The Magazine of the American University in Bulgaria, Issue 50, 2013
Entrepreneurship in In this issue: Farewell, Class of 2013! First Entrepreneurship Award at AUBG
FOCUS
Innovation in the Classroom AUBG in Sofia – 10 Years of Excellence
The bright future awaits us
Dr. Michael Bar-Zohar lectured on the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews
ABF President Patrick Bracken during his visit at AUBG
Editorial Board Pavlina Stoycheva Venera Nikolaeva Albena Kehayova
Writers Ayna Pirkuliyeva Daniel Penev Ina Gjika Nelly Ovcharova Nikoleta Gancheva Yana Aladzhova and a special thank you to Louise Easton, English language editor
The Magazine of the American University in Bulgaria, Issue 50, 2013
EntrEprEnEurship in in this issuE: Farewell, Class of 2013! First Entrepreneurship Award at AUBG
FOCus
Innovation in the Classroom AUBG in Sofia – 10 Years of Excellence
Copyright 2013 AUBG. All rights reserved.
Photographers Desislava Alexandrova Kateryna Kostiuchenko Lyuba Popova Olga Karpovich Stanislav Hristov Yana Aladzhova Yanita Mircheva Yekaterina Makarova Published by AUBG with the participation of AUBG students. For more information, please see the contact information on the back.
Contents: In Focus
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Celebrating Excellence
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Farewell, graduAtes!
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Liberal arts in action
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News @ AUBG
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A vibrant Community
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They make us proud
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EMBA 42
In Focus Entrepreneurship Steven Sullivan is the AUBG Provost since January 2013. Previously he has served as a Dean of Faculty at the University; he is also one of the favorite Economics professors at AUBG. His research interests include the economics of sports, international monetary theory, and macroeconomics.
Dear Readers, This issue of AUBG Today has a focus on the theme of entrepreneurship. The word entrepreneur originally meant simply the owner of a business enterprise. The owner generally pays fixed and certain prices for materials and labor, and later earns revenue that depends on unknown sales prices and volumes. As a result, the entrepreneur is the one whose income rises or falls with the success or failure of the business. Over time, this sense of risk-taking became the key element associated with the word entrepreneur.
In Focus
Academic research in business and economics has altered that meaning further. An insurance company can measure the probability that a particular
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customer suffers an insured loss (like an automobile accident) based on the firm’s experience with providing insurance, and the characteristics of the customer. With millions of customers, the use of statistical inference allows the company to predict very accurately the total amount it will pay in claims, and therefore the profit it will earn from its insurance. This type of measurable risk – the kind that a firm is able to predict using relevant statistics– is generally not what we think of as entrepreneurial. We think of entrepreneurs as people creating new businesses offering new products or services – ones that have never been offered before. There is no history which can be used to make a statistical inference about the probability of success or failure. This is called uncertainty rather than risk. Good decision-making under uncertainty requires creativity, vision, a belief in the value and virtue of one’s product, and a willingness to act when the outcome of any action is unknown.
It is no accident that so many AUBG alumni have started their own businesses and embraced entrepreneurship. It is a trait that guided them to choose AUBG, and AUBG nurtured that trait through its own entrepreneurial characteristics. In the articles to follow, I hope you’ll see that this spirit is still alive and well at AUBG.
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In Focus
AUBG is uniquely positioned among the region’s colleges and universities for students interested in entrepreneurship, because AUBG is in itself an entrepreneurial enterprise. We were the first private university in Bulgaria. We were the first to offer American-style liberal arts education. Although we are not a profit-seeking enterprise, we operate with a need to maintain financial sustainability in an environment with not just risk, but also uncertainty. We offer our students a style of education they have never experienced before, so we recruit students who have entrepreneurial spirit.
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Celebrating Excellence AUBG Recognizes Outstanding Student Achievements By Daniel Penev When April knocks on the door, AUBG students start preparing for the final push: bringing their year-long hard work to successful completion with good final exams and then packing their bags for the summer holiday or Work&Travel. Since 1993, the University itself has also used this time for its own special purpose: to honor with an official ceremony the students who have excelled during the year. In recognition of those students, the Twentieth Annual Honors Convocation took place in the theater of the new America for Bulgaria Student Center on April 7, 2013.
Celebrating Excellence
In his welcoming remarks, AUBG President Dr. Michael Easton pointed out how reassuring it is at this Twentieth Annual Ceremony to look out at a theater full of 21st century students who purposely chose AUBG with a personal commitment to challenge their energy and their intellect in our classrooms and our clubs, and how appropriate it is for the university community to come together to recognize those who have truly excelled. A group of 133 Presidential Scholar recipients were then acknowledged and honored for having earned a cumulative GPA of 3.8 – 4.00 after the completion of two semesters at the university, 261 recognized and honored with a standing ovation from the regalia-clad faculty and their fellow students
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for their scholarly accomplishments during the 2012 – 2013 academic year. Vladimir Borachev, an AUBG graduate from the very first AUBG class and currently Vice President for Institutional Advancement at AUBG, then delivered the Convocation Address. Mr. Borachev urged students to aspire high, work persistently, and focus on those areas in which they need to improve the most. Citing Aristotle, Borachev told the students that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Chair of the Faculty Prof. Robert Phillips was then joined at the podium by Provost Steve Sullivan and Dean of Students Lydia Krise who announced students with outstanding achievements in the respective majors and minors, students who excelled in arts and athletics, the winners of the University Council Essay Competition, peer counselors, student advisors and resident assistants, and the newly-created award for entrepreneurship which went to Ivaylo Shipochky. The crowning moment of the Convocation was the President’s announcement of the Presidential Medalist for the class of 2013: Mariami Gachechiladze from Georgia who was selected because of her high cumulative grade point average for the previous seven semesters, her involvement in extracurricular activities, and her overall contribution to community service activities both in Georgia and in the town of Blagoevgrad.
Mariami Gachechiladze, Class of 2013: A story about Medal, Math and More By Nelly Ovcharova Every great story has a beginning. For Mariami it started back in her high school when she discovered her passion for scientific theories, computer codes and mathematical equations. Now, after 4 years of keen effort, sleepless nights, and noteworthy accomplishments at AUBG, she is ready to start a new academic adventure at Oxford University. Mariami’s zest for learning, paired with her convivial personality and scientific brilliance, made her the AUBG Presidential Medalist for 2013. Mariami majored in both Computer Science and Mathematics at AUBG, but her true passion remains physics. While still in high-school she started a Physics Club and kept coaching it during her 4 years at AUBG. With her team, she won a bronze medal for physics in one of the most esteemed international competitions in China. “I believe that everything in the universe follows logic and I have always wanted to understand what makes things work. Be it God, or atoms, or something else; I just want to know what it is,” says Mariami enthusiastically and smiles.
full potential. But this can only happen if people learn because they are interested in something and not just for the sake of grades or resumes. You cannot force yourself to be good at something.” While at AUBG, Mariami not only expanded her talents in science, but was also an active member of the AUBG community. In all of her endeavors, she gave her best and followed her heart. This, combined with her easy-going personality, made her one of the most beloved Resident Assistants at Skaptopara II dormitory. According to Mariami, “to be an RA means to be a role model for the other students. There is no formula for being a good role model. You have to be natural. If you pretend to be something that you are not, people will recognize that and avoid you.” Of AUBG, Mariami speaks with love and respect: “After my time at AUBG I feel grown up. I have made so many friends here. My brother and my sister study here as well. It feels like home for me.” The Presidential Medalist Award is a clearly deserved acknowledgment of Mariami’s contribution to the AUBG community and is a hang-on-her-Oxford-wall reminder of her first achievements in the world of higher education.
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Celebrating Excellence
This 21-year-old girl from Georgia is a true devotee of the well-rounded life. Beyond academics, Mariami stretches herself in new efforts and new interests. In her free time, she likes playing chess, table tennis and football, and she is a huge fan of music and of live performances in particular. “AUBG provides its students with many opportunities to develop their
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Ivaylo Shipochky, Class of 2013: “Entrepreneurship is part of who I am” By Nelly Ovcharova Someone once said that “an entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew, hoping that he will quickly learn how to chew it.” This sentence fully describes the initiative, perseverance and adaptability that Ivaylo Shipochky puts into all of his endeavors. The 22-year-old Ivaylo graduated from AUBG this year with twin majors in business administration and information systems. He is the first recipient of AUBG’s newly-established award for outstanding achievement in the field of entrepreneurship. “This award is the highest form of recognition and appreciation for me and my contribution to the AUBG community. I am very happy and proud to be part of this new tradition.”
Celebrating Excellence
At AUBG, Ivo discovered and developed two of his biggest passions – theatre and entrepreneurship. He participated in three theater plays, directed one play himself and took part in four musicals. What is more, he was one of the organizers of StartUp Blagoevgrad
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in 2012 and 2013, which he considers to be one of his best partnership efforts. Ivo strongly believes that entrepreneurial endeavors matter, because this
According to Ivo, it is praise-worthy that AUBG is acknowledging the growing significance of entrepreneurship. Although it is difficult to define the term precisely, for Ivo it is something that makes life more interesting and meaningful. “It took me a while to realize that entrepreneurship is part of who I am. There is no point in waiting for someone else to take the initiative, and if I want to do something, it is up to me to make it happen.” He strongly believes that it will be through entrepreneurship rather than through politics that positive change will come to Bulgaria because creativity and innovation are best nurtured in the private sector. “Great ideas tend to get lost in administrative chaos. Telephone inventor Alexander
Bell changed more lives than even some of the most influential politicians, right?” says Ivo with a smile. He plans to spend a month this summer in the US in ABF’s Summer Entrepreneurship Program where he will learn from people on the entrepreneurial cutting edge and then share that knowledge when he returns to Bulgaria. He also plans to launch a website that he began developing in an AUBG entrepreneurship class. “The most important thing is for people to understand that entrepreneurship is a career option, just like marketing or accounting. To be successful entrepreneurs, people have to be willing to accept risk into their lives. And AUBG surely helps by providing its students with the critical thinking essentials for evaluating a situation and creating change.”
