Meze, raki & sun
On my way to South-Caucasus a couple of weeks back, I stopped for five days in one of my world’s favorite cities: Istanbul. With the help of Danielle Tomson - a Yale student working for a local NGO during her Summer holidays and whom I recently met around a fondue in Geneva - we put together a small dinner in a Meyhane of the famous Nevizade street.
Among the participants, several young Turkish talents, Ivy-League students and fellow Sandboxers. The night passed quickly with endless meze & raki servings and passionate conversations. Philippe Nantermod explained the Swiss political system in front of the audience and Ali, a young Turkish entrepreneur, told us about the new (and original) business he just started: his company is selling seminars to help men improve their success rate with women. The last evening of a 3-day workshop, the class goes out in a club for a dating exercice; participants who would go back home without a date are entitled to a full refund. There are already companies in the US and in Australia successfully offering similar services but he is probably a pioneer in the middle-east ;-)
We ended up in a crowded side-street smoking shisha while listening to live music, which was also quite an experience. I hope to soon have a hub in Turkey, which would give me one more reason to go visit more often!
Antoine is Sandbox’ CEO and loves playing backgammon while drinking tea and smoking shisha on the terraces of Istanbul.
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