At the Palm Beach International Boat Show 2025, Chief Marketing Officer at YATCO, Onno Ebbens connected with industry leaders and innovators to uncover the stories, strategies, and personal journeys shaping the future of yachting. Here he catches up with Dimitris Kyriazakos of Ekka Yachts—a seasoned sales broker and second-generation yachting professional. In this conversation, he shares insights on building a legacy business, succeeding in yacht sales, and what it takes to thrive in today’s competitive brokerage landscape.
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Video Transcription:
Meet Dimitris Kyriazakos: A Leader in Greek Yachting
“Good morning. I ran into Dimitris, and he’s a very renowned business owner and sales broker from Greece. But please introduce yourself to the audience for the few people that don’t know you.”
“Sure, thanks for having me over. My name is Dimitris Kyriazakos. I’m with Ekka Yachts, a renowned consultancy and dealership based in Athens, Greece. We’ve been in business for 40 years—last year we actually celebrated 40 years in the business, and we specialize in sales and purchase, chartering, and dealership of specific brands for the Greek market.”
“Fantastic. Do you want to share which brands for the Greek market?”
“Sure. We are exclusive dealers for the Sanlorenzo Group, which includes Bluegame, as well as for Pardo Yachts from Italy.”
A Family Legacy in Yachting
“Fantastic. And the reason that we are speaking is because you’ve got so much experience, but also it’s an interesting story because you guys started out as a family business.”
“Correct. This business was started by my father in 1984. For many, many years, they built a reputation as a dealership in Greece. At the time, there weren’t many dealers—it was mostly a broker market. So, he successfully established a dealership in the full sense of the word, including after-sale service and participating in events and building a brand.”
“So he was one of the first, you would say, in Greece?”
“He was the first dealer for Ferretti Yachts worldwide, actually.”
“Wow.”
“Yes. And as Ferretti grew to become Ferretti Group as we know it today, also the dealership in Greece grew and carried on with all the brands and represented all the brands of the Ferretti Group in the Greek market. This happened for about 37 years, and five years ago we had a switch in direction, and we went from the Ferretti Group to one of the big rivals in Italy, which is the Sanlorenzo Group.”
“I got it. But I’m not going to talk about that switch. I want to go back—like, I can imagine, because your sister’s also part of the company, correct?”
“Myrto, my sister, is a charter manager in the company. She joined about 12 years ago and set up our charter department. So, another big switch we had in our history, transitioning from a family business from my father to a consultancy and dealership with other partners as well, was that we diversified into chartering and also grew our sales and purchase department to include the brokerage of secondhand motor yachts.”
From Greece to Florida and Back
“Yeah. And then I’m interested in your story as well, because is this a story of like, ‘Oh, I was really young already with my dad and I was doing this,’ or were you the child that didn’t want to do it and then went into it? What’s your story?”
“For me, it was quite easy to decide. Of course, no one can know at the age of 20, 21, or 23, when I finished university in the States, what exactly they want to do, but it was something I was familiar with. We’ve been boating all our lives, so it was an easy try for me. I started actually here in Fort Lauderdale for a couple of years.”
“Did you start with the company or with another company?”
“Ferretti Group USA at the time, who was the importer for Ferretti Group, and our dealer at the time had just started a new dealership with MarineMax, the biggest company in yacht retail in the world today. And my role was to set up the boaters all around the country for the Ferretti Group and help their sales team get accustomed to the product—to which I was already accustomed because of my experience as a young child with these boats.”
“Okay, and then when did you move back to Greece?”
“A couple of years later. Actually, I should have stayed longer. I think I was having a great time here in Florida. But when I realized that this is what I want to do, I felt there was a big opportunity for me in the Greek market and to go and really start with the already established and successful business that we had there. So, a couple of years later, I moved to Greece, I did my military service and then started working full-time as a broker for the first few years.”
What It Takes to Be a Successful Yacht Sales Broker
“I know there’s a lot of people that do not have the background that you have. You had a family business, a father who already built up something very successful which you then took over and built out, and now your sister is involved as well. A lot of people say, ‘I would like to become a sales broker, I would be good at selling boats.’ But what’s the secret, do you think? What is the secret to becoming a good sales broker in our industry?”
“I think that a lot of people have this aspiration. And it looks like a very attractive day-to-day job. And it is. It is. Of course, it’s much more attractive when you’re successful and much, much less glossy when you’re starting off. I was lucky enough to have a background and for our company to already be established when I started.”
“So, what I always advise people to do is to have low expectations for the first year, or even first couple of years. You have to set up your own network. This is a business of relationships. You must be prepared to be always available—this is one of the big secrets. We don’t have on-times and off-times in this business. You have to always be available.
“And you have to be ready to fail—a lot. The customer is there—they make the decision. It’s not something that someone needs. You always have to have this in mind. Nobody needs a boat. Very, very few cases where they need it—almost always they want it, and almost always it’s not just the person you’re talking to, the decision-maker—there’s other people influencing the decision.”