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is the most positive way of affecting people’s lives. “Whenever I start doubting if what I do matters, I just think about the businesses that have begun because of our StartUp project.”
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Farewell, graduAtes! on the. s e h c u ing to oment nears h s i n fi the ited m Puttings the long-awa attire a
s. The final steps on the line to succes
Farewell, gradutes!
chemist, noveled n w o en -r d rl i, Wo ht Carl Djerass ist and playwrigany international a laureate of m s and “father of scientific awardve pill�, delivers a the contracepti ch encouraging passionate spee involvement in young people’s world politics.
Presiden congratut Michael Easto dents an lates the gradu n warmly luck on t d wishes each ating stuhe road to their of them future.
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d, behin ne r a ve rk rd wo of fun, ad time a h f o ts s. The . years lso lo Four ere was a friendship membered but th, and new lways be re tures BG will a at AU
The worldwide recognized diploma helps AUBG graduates in assuming leading positions in their chosen professional fields or continuing their studies in master's and doctoral programs at prestigious universities in Europe and the US.
BA the EMenth f o n aduatio s the t The gr f 2013 mark program, class o rsary of the-class trainannive provides first future busiwhich present and ing for aders. ness le
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Farewell, gradutes!
Sky is the limit!
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Renowned Scientist Greets 2013 Graduating Class The Nineteenth Annual Commencement ceremony of the American University in Bulgaria took place on Saturday, May 11 in Blagoevgrad’s main square. Interested townspeople, families, friends, faculty and members of the AUBG Board of Trustees shared this special moment with the 2013 graduates. The University conferred Bachelor’s Degrees on 201 students (forty percent from Bulgaria with the rest coming from 17 other countries) and Master's of Business Administration degrees on 21 business professionals from the tenth Executive MBA cohort.
Farewell, gradutes!
Keynote speaker at the ceremony and this year’s recipient of an honorary doctoral degree was Dr. Carl Djerassi, renowned scientist and co-creator of the contraceptive pill. A writer and professor emeritus of chemistry at Stanford University, he is the author of over 1,200 scientific publications and only one of two American chemists to have been awarded both of the two highest American scientific awards: the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology.
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Dr. Djerassi congratulated the graduates on their significant achievements and pointed out that “AUBG is not only an elite university which tops the academic rankings of the universities in Bulgaria, but also one of the leading higher education institutions in terms of undergrads and grad students continuing their education in prestigious universities in the US – evidence of the quality of AUBG’s educational vigor.” The famous scientist expressed his deep affection for Bulgaria, the country where he spent much of his early childhood. And in mentioning that he is a strong proponent of the liberal arts philosophy, Dr. Djerassi
also shared his pride that “a strong liberal arts education can be obtained in Bulgaria today while few other regional institutions offer their students the opportunity to explore different fields and find their true passion.” Mr. Andrey Delchev, Deputy Chair of AUBG’s Board of Trustees, then offered his emotional message to the new graduates. “It is a great privilege for me to congratulate you on behalf of the AUBG Board of Trustees,” started Delchev, “and to share that besides being a proud member of the Board, today I am also a very happy father of a graduating EMBA student.” Mr. Delchev said that his son’s vote of confidence in choosing to commit to AUBG’s rigorous EMBA curriculum is the best recognition of his work as a trustee and acknowledgment of the superiority of the program.
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Farewell, gradutes!
Maria Marinova, the student Commencement speaker, advised her fellow students that “every choice we make is important and we should embrace them, because they make us who we are.” She reminded them that AUBG will always have its special place in their hearts “because it allowed us to take off to the next adventure.”
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Liberal arts in action AUBG Creates Great Ideas
Lucia Miree Dean of Faculty and Professor of Business
Lucia Miree
Dean of Faculty and Professor of Business
Liberal arts in action
Education is about great ideas and, as Dean of Faculty at AUBG, it is clear to me that there are many great ideas working in tandem here. These ideas are not just in the classroom, but are found throughout the entire AUBG world. These ideas continue after AUBG. You can hear them at the top levels of leading global organizations, in Skype and Facebook conversations, in start-up companies, in NGOs, in government offices, and in every other place where AUBGers spend their time. Our university offers students an educational experience that provides exposure to a number of different areas of study, while allowing them to focus on fields related to their majors and minors. Even as they study fine arts, moral and philosophical inquiry, history, mathematics, science, social sciences, and literature, students engage in readings, discussions, research and debate on the ideas of great thinkers, radicals, and revolutionaries who have inspired change and truth and creativity. Our campus experiences, including our residential environment, provide the ideal incubator for students to learn how to work with thought-provoking, cuttingedge great ideas to develop goals, plan for implementa-
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tion, and manage on-going efforts. Such activities might include establishing and running a major-related club, producing and managing a musical performance, or designing and submitting an innovative grant application. In all of these, AUBG students develop their own projects and are responsible for the full-range of activities related to the realization of the project. In other words, they regularly start and manage the equivalent of small businesses. What happens next? Our history shows that our graduates take their own great ideas and start companies or help grow other businesses or organizations. They go on to graduate school. They become licensed and certified. They conduct and publish research. They provide leadership in governments and professional associations. They teach in universities, some even at AUBG! In other words, they continue to work with great ideas. Interaction with great ideas fosters further big thinking. Through our curriculum design and the re-design of coursework offered, the residential environment, and ongoing communication with faculty and alumni, AUBG students and graduates internalize their unique learning experiences and critical thinking opportunities, and they innovate. Watch for great ideas and you will find AUBG! In the following six articles, you will read what some of our current faculty have to say about how they incorporate the great ideas of entrepreneurship into their classes.
Consider the following virtues: Practical wisdom – Entrepreneurs develop ideas of how to apply their intelligence, whether great or small, to the practical task of starting something new. Entrepreneurs are not necessarily the smartest guys in the room. What gives them a comparative advantage in life, however, is that they know how to apply their intelligence to the practical task of living. Contrast this with the cartoon image of the absent-minded professor.
Professor of Business Ethical lessons from entrepreneurs As I teach a course on Business Ethics, I would like to consider the ethical lessons that students at AUBG can learn from studying entrepreneurship, or, more precisely, what they can learn from studying successful entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are potential role models of how to live a virtuous life. Entrepreneurs may not think of themselves as such, and when most people think of moral exemplars, they are more likely to think of Mother Teresa than Richard Branson. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs exemplify many character traits that students ought to find admirable.
Honesty – Entrepreneurs recognise that self-deception is ultimately self-destructive. When most people hear the word “dishonest” they think of one person lying to another. It is also possible, however, for a person to lie to him- or herself. Students do this when they repeatedly tell themselves that they have studied enough for a mid-term or final, although they know that they are insufficiently prepared. Successful entrepreneurs do not shy away from uncomfortable facts because they recognise that refusing to honestly confront such facts merely prevents them from taking needed remedial action. Courage – Entrepreneurs have the courage to act on their own judgment. A person can be intellectually independent without necessarily having the courage to act on his or her conclusions. Entrepreneurs have this courage. They think what has not been thought before, and are prepared to put their thoughts into action, often risking their own wealth and reputations. J.P. Morgan displayed such courage when he invested in Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison and the companies that would become AT&T and General Electric. Not every student can, or should, aspire to be an entrepreneur. Every student can, however, aspire to cultivate within him- or herself the character traits that make entrepreneurs successful, and they should do so because these traits will help them to live healthy, flourishing lives.
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Liberal arts in action
Robert White
Intellectual independence – Entrepreneurs make their money from thinking what has not been thought before. In this respect, entrepreneurs share a common bond with great scientists and great artists. Entrepreneurs would not be entrepreneurs if lemming-like they docilely followed the routines of those who have gone before them. Henry Ford, for instance, did not revolutionize transportation by mindlessly repeating the manufacturing processes of previous generations.
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Milena Nikolova Professor of Business
Innovation and entrepreneurship in the classroom Entrepreneurship is a buzz word these days. Many talk about the rising power of entrepreneurship and the role it may play in bringing new energy into struggling economies around the world.
