George Stylianou began his career as a graphic designer but through a series of fortunate opportunities found himself working in marketing roles for major Forex brokerages. He co-founded Positiva Markets to provide liquidity to other Forex firms rather than compete for retail clients. Positiva also offers services to help other companies through its subsidiary PositivaMST. Stylianou works with his Chinese partner Kevin Liu to leverage their Asia connections and establish Positiva as a bridge between China and Europe. Their goals are to become a top 20 liquidity provider and service 100 clients from Asia through their tailored offerings.

1. www.goldnews.com.cy | Gold | 77
following a swift interview, I was made an
offer which I accepted,” he recalls. It was
sometime later that he discovered why
the company had been so keen to replace
his predecessor. “It was launching in the
Middle East and, for the accompanying
media campaign, needed a photo of an
attractive Arab woman. Instead of purchas-
ing a licensed stock photography image,
the previous designer had simply looked
online and found what he thought was a
suitable picture. Unfortunately, it was of
Queen Rania of Jordan... The moment
the campaign was launched, the company
was deluged with complaints and one of
the things they were required to do, in
addition to apologising, was to dismiss
the person responsible for the error. So I
often joke when asked how I got into this
industry that I owe it all to Queen Rania
of Jordan.”
Nonetheless, in that particular company,
he was still involved in graphic and web
design. It’s a big step to the marketing de-
partment, with or without royal assistance.
In Stylianou’s case, his view was that if
someone is going to design an advert for
a particular product, he/she needs to know
exactly what the product is about. “This
led me to going around from department
to department at all levels, asking ques-
tions,” he says. “I think this is the best
way to learn, especially if you have people
around you who are willing to answer
them, which was the case in that particular
company. So I gradually got to learn about
every aspect of the business. Then, when I
started getting involved in the campaigns,
I wanted to develop things myself, so I
started taking on a project manager-type of
I
f anyone is surprised by
the fact that a talented
and creative graphic
designer should become
the Chief Marketing
Officer of a major Forex
brokerage and then
CEO of a company pro-
viding liquidity to other
Forex firms, it is George
Stylianou himself.
“Yes, I’m very surprised at where my career
has taken me,” he says, “and in many cases
it’s partly been a matter of being in the right
place at the right time. However, I also be-
lieve that we make our own luck by being
positive and always looking forward and
that’s something I have always tried to do.”
The name of his latest venture, Positiva
Markets (CY) Ltd (or PositivaFX.eu) under-
lines this and there is not only a positive at-
mosphere in the company’s Limassol offices
but a distinct oriental feel to the decoration.
What’s more, though you and I would not
realise it, the offices were selected accord-
ing to Feng Shui principles, partly because
PositivaFX.eu is one of the few companies
in Cyprus with strong links to the Asian
market and its main investors are Chinese.
What’s more, Stylianou’s partner is Chi-
nese-born Kevin Liu, more of whom later.
George Stylianou’s entry into the Forex in-
dustry is an interesting story that underlines
his “right place at the right time” theory. He
received a call from a recruiter saying that a
very well-established Forex company need-
ed a graphic designer as soon as possible.
“First I had to check what ‘Forex’ was – I
knew nothing about it whatsoever – and,
role. After four years, I moved from graphic
design to become Brand Manager.”
At that point, another company took
an interest in Stylianou and his particular
experience. “FXPro was ready to refresh
its online brand and offering and wanted
to launch a new website in 15 languages,
totally different from the one they had.
Once again, I was in the right place at the
right time, I was made a very good offer
and I started immediately on a one-year
project, which, I’m happy to say, was very
successful.”
His next move was slightly unexpect-
ed: he decided to start his own business,
though not in Forex.
“I had gained the confidence to take
such a step from the number of external
requests for assistance I had been receiv-
ing, so I took the risk of starting my own
company with a partner, offering online
marketing services,” he says. However, no
sooner had he done that than the phone
rang once again: A major Forex broker –
Alpari Financial Services Ltd – was opening
new offices in Cyprus. “I wasn’t especially
interested in a permanent position there
as I had set my mind on making my own
company work,” Stylianou remembers, but
he went for an interview and suggested that
he could provide outsourced services to the
company. “The people there insisted that
I join them full-time to help them begin
their operations in Cyprus. Once again,
I was made an offer that was too good to
refuse, so I accepted.”
The firm started in what he describes as
“somewhat humble beginnings in a tiny
office” but it was not long before the com-
pany had grown and was housed in its own
A Little
Luck and a
Lot of Work
George
Stylianou tells
Gold how, in
the space of 10
years, he has
gone from being
a graphic and
web designer
to Executive
Director and
Chief Executive
Officer of the
Positiva Group
of Companies
and liquidity
provider Positiva
Markets (CY) Ltd
By Voula Loizou
| forex |

2. You never
lose; you
either win
or you
learn
78 | Gold | The Business Magazine of Cyprus
Alpari Tower (now FXTM Tower) and
George Stylianou was named Chief Market-
ing Officer. Eventually, Andrey Dashin, one
of the founders of Alpari, decided to set up
ForexTime (FXTM) and, says Stylianou, “I
was honoured that he chose me to be one of
the five people starting the new company.”
