Ilias began his professional career working in investment banking, managing large investment portfolios with Warburg Dillon Read and UBS in London. In 2001 Ilias pursued a new opportunity in Guatemala where he jointly founded and managed, with his brother Alex, an international trading and retail company, “Bazaar Internacional S.A.”. In 2005, the Poulias brothers co-founded Televida, the first mobile marketing company in Guatemala. Ilias holds BS and BSc degrees from Imperial College, London, in mechanical and environmental engineering.
Following his entrepreneurial career, Ilias encountered his passion, and what has become today his lifelong commitment (in doing non-profit work), in a small group of children from Guatemala City, in 2003. They inspired him to establish the Poulias Foundation in 2007 and littleGIANTS in 2012, a nonprofit organization which, through an integral after school educational approach develops the academic and life skills of children and youth from distressed and under-resourced neighborhoods. The program empowers them to have better life opportunities and leads them to become active citizens who will bring change to their communities, endorsing his saying that “the best gift you will ever receive is the one that you give”.
Ilias believes that the key to the success and wellbeing of young children is not about leading them along a predetermined path limited to supporting academic skills, but allowing them to unchain their dreams, unleash their potential and create options for their future, giving them a unique competitive advantage by developing their non-cognitive skills. This way, they become the authors of their own life stories and have the tools to make better life choices. With currently two operational Centres in Guatemala and one in Greece, Ilias aims to open many more centres worldwide and welcome generations of littleGIANTS.