Liberal arts in action
Entrepreneurship is usually associated with product or service innovation, or taking on a new business initiative but I am going to talk about entrepreneurship in another context: that of the university classroom. Education is one of the most rapidly-changing sectors these days. It is bubbling with developments related to the advance of technologies, globalization, the rise of new economic powers, changing employment practices and the alarming increase in youth unemployment. It is hard to predict a specific path which higher education will follow while responding to these dynamics. It is not hard, however, to predict that to remain relevant, effective educators must think outside the box and explore new approaches in the classroom – just like entrepreneurs do to capture new opportunities in the changing marketplace. I will share here some new approaches I have incorporated into my marketing classes at AUBG. I do not think that any of them is revolutionary or genius (well, maybe just a tiny bit to flatter myself) but they certainly are innovative in the context of traditional classroom instruction. The first approach that I experimented with was the 14
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incorporation of a strong, authentic learn-by-doing component. In the Strategic Brand Management class offered in Fall 2012, my students worked in teams on a real-world assignment for a Sofia advertising agency. Two distinguished AUBG alumni (Rene Tomova, former Retail Manager at MTel and Yordan Zhechev, Creative Director at the leading advertising agency DDB-Sofia) served as professional advisors and judges of the student work. The core assignment of the course was based on a current job that Yordan’s creative team was working on so my students had the opportunity to work in groups and compete with their classmates to prepare an innovative campaign concept for a real-life client in real time. The benefits of this approach were that students had the chance to “test” their skills and knowledge on an actual professional job, and to experience how different that felt from a traditional final classroom exam or presentation. At the same time they experienced the bitter taste of dealing with authentic professional criticism and the business culture need to figure out how to meet a complex set of expectations – entrepreneurship genuinely met reality. A second approach I experimented with was dropping geographical borders from the classroom and going global. This meant using global editions of textbooks, citing examples from various parts of the world, and using guest speakers and international clients for global student projects. Students in my Spring 2013 Social Media Marketing class enjoyed virtual lessons and discussions with Lora Kratchounova who is a social media expert (as well as AUBG alumna) based in Boston. Through Skype she delivered a lecture and responded to student questions while taking her morning coffee at her office in Boston. In the same class, students worked on a real-life assignment for a client based in Singapore. Miroslava Marinova (another AUBG graduate) is in the first months of starting her new business there. Via Skype again, students served as her social media advisors and designed social media marketing strategies for her. The clear value of these experiences is that whether graduates start their own businesses or join multinational companies or become members of international teams, they are already aware of and have tried solving some of the challenges that today’s business professionals face. Allow me to repeat that I do not suggest that any of my described “new” approaches to teaching and learning is unique or revolutionary. But I do know, both from student responses and my own self-evaluation, that re-engineering my class plans to incorporate more modern, real-life learning opportunities energized my students and motivated me to keep my teaching fresh. Using entrepreneurial approaches to teaching adds value for students, and to be honest, is much more fun for the instructor, at least it was for me.
Finding the right idea and turning it into a good business plan is only the first step of starting a company. Without proper financing many good ideas would remain just ideas. The financial system, although it has attracted a lot of negative attention recently, also plays a critical role in the process of new business creation. It is through the financial system that available funds are channeled to their most productive use, thus making sure that good ideas can secure the necessary financing for their development.
Professor of Economics AUBG – A cradle of entrepreneurs Along with abundant resources, technology, and human capital, economists usually see a stable political and legal environment as crucial to promoting economic growth. At the same time, it is the entrepreneurs with their innovative spirit and ideas who create new companies and are thus vital to the sustained increase in our well-being. At AUBG, we make a point of nurturing and developing such entrepreneurial skills and this is clearly demonstrated by the great numbers of alumni who start their own successful businesses after graduation.
Acquiring such knowledge and understanding the specifics of the whole process is of great benefit to future entrоpreneurs. It shows them how to choose the most appropriate ways to raise the needed capital and how to structure their financing needs, so that they would have a high chance of being supported. On the other hand, this also enhances their understanding of the different risks faced by companies in today’s globalized world and thus improves their chances of being successful entrepreneurs. In all finance-related courses at AUBG we put a great emphasis on demonstrating how the theoretical frameworks developed in class can be applied to real life situations. We do this by regularly relating the course material to current economic events and analyzing the thought process followed by market participants in developing optimal strategies. In addition, we often use integrated group projects, which require students to solve a specific problem that could arise in a real-life situation. By working on these projects students gain important skills, which are invaluable in their future professional lives as entrepreneurs or employees in the financial services industry.
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Liberal arts in action
Andrey Gurov
During their studies at AUBG students get aquainted with the financial system at several different levels. After a brief initial introduction at the Principles level, we look more closely at different ways to raise funds in the Money & Banking class. We discuss both direct finance options such as issuing bonds or stocks on the financial markets, as well as possibilities of receiving funding through financial intermediaries such as commercial banks or private equity funds, e.g. At the advanced level we expand our analysis to include risk management and decisionmaking under uncertainty. Here students learn how the financial markets and institutions perceive risk and what factors should be considered when making lending and pricing decisions.
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relies on empirical tests to create context-specific business knowledge that is useful and actionable away from the institutional and business realities described in the Harvard Business School cases. An entrepreneurship course is normally an enriching addition to the curriculum because it adds a complementary set of skills and focuses on the continuous learning facilitated by frequent feedback from professionals who bring the real world to the classroom. And of course, the real world comes with a professional network of contacts, frequent public presentations, tough feedback sessions and a constant flow of questions.
Veneta Andonova Professor of Business
Entrepreneurship: the way to go Entrepreneurship is a state of mind in which analytical effort goes together with creativity, experimenta tion and empirical testing to create the shortest possible learning loop. Probably the most valuable aspect of the entrepreneurial approach to learning is that it relies on immediate feedback from the relevant stakeholders: clients, employees or investors.
Liberal arts in action
All questions are empirical questions that have to be tested, and all assumptions need to be validated at each stage of business development. Entrepreneurship is as far as we can get from our lazy “natural state” (North, Wallis and Weingast, 2009) and therefore, the process is scary but it cannot be labeled non-scientific. In fact, it is probably the best scientific approach that
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I will argue that a course in entrepreneurship, or more generally a course based on experiential learning, is also the litmus test of whether an educational institution is ready to switch from a “what to learn” to a “how to learn” mode. Put differently, this trade-off is between the content-based traditional teaching model that is gradually mutating into a combination of distant, Internet-based content provision and the context-specific experiential learning that provides interaction with the real business world in all possible ways. It is evident which way is the right way for those educational institutions that strive to remain relevant in an industry on the road to accelerated globalization and dominance by a few superstar educational brands willing to provide their courses and syllabi online (see my AUBGtalks presentation “The Internet and Education: What is the future?” at http://www.aubg. bg/talks/veneta-andonova-the-internet-and-educationwhat-is-the-future/). Entrepreneurship is a state of mind that one of the most entrepreneurial AUBG alumni compares to paranoia. Of course, questioning everything all the time can turn out to be stressful but this mental frame of mind puts inquiring people on the path to continuous learning and inventiveness which also adds meaning to their lives and helps them stay sane according to Einstein who defines insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” So, join the entrepreneurial group, stay curious, and expect to experience a life of “aha” moments!
Our students learn through their coursework about entrepreneurship and what it takes to be an entrepreneur in a variety of ways. In the classroom, AUBG students are learning how to examine entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities including how to manage and evaluate business opportunities as both future entrepreneurs and as those who fund them. Each of these academic activities lends valuable understanding to the entrepreneurial process, improving greatly our students’ chances for success as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a creative process as much as it is a business process, and our students learn about both of these processes through this combination of activities.
Professor of Economics Entrepreneurship at AUBG Economists see entrepreneurship as several different activities. First, entrepreneurship is the obvious process of creating completely new products and ideas. Second, entrepreneurship is the process of creating new firms, even when these firms may produce “imitations” of existing products. Third, entrepreneurship is the activity of business ownership, whether the business is brand new or long established. While each of these definitions touches on an aspect of entrepreneurship, true entrepreneurship is a combination of all three. AUBG students learn about and are involved in entrepreneurship through a variety of activities both inside and outside the classroom.
Entrepreneurship is increasingly viewed as an important part of our economy, and AUBG students are learning not only why entrepreneurship is necessary, but also how they can be part of the next generation of entrepreneurs. Our students gain experience in creating new products or services while engaging in and examining business activities both inside the classroom and in the wider world. Through classroom activities, student organizations, and individual activities, AUBG students learn about the theoretical and practical value of entrepreneurship and the tools necessary to become successful entrepreneurs.
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Liberal arts in action
J. Mark Leonard
In addition to classroom work, AUBG students are often involved in their own entrepreneurial activities. For instance, some of our students are actively developing apps for Android and iOS phones. Others are managing and participating in entrepreneurshiprelated conferences in Bulgaria, Albania, and elsewhere. Additionally, students participating in the Broadway Musical and other clubs are involved in relevant entrepreneurship activities, bringing exciting arts and other programs to audiences across Bulgaria. These programs build on what our students learn in the classroom while adding to their understanding of the wider world with practical, self-directed experiences. American liberal arts universities are known for these student activities, and AUBG is an excellent example of how these groups enrich our students’ entrepreneurial opportunities.
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of economic thought is capable of explaining the failure of markets in Eastern Europe. One can figure what models or tools to use only if he knows the exact kind of problems he is researching so as to best fit them to a given theoretical framework. To stimulate student knowledge and scientific inquiry in my Economics of Reform and Transition course, each student takes ownership of his/her learning by writing a paper on a problematic issue of a country in transition, a problem of each student’s choosing. Topics may range from demographic problems to poverty to currency volatility and the introduction of currency boards. The student researches and reviews the available literature on the problem for the entire semester, submitting a preliminary draft for my review, followed by a polished final paper.
Tamara Todorova
Professor of Economics Scientific entrepreneurship
Liberal arts in action
I would like to discuss a different type of entrepreneurship, namely scientific entrepreneurship. We try to nurture a scientific spirit in our students so that they succeed both in business and academia whenever they opt for a scientific career. In both undertakings one should be entrepreneurial since both require stamina and an abstract, yet, logical way of thinking. In the academic field one should be steadily entrepreneurial, investigative, questioning and persistent. Thus, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial spirit are not limited only to the business world. Students who find themselves in search of knowledge, have innovative ideas, construct theories, make observations of the real world, and draw conclusions based on those observations can certainly advance as scientists or theoreticians. Research-oriented and research-driven students, like real scientists, share some specific features – curiosity, desire to learn about an interesting subject, a problem-solving drive and a great deal of resourcefulness. Following the traditional hypothesis-observation-testing path, they investigate a real-world problem and try to solve it by formulating a hypothesis of their own. With the help of observation and other scientific tools they attempt to test the validity of their hypothesis. It is very useful for scholars to be able to transfer models, concepts and theories from one setting or application to another. For instance, in economics not every economic theory or school 18
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To develop students’ technical skills and knowledge, we have the senior thesis project, a capstone advanced-level course which requires economics students to complete a fuller research project with a more sophisticated statistical, econometric or mathematical model. The problems again are borrowed from real life, and students have to do everything by themselves, i.e., choose the topic, review academic literature, find statistical or other data, construct a theoretical model of their own, test it using the data and analyze the results in a coherent and consistent manner. Scientific entrepreneurs, innovators and discoverers are not always visible and don’t always stand out. Sometimes they remain unnoticed and people may ridicule them for their weirdness. Sometimes they are too modest to show off. But they have the eternal drive to look for answers which lead to discoveries. Such inventors restlessly and endlessly look for new ideas, concepts and explanations. It is this discovery-type of entrepreneurship we should nurture more of in our students here at AUBG.
