to achieve good growth levels. Workforce shortages are a major obstacle to growth.

There’s an opportunity in every crisis, so they say. Is this true of the pandemic?

Opportunities have arisen, to be sure, and realised. Such as clinical laboratories that upgraded their facilities and services, online purchases platforms and sales in many sectors, providing a high level of service.

We’re not an industrial country, so we can’t really utilise other kinds of opportunities, such as the US, which forged a whole industry for producing Personal Protective Equipment. They had previously imported such products from China and now they’re self-sufficient.

What we can utilise, is a major opportunity presenting itself through the EU’s Growth and Resilience Plan. The plan submitted by Cyprus has been approved, so we must be fast and organised in making the best use of the relevant European subsidies and loans.

1.2 billion euro are available for reforms and investments connected to the transition towards the green economy, strengthening business and economy competitiveness, local and central government reforms, digital transformation and electronic governance. Certain government departments still use the fax, while electronic signatures are not accepted nor is there such technology available to them.

Investments in the private sector are sure to follow the public sector, as long as banks realise that mortgages are not the only forward to granting loans; there’s project financing, or loans based on the projects’ technical and financial aspects.

Business Leader Award

Dimitra Karantoki received a Business Leader award by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2021 for her work and involvement in the Real Estate, Construction and Land Development sectors.

Such awards are geared towards recognising business excellence in Cyprus and honouring leaders for outstanding contribution in entrepreneurship, the economy and the country as a whole.

Being the only woman to have received this prestigious award, Dimitra Karantoki dedicated this success to ‘women professionals’ during her acceptance speech.