Rising Stars on Bulgarian business scene
More than 500 young entrepreneurs in Bulgaria have presented their innovative business solutions to the leaders of the largest companies and institutions in Bulgaria during the Youth Business Forum Rising Stars held in Sofia. The event is organized for the third year now by Junior Achievement Bulgaria. It is targeted at school and university students from across the country, who set up real companies as part of their training at entrepreneurial skills. Within the framework of a school year, young people unite in teams and develop a business idea of their own, create a prototype of the product or service, and then sell it on the market. At the end of the year, companies are closed down and the incomes are distributed among the shareholders.
The student company IDEAL set up by students at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia offers services in the field of guerrilla marketing. More from Stoyan Atanasov, one of its members:
“This is a comparatively modern marketing strategy that relies on scandalizing society rather than on conventional marketing solutions and the main thing is that the campaigns are implemented with very low budgets. We seek to stir an emotion in the people from the target group and thus draw their attention. We try to provoke them to think in more unconventional ways and to get rid of stereotypes and clichés. I think that guerrilla marketing will grow more and more popular in Bulgaria in the near future, creating exciting career opportunities for young specialists”, Stoyan Atanasov explains.
Another successful business initiative has been launched by the students at the Technical High School Nikola Vaptsarov in the town of Samokov, near Sofia. Specializing in computer technology at school, they assemble LCD displays and TV sets in their company and have even found a market niche for their production. Daniel, n 11th grade student, told us more:
“We also make video surveillance systems. We made such systems for seven kindergartens in the town of Samokov and the municipality paid us 7,000 euro for this project. A total of 40 cameras have been mounted. We provide sound equipment to school and municipal events and we also specialize in making access control systems with magnetic cards. We can also install fire alarm systems and build computer networks. We recycle the toner cartridges of printers, thus contributing to environmental protection”, young Daniel from Technical High School in Samokov told Radio Bulgaria.
Another business enterprise launched by university students is called LOST, an acronym for a Loyal and Organized Student Team. The team members study at the University in Rousse and have chosen intellectual property as their field of activity. “Our task is to present the innovative ideas of young engineers in a completed commercial form and find markets for them”, Irina Ivanova, member of LOST, says. She and her colleagues are convinced that Bulgarian young people constantly come up plenty of brilliant ideas but they often fail to find the necessary support to bring them to life. The first product that LOST has decided to promote is a rocking deck chair for two persons called Sea Breeze.
What is the recipe for success and can young people in Bulgaria materialize their ideas? More from Irina:
“In my opinion, when people do what they want to do, they do it properly and enthusiastically, which always gives good results. My advice to everyone is to follow their hearts when they make career decisions. For the time being, it is hard to find good opportunities here so I intend to spend some time abroad, but as a whole, I want to live and work in Bulgaria.”
This year, 44 companies of school students and 12 companies of university students have joined the competition of the Youth Business Forum. The prize for Best Student Company went to the team NSolution made up of students at Sofia University Climent Ohridski that designs mobile application for smart phones. The best team among school students was School World from the Food Technology High School in the city of Plovdiv, whose business idea is to recycle old towels and use them for the production of plush toys. The two student companies will present Bulgaria at the international finals where the best young entrepreneurs in Europe will compete.
Text and photo: bnr.bg
To see the presentation of the company, please follow the link:
Presentation of Mirela Real Estate