News @ AUBG
New Wave of Talented Professionals Enroll in AUBG’s EMBA Program January 6, 2013 AUBG welcomed twenty-three professionals, who enrolled in the Executive MBA program, on Jan 6, 2013. They come from a wide range of economic spheres, such as IT, telecommunications, manufacturing, media and banking. Most of the students hold mid-level managerial positions in Vivacom, bTV Media Group, DSK Bank, Kraft Foods Bulgaria, Postbank, C3i Europe, Lufthansa, Technik AG and other Bulgarian and international companies while some of them run their own business.
Successful Entrepreneurs Discuss Current Business Environment January 18, 2013 On January 18, 2013, Pavel Ezekiev, Managing Partner at NEVEQ, and Steve Keil, CEO of MammothDB, gave a talk in the fully packed Andrey Delchev Auditorium. In response to the kind invitation of AUBG Business professor Veneta Andonova, with the assistance of the AUBG Business Club, the duo discussed the “Global, Regional and Bulgarian Context for Successful Business Creation.”
Talented Bulgarian Director Shows An AwardWinning Movie at AUBG True to its mission to enrich students’ experience in documentary filmmaking, the AUBG Documentary Club was honored to meet two people who are very knowledgeable of the inner workings of filmmaking. Ilian Metev and Tom Kirk, the director and the sound recordist of an exceptional feature-length documentary, shared their experience and explained the finer points of making a heart-touching movie in this specific genre. Their production, Sofia`s Last Ambulance, has won numerous awards, including France 4 Visionary Award from the Cannes Film Festival and special mention at the Zurich Film Festival.
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January 21, 2013
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The Literary Side of AUBG January 24, 2013 The AUBG Literature Society had its first official meeting for the Spring ’13 semester on January 24 in Panitza library. It was held under the heading of “Fly in the Head Reading” and with the assistance of the Literature Department faculty. While the Society is a semester old, the history of the Fly magazine dates back to 2004.
Marketing Research Students Work on a Real Advertising Campaign January 31, 2013 Eager students filled Andrey Delchev Auditorium on January 31, 2013 in anticipation of their first steps into the practical business world. The special guest of the evening – Mira Gateva, a representative of Ogilvy PR Sofia and AUBG alumna, received a welcome greeting by her soon-to be teammates. The event was part of the Marketing Research class, taught by Prof. Nikolova and represented a practical project with Ogilvy Group BG, with which the students would work during the whole semester. The project consisted of creating a communication campaign to support the re-launch of Semana Perfumes of Night, a fabric softener, and the TV campaign for this product.
Top Entrepreneur Shares Management Tips with AUBG Students February 8, 2013
News @ AUBG
Following the tradition of bringing outstanding professionals to talk about useful practices in their respective areas of expertise, the Business Club and a room of eager AUBG students welcomed Mr. Svetozar Janevski and his colleagues, who spoke about the management and restructuring of the Skopje Brewery and the Tikves Winery.
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Student Diplomats Simulate Model UN at AUBG February 14-17, 2013 Balkanski Academic Center resembled a mini venue of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council during 14-17 February 2013. More than 50 students, among them AUBG-ers and international students gathered at the 5th edition of BLIMUN Model United Nations. Each of them assumed the role of UN delegate from different countries, prepared to defend their nations’ position on the latest international political issues. The topics focused on “Restrictions on freedom of speech” for the General Assembly and “Civil War in Syria” for the Security Council.
Creating Ideas in a Digital World February 26, 2013 Enthusiastic students gathered in the Andrey Delchev Auditorium to meet with representatives of Ogilvy PR Sofia on Tuesday, February 26. Creating Ideas in a Digital World was the second presentation that Ogilvy held at AUBG and it provided further valuable and relevant information to the students from professor Nikolova’s Marketing Research class in relation to their practical project.
Renowned Scholar Narrates the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews March 7, 2013
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Dr. Michael Bar-Zohar, a distinguished scholar and political scientist, gave a talk on the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews in World War II. The lecture is part of the Panitza lecture series organized by the Balkanski-Panitza Institute for Advanced Study in conjunction with AUBG.
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Google Comes to AUBG March 18, 2013 On March 18, the most globally recognized name was posted around the AUBG Balkanski Academic Center rooms. Google held its first presentation at the university and attracted a crowd of immense proportions. In the early afternoon, the Google representatives organized a personal branding workshop and gave useful tips to the future professionals on developing their CVs and resumes. It was followed by a brief talk on the workings of the company and the professional opportunities that it currently offers.
Kraft Foods Reps Share Strategies for Success with AUBG Students March 19, 2013 The Business Club at AUBG presented students with another amazing opportunity to gain insight into the world of corporate business. On March 19, Vanya Panayotova, Director of “Sales Capability Development� in Kraft Foods, delivered an inspiring and motivating lecture on the quality that potential professionals should possess when looking for a job in an international company. She shared a lot of useful tips with her audience, most of them based on personal experience.
Education and Social Media – Antagonists or Synergists? March 25, 2013
News @ AUBG
Information and communication technologies have brought people from distant places closer and closer together. Social media, such as social networking sites, blogs, online communities, wikis, and videosharing sites, have had huge effects on any sphere of life, including higher education. Being a part of a modern and adaptable academic institution like AUBG, university professors and student representatives gathered together to discuss the possibilities of integrating social media into the teaching process as a novel learning tool. The workshop was brought by the Academic Affairs Committee and Prof. Sabina Wien.
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AUBG Team Wins The First Mind Intellectual Contest on Campus April 8, 2013 Representatives from Varna, Sofia and AUBG gathered in Andrey Delchev Auditorium to test their knowledge in the first MIND National Intellectual Contest. The event took place on Monday, April 8, and it was met with huge enthusiasm by both the audience and participants. The four teams, which consisted of five people each, challenged their knowledge in a variety of fields, including art, history, geography and science. The event was hosted by distinguished Bulgarian reporter and news anchor Venelin Petkov, whose professionalism, fresh sense of humor and smart remarks contributed to the lively and dynamic atmosphere of the competition.
AUBG Hosts Discussion on the Current Situation in the EU April 9, 2013
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Since 1991, AUBG has strived to provide students with both theoretical and practical knowledge that they can apply to the real world. Above all, AUBG students have the chance to explore various social, political, and economic issues that are currently taking place. Committed to offering students multiple perspectives, AUBG Political Science Club invited Petar Ganev and Yavor Alexiev, two young Bulgarian economics analysts from the Institute for Market Economics, to deliver a lecture on “The Costs of EU Membership�. Given the turbulent time we live in and the deepening economic crisis in the European Union, exploring the benefits and costs states face when they join the EU appears to be the most logical thing to do.
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20th Annual Job Fair at AUBG – Companies in Search of New Talents By Ina Gjika The 20th annual AUBG Job Fair took place in the cavernous new America for Bulgaria Student Center sports hall in April and welcomed more than 20 international and Bulgarian companies operating in different industries. Among them were well-known names such as Nestle, Kraft Foods, Deloitte, Coca-Cola, P&G, Globul, and Societe Generale. There were recent startup companies as well, some created by AUBG graduates, and even a specialty glass products company from Greece. The multifunctional sports hall was ringed by brightly-colored company-logoed kiosks that were manned by recruiters who beckoned AUBG students with application forms and enticing logo gifts, all with the goal of finding the perfect new talent from among our soon-to-be-graduates. Through the years, many AUBG graduates have found their first jobs at this annual Job Fair which had always before been held in the crowded hallways of the Main Building. This year not only was there the venue change, but there was also a noticeable change in what the recruiters were looking for. While the smaller companies were clearly ready to connect with the best job-seekers that visited their booths, many of the larger firms were looking for interns for their short-term internship programs.
News @ AUBG
And as for the job seekers, somewhat like athletes walking into sports-team try-outs with energetic steps
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and determined looks, students approached the booths that they were interested in, asking well-researched questions, and then leaving their CVs and resumes if they were still interested. Some of the recruiters were equally energetic and determined, with a few of them even ready to interview candidates on the spot if after an introductory conversation, both parties were still interested. To observers, it appeared to be somewhat like a carefully choreographed old dance routine set to unfamiliar new music. Overall, the recruiters noted that the organization and spaciousness of the new venue provided a much more user-friendly location, and that the students were wellprepared and extremely motivated. Many of the recruiters were AUBG alumni who had previously experienced this Job Fair in its old form and location and they eagerly offered strong encouragement and career advice to the students. “Find what you really like and be proactive. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Explore the opportunities. Trust yourself and prove your strengths,” advised one alumna/recruiter. “Just as you made the right choice when you decided that AUBG was the best university for you, now you are ready to make your next big decision and take your next big step. Make it an equally excellent one.”