Over the years, Stylianou has clearly
learned a great deal about the Forex busi-
ness. “If I were to believe what Malcolm
Gladwell says about how it takes roughly
10,000 hours of practice to achieve mas-
tery in any field, I’ve already spent that
much time learning about the Forex busi-
ness,” he notes, though he is the first to
admit that he does not consider himself a
specialist in all of the many elements.
But having worked for several major
Forex brokers, there is obviously something
that has kept him in the industry. What’s
the fascination?
“My initial interest arose from my need to
understand what this thing called Forex was
because I had to design in such a way that
“the man on the street” would understand it
too. Then there came things like regulation,
risk factors, documentation, KYC, regional
market differences and so on, and I was
hungry to learn about them.” He cites the
saying ‘You never lose; you either win or you
learn’ and says that he has always believed
it to be true. “The simple answer to the
question is that every situation has its par-
ticular challenges; no single solution works
the same way for every region, company or
client. Every step and scenario is a challenge
and I enjoy this.”
That said, Stylianou is quick to point out
that PositivaFX.eu is not a Forex broker like
all the rest. And he is not simply putting on
his old branding and marketing hat when he
says this.
“None of the companies I have worked
for in the past are competitors of ours right
now because PositivaFX.eu is a purely
institutional Forex broker, which means
that we do not deal with retail clients but
only with other legal entities,” he explains.
“In most retail Forex companies, it’s a race
to either convince people who haven’t
traded Forex before to start or to persuade
people with other brokers to switch to them.
I didn’t want to start another company
competing in this ‘rat race’ or being a part of
that whole game. Instead, we have chosen
to be on the supply side, providing liquidity
to other legal entities. It’s a less volatile and
more profitable business model.”
In fact, PositivaFX.eu is just one part of
the larger Positiva Group. A second compa-
ny is Positiva Markets Services & Technolo-
gies Ltd (PositivaMST.com), which provide
services, technologies, legal and financial
advisory through a network of partners to
help other Forex companies achieve their
goals.
“We’re not interested in getting 100 re-
tail clients a day,” says Stylianou. “We’ll be
more than happy to have 100 institutional
clients in the lifetime of the company.”
When he uses the word “we”, he is refer-
ring to himself and his partner, Kevin Liu,
whom he met more than ten years ago and
the two men have been good friends since
then. “Kevin is Chinese but he’s lived in
Cyprus for almost 10 years and has been a
strong key figure in his previous compa-
nies,” Stylianou says, noting that “We’re
alike in many ways but we have different
approaches and I think that’s the secret to
our success. I tend to be soft where he is
hard, but while he is risk-averse I’m more
of a risk-taker so we balance each other out.
I’ve seen other companies where everyone
is so confident and moves in the same di-
rection and there’s no extra pair of eyes or
someone with the guts to say that maybe
it’s a bad idea. We complement each other
and this makes for a well-balanced com-
pany. The staff see it, the numbers show it
and our current direction shows it too.”
Kevin Liu’s Asia links give the Positiva
Group what his partner describes as “a key
advantage” because a great deal of interna-
tional business is now coming out of Asia.
“China, in particular, is a huge opportuni-
ty,” says Stylianou, “and we have more than
one foot in the door towards becoming a
bridge between China and Europe.”
In fact that bridge is already open to two-
way traffic. “We have seen that any Chinese
company wishing to do business in Cyprus,
whether financial services- or technology-re-
lated, is likely to pass by our offices because
they will find a familiar person to speak
to from their country, who speaks their
language and is already in the industry,” he
says, adding, “Full credit here goes to my
partner Kevin, of course.” PositivaMST
is also helping companies set up offices in
Asia, while the CEO is happy to report that
“Just this week, PositivaFX.eu onboarded its
first client and we look forward to servicing
many more.”
This is only the beginning for the
Stylianou-Liu partnership but they have
already set out their short- and long-term
ambitions for both companies.
“For PositivaFX.eu our short-term goal
is to make sure that we find ourselves in
the Top 20 in the industry and the longer
term goal is, of course, profit,” says George
Stylianou. “We have a solid plan in place to
achieve these goals. For PositivaMST.com,
the short-term goal is to update and refine
our offering regarding the new requests we
are getting from China to Cyprus. Long-
term, we’ll be happy with 100 clients from
that side too”. He concludes by saying, “We
have a small team of fantastic people which
have adopted an 80/20 rule for working –
we plan 80% of the time and execute 20%
of the time. This ensures that everything we
do is well-planned and executed on time.
We aim to keep a hierarchical structure that
is as flat as possible, so as to avoid bureau-
cracy and to ensure that decisions are taken
quickly. This, coupled by a very experienced
Board of Directors has set us up for success
and has allowed us to achieve so much in
so little time and I don’t see any reason for
us to change that. In some areas, small is
beautiful (and profitable) and that’s how we
intend to stay.”
Every step is
a challenge
and I enjoy
this