You can probably recall Greek's government-debt crisis from the not so distant past. It's citizens still suffer from the collapse as Greece's economy has shrunk by about 25% since 2008 and unemployment stands about 27%. Many small business owners are turning to the 'social' economy to stay afloat. Savvas Mavromatis, a small family business owner that makes detergents decided to give it a shot.

"He started selling his products directly to consumers for cash at fixed prices through a nonprofit collective, instead of to shops and traders as he had always done. Fourteen months later, he credits the group with saving his enterprise from a Greek economic meltdown that rivals the Great Depression."

Mavromatis' previous supermarket purchasers were demanding bribes just to accept his product as well as requiring additional payment for how his product would be displayed. Once he started selling without the middlemen group he was suspicious that no one even asked for a money under the table.

It's starting to happen all over Greece. Christos Kalaitzis, who grows kiwis, olives and chickpeas, "had gotten so fed up with not being paid by big wholesalers and exporters that went bust after taking his products that he had taken the chance".

“The goal is not to destroy the old market system but just to slow it down and get it to change,” Mr. Kalaitzis explained. “Maybe this is a bit romantic, but why should I sell to big companies if their checks bounce? If the free market in Greece worked properly, none of this would be necessary.”

Check out the entire article by New York Times here and let us know what you think. Could this turn around Greece's economy?