By Yana Aladzhova For a sixth year in a row, the students from AUBG’s Broadway Performance Club challenged themselves by selecting and arranging for the rights to present another Broadway musical. This time it was Memphis – a show based on the subject of racial segregation in the 1950’s in Memphis, Tennessee. It tells the story of the fictional Felicia, an African-American singer, and Huey, a white guy, who walks into a bar where she is singing and is mesmerized. The musical follows their love story and the beginning of racial integration in the American entertainment industry. The behind-the-scenes story, however, is the AUBG Broadway Performance Club’s months and months of work which began with their choosing a student director and the student cast. From November on, endless choreographing, memorizing, adapting, rehearsing, make-up testing, and costume fitting until the team was ready to stage its dazzling performances in early April. The musical Memphis debuted in the new theater in the America for Bulgaria Student Center with a high-energy show presented to a packed house and culminated with a standing ovation as the curtain came down. The award-winning musical, a dynamic combination of Chicago 2008
West Side Story 2009
heart-wrenching songs and explosive and breathtaking dances, starred Lora Zlateva, a fourth-year student at AUBG, and Georgi Topalov, a third-year student in the Musical Academy in Sofia, in the main roles. The rest of the team consisted of 70 other incredibly talented, creative and dedicated AUBG students who played other acting roles or served as producers, business managers, directors, dancers and choreographers, make-up artists or stage hands or a combination as needed of any of those roles. For the third consecutive year the musical was accompanied by live music from the Levon Manukyan Collegium Musicum Orchestra from Burgas. After three evenings of outstanding performances in Blagoevgrad, the musical continued on a week-long national tour to the stages of five major cities in Bulgaria – Sofia, Stara Zagora, Varna, Burgas, and Plovdiv. Everywhere they went, they brought the audience to its feet. It didn’t seem to matter whether audience members understood all of the English or not; they were awed by the professional performances and the magic of the songs and dances and the spectacular mix of colors and sounds. On their return to the campus, the performers were immediately immersed in studying for final projects and exams, Work and Travel arrangements, or just catching up on sleep. But they will always have the satisfaction of knowing that all of their hard work and stunning performances made the AUBG family very proud.
Hairspray 2010
Moulin Rouge 2011
Grease 2012
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The Magic of Memphis
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Think Outside the Trash By Nikoleta Gancheva This year’s Environmental Week at AUBG was dedicated to recycling and making our surroundings a better place to live in. It was another awareness-raising initiative that stimulated students to “Think Outside the Trash” and work together toward a greener and more sustainable campus. AUBG Olympics and the Green Campus committees teamed up to kick off Earth Week with outdoor games and competitions related to recycling and preserving the environment. Appropriately, all participants wore specially decorated green T-shirts. Among the various activities was the screening of “No Impact Man”, a documentary about an American family that spent one year making zero environmental impact. Living without a TV, washing machine, meat and non-organic products and even toilet paper was certainly not easy for the couple and their young daughter but at the end of the year, they remained convinced that sacrificing certain “luxuries” is vital and worth the effort for the sake of a healthier Earth.
News @ AUBG
To introduce another aspect of the environmental awareness experience, students heard about sustainability at the corporate and startup level from Denkstatt Bulgaria representatives Anton Valkov and Dariya Hadzhiyska. The Denkstatt Group offers advisory services to companies willing to achieve success through environmental innovation and sustainable business
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practices. “Don’t think of sustainability as something that is outside of business,” Valkov said. “It has to be at the core of business and help you make profit.” At the end of the presentation students were encouraged to work in teams and decide how a sustainability evaluation can support the goals of AUBG. Reducing costs, improving AUBG reputation and helping students develop environmentally sound habits were among the ideas that the teams came up with. A week dedicated to the earth would not have been complete without the annual tree planting. That was a particularly emotional moment for Nataliya Shevchuk, a graduating student from Ukraine, who participated in the planting of the 2013 class tree. “This is the first and the last time I will participate in this ceremony,” she said. “As our ecological contribution to AUBG we chose an oak tree to represent the strength of our class.” An Earth Hour concert organized by the Green Campus Committee and Better Community Club marked the last event of the AUBG Environment Week 2013 and encouraged AUBG community to take part in the annual world wide initiative Earth Hour. Switching off the lights on campus and holding candles for an hour was a symbolic call for action on climate change and energy conservation. Beatboxer Nepes Nepesov, talented singer Diana Teloiani, the Svetlina Choir, the Rock Jamming Club and the AUBG Dance Crew were among the performers who joined other students in the be-good-to-Mother Nature spirit of the Earth Hour.
New Features at the 13th Annual AUBG Olympics By Ayna Pirkuliyeva Over 700 students, alumni, staff and faculty members participated in the 13th AUBG Olympics; some competed as athletes, others came to simply enjoy the sunny day and cheer on the competitors. The first competitions, cycling and swimming, took place on Saturday, the day before the main events, as those disciplines required special terrains and fields. The rest of the competitions in sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, running, and wrestling took place on Sunday at Porter Field. Newly added disciplines this year were power lifting, bench pressing and wall climbing. Apart from sports, there were drinks, food and music, making the event enjoyable for everyone.
After the event’s conclusion, the organizers shared that they were satisfied with the way everything had turned out. The president of the AUBG Olympics Club, Blagoy Dermendzhiev, said that he had received a lot of positive feedback. “Some people said this year's Olympics competition was the best one so far. I think we outperformed
ourselves and I believe we can do even better next year,” Dermendzhiev said. The popularity of the AUBG Olympics seems to grow by the year. In addition to promoting health and sports spirit at the university, the event also brings a non-academic aspect to the campus and gives participants an opportunity to practice their favorite sport in the company of their peers. A member of the organizational crew, third-year student Sofya Volkhonskaya, said that she was proud to be a part of the AUBG Olympics. “I loved every second of it,” Volkhonskaya said. “People keep asking what AUBG spirit is. For me it starts with the AUBG Olympics.”
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In addition to the opportunity to compete in 20 different sports, attendees were treated to wrestling demonstrations by two-time Olympic wrestling champion Armen Nazaryan and combat sambo champions Rumen and Rossen Dimitrovi who also showed how to defend oneself when attacked by someone with a knife or a glass bottle. They were accompanied by combat sambo coach Stoyan Saladinov. At the end of the glorious day, Piano Bar Limited’s band gave a short live performance which was followed by the awards ceremony.
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A vibrant Community
Alexandra Egumenova ‘13, Russia
A vibrant Community
Majors:
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Business Administration
Minor:
Economics
Being an entrepreneur and a leader of a startup brings various difficulties and responsibilities, but AUBG equipped me with the necessary tools to manage them and to deal with the various opportunities placed in front of me. While the vibrant community at AUBG can foster or even wake up entrepreneurial spirit in you, you have to be the driver for the changes. I consider myself to be that driver and AUBG stimulated and nurtured that spirit through the freedom of choice for courses, majors, extracurricular activities, and the liberal arts system. At AUBG I had the opportunity to direct a venture – AUBG’s recent presentation of the musical Memphis – which will eventually help me to start my own business. The Entrepreneurship course and Junior Achievement Startup Program helped me test my abilities and stimulated my outside-the-box thinking which is a must in an entrepreneurial world.
Business Administration, Information Systems
In offering the Entrepreneurship course, AUBG joins the elite universities that are thinking of the future of their students. We live in a world where possessing a diverse set of skills is essential for success and fulfillment. Having the chance to use and implement the business knowledge acquired throughout class work while still at university is a great opportunity. Because we enjoy the advantages of a liberal arts educational system, AUBGers are able to choose the direction in which our futures will grow, and to discover the set of skills we need to successfully walk our paths. The opportunities to participate in many competitions and business case studies allow us to enrich our productivity, to have a chance to create products or services that later on can be used in real life, or even create a Startup on our own.
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Major:
Dimitar Chatleski ’14, Macedonia
Majors:
Dzhafar Dzhafarov ’14, Tajikistan
Minors:
The Entrepreneurship course that I took in the Spring semester helped me learn how to start a company, gave me the opportunity to meet and network with successful entrepreneurs, and opened the door for me to visit one of the biggest accelerator funds in Sofia, the Eleven Venture Fund. Furthermore, AUBG gave me a chance to take part in different summer schools and camps related to entrepreneurship, such as the Blacksmith Entrepreneurship Camp in Lithuania. Also, there are number of student clubs at AUBG like StartUp Blagoevgrad, TEDx, and Business Club that invite successful entrepreneurs, business people, and AUBG alumni to share with us their experiences, network, and firsthand practical knowledge. Some of the speakers partner with current AUBG students to start a new company or employ them in their organizations.
Business Administration, International Relations and Political Science Philosophy and Religion, Anthropology
After coming to AUBG, my life changed completely, as if I had entered an entirely different world, full of opportunities for self-improvement and development. The University stimulated my interest in entrepreneurship and equipped me with the necessary knowledge to follow my dream and, hopefully one day, start my own business. It did not happen all at once, but it was rather a result of the plethora of resources and chances that AUBG gives me. After two years at the University, I can say that if it were not for AUBG, I would still have been afraid to get out of my comfort zone and to develop my real potential. Thanks to the excellent academic and extracurricular background that I am acquiring here, I became one of the 30 finalists in this year’s Summer Entrepreneurship Program in the US, sponsored by the America for Bulgaria Foundation. During the summer, I will spend a month in the United States learning from the best entrepreneurs and participating in different simulations that will provide me with the necessary practical experience to follow my dreams. And none of this would have happened if I were not a student at AUBG.