“So, you have to be very patient and resilient and be prepared to fail and get back on the saddle and continue going with other options.”
“So, what would be—if you look at the personality skill set—like what kind of person?”
“You need to be patient. You need to be patient. I think you also need to have some kind of interest in boats and yachting. Usually, you will be speaking with people who like this and do it as a hobby and enjoy it. So, they will appreciate having somebody who also has this same kind of passion and knowledge about boats. In order to learn something well, you have to like it and enjoy it—I think this is one of the things.
“Then, you know, you have to be flexible to travel a lot. It’s an international business. If you want to succeed, you have to be prepared to be almost everywhere at any time. And have good communication skills. Languages help a lot—I speak five of them and it’s helped me a lot in my business. And, you know, you have to have a charming personality and be as charismatic as possible.”
“This is like a lecture: Sales Broker 101. So, I’m going to continue this conversation because I think it’s enjoyable and—like, because at the time you started, you’re 21, 22, right? At that moment, you think you can conquer the world?”
“Pretty much, yeah. I mean, you have your insecurities as well.”
Learning from Setbacks and Building Long-Term Success
“And that’s where I’m going. When did you know that you’re good at this?”
“That’s a great question. Actually, it came quite later in life. I had a very successful beginning to my career because it was 2006. So, the market was very solid, and I had leads coming in the company because we had successful brands and a good name. But then a couple of years later there was a crash landing, which was called the Lehman Brothers.
“I was one of these people who, at the very beginning of my career, got a big slap in the face. Then, you know, we tried a lot. I tried to diversify the company. I took on as managing director—which was good for my ego—but it also came with a lot of responsibility and a different set of skills other than just selling boats.
“So, I had to manage a business, create an environment that would be welcoming for brokers that would want to work for us. And I must say that I felt— to answer your question—I felt like I was really standing on my feet towards the end of this decade, around 2016–17, when I really saw that the company was standing on its feet, that I had transitioned from a purely family business into a partnership, and that even if something went wrong in one side of the business, we had other things that we could rely on to continue the business concern.”
The Balance Between Selling and Managing
“Because it’s a completely different thing—and I know, I founded a few businesses, I worked in—it’s something else to be the sales broker or the charter broker or to sell any product, and to have to run the company.”
“Yeah. This is what they call in business schools, I think, the producer-manager conflict. I have to split my time as equally as possible between producing—being the main sales broker of the company, which is the oxygen, it brings income to the company—but at the same time I have to manage people, I have to manage relationships, suppliers, and things like that. So, you have to keep that in mind and not be carried away by the urgent things that come during the day.”
“And also, what I would say—don’t try to get up the ladder too quickly. Some people are just made to be sales brokers and are really bad at managing.”
“Right.”
“Yeah. It’s something challenging. I worked on it a lot. And also, I have to say that selling has a certain adrenaline that managing—at least in my case—does not come with. Managing, you have to be unpleasant sometimes. You have to do things; you have to get out of your comfort zone. Not that as a sales broker you don’t, but the sales broker, making sales, has a very certain point in time where you see recognition, you see success. So, the result is more easily measurable, let’s say, in sales.”
Where Ekka Yachts Stands Today
“Good, so you started here, went to Greece, built up the company, had your ups and downs. How many people are you now within Ekka?”
“We’re 17 people.”
“Seventeen, so, are you one of the bigger players in Athens, would you say?”
“Yeah. I mean, depending on what kind of business you’re looking at. Of course, we are very strong in new boat sales and new construction. Last year we sold the biggest new build yacht in Greece—a 60-meter Sanlorenzo, due for delivery in 2027. We have very good activity in the fiberglass boats as well, both with Pardo Yachts and Sanlorenzo.
“So, we’re very solid in this business. We are a growing power in charter management. We have a very prestigious boutique fleet of 15 yachts. So, we’re not the biggest player, but we try to position ourselves as the quality, reliable partner.”
“And they’re all Greek flags?”
“No, no. We have three out of our 15 boats based in the south of France, and one is actually here in Florida.”
“Yeah, I’m going to look at that one, right? We’re going to see your sister and then we’re going to look at PARALLEL.”
“Sure. Okay, good. So, the Greece-based boats are European flag—either Greek or Malta in most cases.”
“Let me just say—great conversation, loved it. And what I really like—we like to tell stories, because our industry is about stories. Everybody comes from a different perspective. And for everybody—like, I say it a lot—but our industry is built on reputation, right? It’s like who you know, if people trust you, if you’re likable. And I’m really interested to hear the stories of successful people in the industry, which you are. You built up a great company, so thank you so much for that.”
“Thanks for your time. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you and sharing my views and insights in the business.”
“Fantastic. Hope to see you again soon.”
“You’ll be seeing me here.”
“Thank you.”
“Thanks, Onno.”
