Niki Koutsiana

Niki Koutsiana

Pharmacist, Founder and Member of the Board of Directors of APIVITA

President of Symbeeosis

Niki Koutsiana was born and grew up in Tripoli (Arkadia).

She graduated from the Pharmaceutical School of the University of Athens. She studied aromatherapy and became a founding member of the Greek Company of homeopathic medicine and the Greek Ethnopharmacology Company.

She started working as a pharmacist at the pharmacy she owned together with her husband, Nikos Koutsianas, also a pharmacist and a beekeeper. In this unique pharmacy of Psychiko, herbs from Greece and their particular uses, as well as bee products, were used as alternatives to traditional medicine.

Her knowledge and love for aromatherapy and homeopathy, virtually unknown at the time in Greece, led her to explore alternative medicine treatments. In 1979, the couple’s dream came true by founding APIVITA, the first Greek natural cosmetics company. She has been President of APIVITA since its establishment until early in 017, when a percentage of the company was sold to the Spanish PUIG Group. She is currently a member of APIVITA’s Board of Directors.

Niki Koutsiana is also the President of SYMBEEOSIS, founded in 2015 by Niki and her husband. The company aims to ensure the biological traceability of raw materials of their products through growing their own bees and aromatic plants and herbs, and through synergies with organic producers and beekeepers. A source of inspiration for them is Hippocrates’ holistic philosophy for health, beauty and well-being, as well as the self-managed bee society and the unique Greek biodiversity. SYMBEEOSIS’s mission is to offer innovative products of aromatic and medicinal plants, beekeeping and nutrition, of high biological value, as well as education and training services. SYMBEEOSIS has a very important educational and research activity through programs of the European Union and the Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation, addressing innovations in the primary sector and the training of beekeepers in organic agro-food methods.

Niki is also a member of the “Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and Culture (ELLET)”, of “Mazi Gia to Paidi”, a non-profit organization active in the field of childcare, of “DIAZOMA“, the Association for the promotion of our cultural heritage through the revival of ancient theaters throughout Greece. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Non-Profit Society ‘Hippocrates 2500 Years’, which aims to promote and disseminate the work and philosophy of Hippocrates. Finally, she is an honorary member of the IforU Non Profit Society, which aims to boost entrepreneurship, especially female, through mentoring and networking.