Nelly Ovcharova ’15, Bulgaria 29
A vibrant Community
Majors:
Economics, Business Administration
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Majors:
A vibrant Community
Temenuzhka Panayotova ’14, Bulgaria
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Economics, Business Administration
AUBG promotes entrepreneurship through its liberal arts education. The University offers a wide variety of courses, which make you take a role and act with all the team projects, case studies and discussions. The Entrepreneurship course offered by AUBG is really a great experience. Thanks to it, my team and I developed a successful project, and participated in start-up weekends. I also got the chance to participate in the Summer Entrepreneurship Program in the US, and learned so many things that really changed my way of thinking. All the competitions organized by studentrun organizations help you meet new people and learn what you are good at. Moreover, AUBG gives you the chance to be involved in a variety of clubs and activities that stimulate entrepreneurial spirit. And that is what entrepreneurship is all about – not just planning on what you have to do and how to do it, but actually doing it.
By Ina Gjika The last week of classes of the Spring 2013 semester was the time for AUBG students enrolled in Prof. Andonova's Entrepreneurship course to present the business ideas which they had developed during the semester. Among the jury members were AUBG President Dr. Michael Easton, Citibank CEO Stephan Feldstein, and representatives of Junior Achievement and Startup Program, the latter also having been sponsors of the course. At the beginning of the event, Mr. Feldstein expressed his sincere delight in having been part of such a unique and intellectually challenging course, and, he remarked wistfully, ”I wish that I had had such a course when I was a student.” Six student teams then began revealing, one by one, their creation’s underlying purpose and the resulting creative content, much to the delight and amazement of the jury members and the gathered audience. The first concept presented was “Chooze” – a social platform enabling users to make decisions and choices. Following it, the audience was introduced to “Infotaxi”– the placement of interactive screens in taxis to enhance the customer experience. Next came the motivational “Get in Shape” – a website that prescribes diets to individuals based on their own physical characteristics. A kids’ program followed with “Clusterize” through which youngsters are able to find peers with similar interests. The final two teams offered “Surprise me” – an agency focused on organizing parties and providing wedding services, and “Eride.bg” – an online travel community which puts people in contact with others who wish to travel to the same location.
The jury award went to “Clusterize” which was felt to contain the most depth and thoughtful consideration, and which had already accumulated a significant amount of interest among young people. The sympathies of the audience, however, were given to the “Get in Shape“ group, perhaps due to their innovative approach, which distinguished their idea from the myriad of other, somewhat similar websites already available on the web. After announcing the award, the jury observed that with each competition, the quality of the projects improves and the visual presentations are becoming more polished as well. The winners were encouraged to continue communicating with the jury members as they implement their business ideas. Prof. Andonova congratulated all of the participants for their achievements and repeated her hope that this course will become a permanent platform for promoting entrepreneurial creativity: “The student teams put a lot of effort into their projects and had the opportunity to present their ideas in front of investors. This concept of healthy competition among them inside a learning environment is very effective and I am thinking of vimplementing it in my other classes as well.” The students from the winning team “Clusterize”, were also very excited about the award. “I have been to several lectures that Professor Andonova arranged for the class during which successful entrepreneurs came to share their experiences with us and that was the best part for me, giving me many different perspectives to consider, and, as clichéd as it sounds, it definitely broadened my horizons! I really hope the course will continue! It attracts many people around us so I believe it can be a success,” said Dilyana Dobrinova, one of the members of the “Clusterize” team.
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Entrepreneurial Spirit in Action at AUBG
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An overview of messages from some key speakers at StartUP Blagoevgrad 2013: The StartUP conference is an annual forum that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, students and young people who want to start their own business. Polina Yancheva, co-founder in 2007 of StartUP Bulgaria and opening speaker at this spring’s StartUP Blagoevgrad Conference: “The goal of StartUp conferences is to promote entrepreneurship among young people by bringing successful entrepreneurs to the forum to share their inspiring stories.” Already successful entrepreneur speakers: Sasha Bezuhanova, founder of Hewlett-Packard in Bulgaria in 1998: “Your whole life is not only a start, it is a start-up!” Hristo Popov, a former Shell employee turned business starter: “To be an entrepreneur one has to be a bit mad, especially in Bulgaria whose national image of late has become tarnished.” Chris Georgiev, a small-scale but big-idea web entrepreneur: “Learn from ‘the school of life’ and make use of all of the available opportunities that life presents.” Additionally, “Student start-ups are possible if you have the passion to do it and do it now.” Speakers who focused on diverse funding methods: Alexander Tsvetkov, business founder and financial consultant: “Give a share of the start-up to investors or agree to a larger sum once the company has taken off. “ Nikola Hristovic, ex-Chair of the National Innovation Fund: Presented the details of three specific EU grants for which aspiring entrepreneurs can apply. Representatives of the accelerator funds Eleven, LaunchHub, Neveq and Voivoda Ventures: Discussed various approaches they have used in investing in IT companies in Bulgaria and the region.
Speakers on the increasing role of technology in business creation: Lubomir Rusanov and Alexander Nenov, creators of online platforms and internet projects: “If you’re not on the Web, you do not exist.” Raya Yunakova, Audience Marketing Manager at Microsoft and Kiril Rusev, software developer and entrepreneur: Described Microsoft’s annual Imagine Cup competition for innovative products, noting the achievements of the AUBG’s winning team in the 2012 Bulgarian competition and participation in the global Imagine Cup in Sydney, Australia. AUBG alumni speakers with specific topics: Daniel Tomov, founder of the accelerator venture fund Eleven: ”Mentorship is an emotional and intellectual bond between an accomplished businessman and an entrepreneur.”
A vibrant Community
Asparuh Koev, entrepreneur, current company Transmetrics: “The importance of ‘the elevator pitch’ or how to convince anyone of your brilliant idea in less than a minute.”
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Many who read this publication may think that AUBG students all come from big, sophisticated cities and are shocked to suddenly find themselves living and studying in the casual and sidewalk-cafÊ, pedestrianfriendly town of Blagoevgrad. Learning about a May, 2013 graduate should prove interesting and dispel some reader misconceptions. Nikolay Gerdzhikov is from the small Bulgarian town of Batak in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. Although his parents still reside there, they sent him to live with his grandmother in Plovdiv for his high school years. In 2007, with EU universities suddenly welcoming Bulgarians, Nikolay enrolled at a northern European campus and began his university studies, but by the end of his first year, he had grown disenchanted with the education he was receiving and decided to leave. At the suggestion of a friend, he applied to AUBG – highly respected, with rigorous academic requirements, Bulgarian and US accreditations and EU certificates and diplomas, and close to home.
Over the next five years, with a couple of breaks for extended Work and Travel and participation in an America for Bulgaria Foundation Summer Entrepreneurship Program, Nikolay immersed himself in every aspect of AUBG. Though a self-described shy newcomer, he tells of being immediately fascinated by the way students on campus were so proactive about their classes and every other aspect of campus life. He jumped right in, too, by joining clubs and reveling in outdoor activities; he was amazed at the library and its ready access to research; he loved the camaraderie of the residence halls and the Blagoevgrad social scene; he thrived in his classes and appreciated that he was getting an American-style education in a Bulgarian community among students from many different countries and cultures. But through all that was good about AUBG, there was one thing that really bothered Nikolay: Over the years, his father had been his mentor, involving him in every possible aspect of the various family businesses that he started, but despite all of the business and economics classes that Nikolay was taking and even with all of his pleas to professors, he was discouraged that there was precious little course work directly devoted to starting and succeeding in your own business. So out of frustration, and in concert with some other entrepreneurshipminded AUBG and Southwest University friends (a Bulgarian state university here in Blagoevgrad), Nikolay and his colleagues, began taking matters, entrepreneurially, into their own hands. They took inspiration from a group of dynamic future entrepreneurs who had put on a conference in Sofia that they admired, and with the encouragement and expertise of those Sofia contacts, StartUP@Blagoevgrad was born.
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A Small-town AUBG Graduate with BIG Ideas
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Ideas Worth Spreading Brought by TEDxAUBG By Nikoleta Gancheva Travel, biology, electricity, farming, advertising, psychology and personal development were among the topics discussed during April’s TEDxAUBG event. Apart from being another successful startup endeavor, TEDxAUBG challenges participants to make the world a better place by talking about ideas and then doing things that matter. A varied group of ten speakers from different backgrounds, interests and occupations met in the America for Bulgaria Student Center theater to share with the audience a variety of ideas worth spreading. Atanas Georgiev, Chief Editor of Publics.bg and the "Utilities" Magazine, discussed the most common energy-related myths and encouraged his listeners to stand up for their interests when it comes to determining the energy policy of their countries. An equally intriguing talk on the topic of DNA and the “epigenome” was presented by Milena Georgieva, a PhD working at the Institute of Molecular Biology in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The focus of her presentation was the serious impact that the environment has on the activity of our genes. “The food our grandparents ate, the air they breathed, the actions they took, the things they experienced can affect them decades later, and those changes may be passed on to the following generations— to us and our own descendants,” she said.
A vibrant Community
Sebastian Canaves, passionate traveler, blogger and marketing consultant, shared a variety of exciting life stories, and encouraged the audience to follow their dreams and break out of the routine. He stressed the importance of doing things today, because “Someday is not on the calendar.”
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A touching story of Daniyar Aha, writer and co-founder of the DAYAMOGU Company, earned a standing ovation: “I learned to enjoy the beauty of the moment,” he said. “I saw how fast the whole world can go upside-down… how all the hopes, dreams, plans, joy, happiness, and all the worries, resentment, all of life itself can disappear in one minute… We have to show our loved ones that we appreciate them every day, because there may be no tomorrow.” Other speakers included Dimitar Tatarski, an NGO founder; Casey Angelova, a wholesome food developer; Desislava Boshnakova, public relations consultant; Brisedja Gjoza, social activist; Vasil Tuchkov, writer and designer; and Cosmina Tanasoiu, a favorite AUBG faculty member. TEDx is a unique event organized by 18 enthusiastic AUBG students who selflessly devoted hours and hours during the semester to bring people from different spheres with different ideas to share with our community. “TEDx speakers inspire and give you something new to think about,” said Anna Rakhmanova, one of the organizers of the event. “As you walk out the door after the event, you can actually start a new life.”
Timophey Koroteev, class of 2013: AUBG gave me not only knowledge and skills, but also my life partner By Nikoleta Gancheva Passionately interested in marketing, entrepreneurship, and event organizing, Timophey Koroteev (Belarus) came to AUBG knowing what he wanted to study: a Business Administration major combined with an Economics minor and including all possible Marketing courses.
Even though Tim‘s time at AUBG has come to an end, it has had a significant impact not only on his past, but also on his present and future. “One week after commencement, I am getting married to the woman I love, Lyudmila Uzunova (class of 2011). She is an AUBG alumna, so this university gave me not only knowledge, but also my life partner. Regarding a professional career, I am applying for jobs with different companies, and I hope to receive a positive answer from some of them soon. Even though it sounds weird to some people, I would like to stay in Bulgaria after graduation.”
In addition to his officially declared fields of study, Tim considers extracurricular activities as his second “major” at AUBG. And indeed, he had a lot of them. Although most students immediately recognize him as the President of Student Government, Tim was also very active in sports, including American football, soccer and billiards, and AUBG Olympics and AFC Griffins. Led by his desire to organize events, Tim took responsibilities as treasurer and event coordinator for the Better Community Club, as AUBG representative at the European Student Forum in Lithuania and as organizer of the annual TEDxAUBG conference. Amidst this ocean of extracurricular activities, Tim still played his beloved saxophone which has been his passion for more than 12 years, and developed his acting abilities as part of the 2010 musical Hairspray cast, and in many other university production roles. After four years of study, Tim is more than positive that AUBG was the right place for him. “AUBG is a great place, where students can find everything they need to improve and develop their knowledge and various skills. AUBG absolutely lived up to my expectations, and if I were given a choice once again about which university to attend, I would choose AUBG without hesitation.”
“During real-world case studies and competitions, AUBG students get to apply the knowledge and skills that they have gained in classes and extracurricular activities to real life business problems. I would recommend that all AUBGers take advantage of the opportunities and participate in each of the events of this kind,” he says.
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Being a member of the winning teams of the Procter&Gamble AUBG Business Case Study Competition, the Societe Generale Case Study and the Kraft Foods Case Study, Tim believes that academic programs, such as the Entrepreneurship course, combined with extracurricular activities like the various entrepreneurshiprelated events organized by the StartUP@Blagoevgrad club, can equip students with the necessary skills to succeed in the future.
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Research Conference Highlights Academic Achievements at AUBG Fostering research and nurturing the creativity of its students is a distinctive feature of the academic community at AUBG. Seven years ago the University began an annual forum for the exchange of ideas – the student-faculty research conference. This venue gives opportunity to ambitious students and experienced professionals alike to present and discuss the newest trends in their respective fields. The 2013 conference, called the “Fellowship of the Mind,” took place in April and included engaging presentations on a variety of topics. Cosmina Tanasoiu, AUBG Professor in Politics and European Studies and known for her intellectually challenging classes, was the keynote speaker and led off by delving into the dilemmas of social researchers. In an inspiring speech, Professor Tanasoiu discussed the different aspects of being a researcher. “Regardless of whether you adopt a positivist approach or rely on interpretative analysis,” she cautioned, “there is one thing that you should avoid – and that is dogmatic thinking. Academia must be a place where people can share ideas and engage in open-minded conversation, instead of being dominated by dogmatic and exclusivist thinking,” pointed out Professor Tanasoiu. In her view, conversation is the only way, the most appropriate pedagogical solution.
A vibrant Community
Following Tanasoiu, other professors and students took their turns in presenting the outcome of their own months of research in other areas such as business, computer science, economics, mathematics and humanities. Unlike previous conferences, where natural sciences and computer programming dominated the program, this year special attention was paid to social issues, such as healthcare, work environment in the big corporations and political practices in Europe.
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The recent economic crisis was the main focus of the sessions in both the business and the economics fields with senior students exploring issues from macro-economic determinants of Foreign Direct Investments in the Balkan region to nonperforming loans and macro vulnerabilities and current trends in the marketing of retail banking services. A 3D rendering and physics application using cuttingedge technologies were presented by the computer department. The highlight of their session was a lively demonstration of an optical font and character recognition product, which turns handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. A philosophy panel explored the extent to which ethnicity and culture influence the formation of political identities, while special attention was given in another presentation to student research in the area of higher education and language study. One might think that a “research conference” might be the most boring way to spend a Saturday, but the presenters at this conference provided such an interesting mix that word spread across campus and as the day went on attendance increased noticeably. Next year’s research conference just may be Standing Room Only!
thePURPLE–ON–CAMPUS INSPIRATION AT WORK thePurple began a few years ago as the brainchild of Bisera Savoska, AUBG class of 2012. In the beginning, her concept was called DeFacto TV and was created as a club that aimed to produce an interactive TV series about life on the campus. The show gained popularity as it presented campus news and events and featured real and mock campus stories, and soon the members decided to expand the club and create a more structured organization.
It will come as no surprise, then, to learn that as thePurple came to be managed by Business majors, that its structure became more entrepreneurial – applying Marketing and Branding tools so that the product was attractive to targeted AUBG campus groups; using Human Resource Management tools for Rewards and Recognition programs; applying Tracking Tools and Matrix structure in the appropriate work units; and practicing Negotiations skills and Selling tools to raise sponsors and partners. Keeping an entrepreneurial attitude towards new ideas compelled the entire organization to overcome stagnation, find consensus, and improve each aired show.
Roman Sorocan (Moldova) Executive Officer
Team members from Journalism and Mass Communication, Information Systems and Computer Science add their professional input and the group as a whole, with its diverse backgrounds and knowledge, increasingly produces attention-grabbing videos for the AUBG community. Airing on the YouTube channel, thePurple cooperates with AUBG’s University Relations department and the Admissions office in helping to share news and promote AUBG to prospective students. What started as one nowgraduated student’s idea a few years ago, has grown into a project that is more and more incorporating AUBG classroom lessons and at the same time becoming more and more incorporated into the AUBG spirit and framework.
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The Fall 2012 season aired with a new logo, new hosts, and a new motto and began reflecting the characteristics of a startup with measurable growth, continuing technical upgrades, development of the people and the product and its own website – www.thepurplemedia.com.
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They make us proud Monica Angelova and Veselin Lalev: “AUBG attracts some of the most talented Bulgarian kids” By Nelly Ovcharova Monica and Veselin are two successful entrepreneurs who graduated from AUBG and later from the University of Maine, got married and are the proudparents of two children. At AUBG, Veselin majored in Business Administration and Monica got degrees in Business Administration and Journalism and Mass Communication. Today both are deeply involved with ambitious companies: Monica with Intelligence Pathways (a competitive intelligence and business intelligence international marketing consultation firm), and divergently she runs a pair of fashion portals: www.BulgarianTextile.com and www.TurkishFashion. net; Veselin manages InvestBulgaria.com, the most comprehensive website about investing in Bulgaria, which he founded in 2004. Although having studied at AUBG in different time periods, Monica and Veselin had very similar interests and extracurricular activities. They were both members of martial art clubs and Monica was also a newscaster at Radio Aura, salsa dancer and yoga lover. AUBG was also the reason that their paths crossed. While a student at AUBG, Monica attended a guest lecture given by Veselin, who was an MBA graduate from the University of Maine. “At that time, I had also been accepted at the University of Maine and wanted to ask a few questions about that university… Long story short, we got married in Vegas,” chuckles Monica.
They make us proud
Both Monica and Veselin speak with praise about AUBG and the opportunities that the University provided them. For Veselin, AUBG is a “one-of-a-kind place that attracts some of the most talented Bulgarian kids. Wonderful experience, overall different from anything that one can find in Bulgaria.” They both agree that AUBG gave them the preparation and confidence to pursue higher education in the US. “Honestly, at the University of Maine people have great respect for AUBG students. I would have missed a lot of opportunities in life if it were not for AUBG,” Monica confesses. Although they both believe that entrepreneurship is not something taught, but rather a state of mind, they admit that AUBG indirectly provides much of what a person needs in order to be a successful entrepreneur. Thanks to the numerous in-class and extracurricular projects, the opportunity to put together your own schedule and to try out different disciplines, students learn to be responsible 38
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and active and develop leadership skills essential for a successful entrepreneurial career. For future entrepreneurs, Veselin outlines three important qualities. First: the willingness to sacrifice time and energy to start something new. Second: the courage and integrity to pursue your vision as long as it takes. Third: the independence to base decisions on your own logic, reasoning and judgment. To that advice Monica adds: “Don’t give up. Sometimes it takes time. Find a way to have your own business, learn from your internships and most importantly be passionate about what you do. Most entrepreneurs love what they do and are happy people because of it.”
By Yana Aladzhova In 1998, Asparuh Koev from Bulgaria graduated from AUBG with a major in Computer Science. Now, fifteen years later, he is a very accomplished entrepreneur with experience in starting and growing new companies. Asparuh describes the University as the key influence on his life and on what he has become. “The person that walked out [of AUBG] was a much improved version of the person who walked in,” he said. “Going to AUBG puts you in 'the network' and acts as a solid launching platform for entrepreneurs who have inspirations and aspirations to start new companies.” In his third year at the University and together with several friends, he started his first company. It was a software company called WizCom (later renamed Sciant), which in 2007 was sold to VMWare. “In the absence of startup funding, any sort of ‘ecosystem’ or support from anywhere, having help from AUBG at the beginning made things much easier,” he explained. While still involved with Sciant, 2001-2012, he started a consulting company, InterlliCo. Its customers are major transport industry firms, such as DHL, DB Schenker, Lufthansa, and Swiss Rail. Asparuh said that he left that company to his partners and is currently developing his new startup – Transmetrics, “which develops software to help transport companies reduce the current non-producing forty percent of unused space inside many of their cargo trucks, planes, ships.”
The CEO of Transmetrics said that although entrepreneurship was not part of the curriculum when he was at AUBG, he majored in it on his own. “They did not give me a diploma for it,” Asparuh said. “But then again, entrepreneurs do not care that much for diplomas.” Moreover, he defines successful entrepreneurs as people who find the way to get the job done despite all obstacles. “People who spend a lot of their time complaining about the lack of training or outside help are probably not entrepreneur material anyway,” he added. His formula for success consists of three things. First, “Never do it for the money.” Second, “Remember, the person next to you is just as special, precious, unique and gifted as you, and if it doesn't feel that way, it’s because you haven't taken the effort to look hard enough.” And third, “In arguments and confrontations, you will be the wrong side, statistically, 50% of the time. But if you are certain you are right, don't let being alone against the world stop you, and damned be the consequences.” Overall, Asparuh Koev is the embodiment of a person who is succeeding in his career. He is still working hard but is starting to think more of a family, enjoying life, and learning more about the world.
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Asparuh Koev : “Entrepreneurs don't care that much for diplomas”
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Daniel and Rene: “AUBG gave us the right toolkit for life after the university” By Nelly Ovcharova Entrepreneurship is not just the egotistical endeavor that many people might think. It is not only about making personal profit, but also about giving opportunities to other people to try out their ideas and advance their careers as well. “Take Rockefeller, Carnegie. JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates – these are all people who had vision, will power and resolve and changed the world for themselves and for others. We are so happy that we now have the chance to work with Bulgaria’s new generation of entrepreneurs and in their eyes we see the very same desire to be successful, to make a difference, and to leave a positive legacy behind them.” Rene and Daniel met while studying at AUBG, graduated with the same double majors of Economics and Business Administration and are now two of the most successful entrepreneurs in Bulgaria with many years of experience and well-regarded expertise.
They make us proud
When asked what AUBG means to them, they both express their gratitude for the independence, self-direction and perseverance that they acquired while facing the challenges of the AUBG experience. “It opened a huge window to the world for me. It means a lot today still,” says Rene. They both agree that AUBG gave them a great start and helped them discover new interests and areas for personal development. “AUBG gave me the right toolkit for life after university – a more open frame of mind, critical thinking mixed with con-
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stant curiosity, soft skills, confidence, discipline, great friends and my wife,” explains Daniel. Daniel is the co-founder of Eleven Startup Accelerator and is working on different projects related to it. After many years at Mobiltel, Rene left the corporate world in 2012 and began mentoring at the Eleven Accelerator VC Fund. “I am shaping young minds there as I help the teams streamline their ideas, perfect their pitches and MVPs. I enjoy this immensely,” says Rene about her new job. She adds: “In these days and times academia has to continually upgrade. There is no value anymore in pure encyclopedic knowledge. All that information is just a click or two away. Value today lies in being open-minded, analytical, individualistic, and entrepreneurial. In this world you have to know how to think critically. The only place in Bulgaria that gives you all of these responsibilities is AUBG.” She also gives words of advice to future employers of AUBG graduates: AUBGers need challenging tasks because they do not like mediocrity. Both Rene and Daniel encourage future AUBG entreprenuers to be passionate and curious about what they do, to be creative, brave and persistent in the pursuit of their dreams and more importantly never to give up. Rene’s final comment: “Change comes from people who dare to disrupt the status quo, that are bold to pursue their ideas even if everyone calls them crazy. These are the entrepreneurs. You can like them, or dislike them, but you can't ignore them. They are here to change the world and make it a better place. I truly believe in this.”
By Nelly Ovcharova Some see entrepreneurship as the process of “turning ideas into money”, but that is not Codru Vrabie’s vision. An inspiring personality mixed with flawless professionalism and a healthy dose of sarcasm is what one sees in Codru, but that is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. A visionary, an idealist and a dreamer all combined with an entrepreneurial spirit is what makes Codru the contemporary superhero, fighting for justice. Except for the cape. He does not have a cape. Codru graduated from AUBG in 1998, majoring in International Relations and Political Science and minoring in Psychology. Before AUBG, he had studied engineering and law in his native Romania, which helped him to immediately see the benefits of a liberal arts education once he experienced it at AUBG. While studying here, he not only showed remarkable curiosity about his academic subjects, but was also a very active member of the AUBG community – Radio Aura, Basketball Club, Political Club and VoX (the student newspaper). The charismatic Romanian points to AUBG as having been pivotal in his personal development: “I can’t imagine
being able to do the things I do now without having spent my years at AUBG. The University prepares its students for an entrepreneurial future without their even realizing it. It’s a nuanced example of positive manipulation.” According to Codru, AUBG creates the need to pursue excellence and to “dive into innovative stuff” through its courses and extracurricular activities. “AUBG gives you some kind of an addiction to trying new things, a special love for trial-and-error, a certain ease of challenging the status quo, as well as an ability to engage others in the process, and that's what makes AUBG such an amazing experience!”, says Codru passionately. Currently, Codru chairs a small NGO, does advocacy trainings on the relations between NGOs and local government, and participates in the monitoring of Romania’s implementation of EU anti-corruption strategies. At some point, Codru plans to complete a PhD focused on reforming the EU into a larger federation based on the German and Austrian models. In the meantime, his formula for success involves seeing problems as challenges, and turning ideas into opportunities that add value to communities. At the end of the day, his community entrepreneurship model demands a passionate search for solutions that work and engender support from other people and bring change that positively impacts people’s lives.
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Codru Vrabie: “AUBG shaped me into who I am today”
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EMBA
EMBA program at AUBG – Ten Years of Achievements and Excellence Recently AUBG’s Elieff Center for Education and Culture together with its Executive MBA program celebrated ten-year anniversaries with an animated gathering of staff, faculty, administration and invited members from all cohorts of the EMBA program. It was an occasion to mark all of the people and the programs that have and continue to fulfill the Elieff Center’s purpose. The evening’s speakers included Ivan Ivanov, Director of the Elieff Center; AUBG President Michael Easton; Alexander Durchev from the EMBA class of 2010 and manager of All Channels Communication Group; and Joel Morse, CEO of C3i Inc, a leading provider of technology support services for the life sciences industry and the newest member of the AUBG Board of Trustees. Ivanov and Easton briefly shared their memories of Eliot Elieff himself and how, early-on, he saw the need for the University to have a capital-city presence where it could offer US-accredited graduate programs (EMBA) and provide a professional and educational link to the European Union environment in which it operates. There is no doubt that the EMBA’s program for working managers and entrepreneurs is the Elieff Center’s big success story. The program revolves around putting theory into practice which carries over into the workplace, and each 16-month-long cohort culminates in a trip to an international capital city for meetings with managers at several different corporate headquarters. The well-rounded program is currently recruiting for its thirteenth cohort which will begin in January 2014. As EMBA 2010 graduate Alexander Durchev explained in his remarks, the program allowed him to be close to his business and to keep an eye on it while learning
EMBA
Find out more about the EMBA program at www.aubg.bg/emba
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new theories that he could immediately try out in his own job. “I consider the EMBA program to be a milestone influence on my life and my business, and I very much appreciate the network of mentors and EMBA friends that enable me to develop my company a little more every day.” Looking at the EMBA program from an entrepreneur/ employer’s perspective, C3i Inc’s co-founder and CEO Joel Morse explained that he has supported several of his managers to study in the program because the executive training activities with their global perspective and their international faculty lead to key operational understandings of today’s business market. With company locations on three continents, Morse appreciates knowing that his managers are uniquely prepared to make the right decisions every day. High praise from two important perspectives!
By Nelly Ovcharova Some people argue that it is impossible to find the golden mean between family and career and that “one can never have it all.” Whoever said that, clearly has not met Gergana Krasteva and Svetozar Georgiev. Successful, happily married, and enjoying life fully while still aiming for improvement are characteristics that make this couple so remarkable. They met on their very first day at AUBG and have been together ever since. They both graduated with double-majors in Business Administration and Journalism and Mass Communications, and Gery took on the challenge of completing AUBG’s Executive MBA program in Sofia a few years ago as well. Regarding their time at AUBG, Gery and Zarko say: “AUBG was a mind-opener for us and the whole experience was very precious from both academic and personal perspectives. Not only did AUBG develop our professional competencies, but it also equipped us with the right attitude to approach every situation, be it a business case or a personal dilemma. Also, we met the best people ever who remain our closest friends today.” Zarko sums it up this way: “We are particularly grateful to AUBG for its strong academic program and the colorful mix of students and professors that enabled us to develop open-minded personalities. I learned to be determined, persistent, diligent and curious. AUBG
teaches you to question everything and to re-discover the world and yourself every day. Nowadays I miss that feeling,” says Zarko reflectively. “At AUBG you are taught to be an entrepreneur from Day One,” as they explain it. “The University helps you help yourself. An entrepreneur must confidently know a lot of things: finance, law, marketing, communications, etc. AUBG taught us those essential bases. But the added value lay in the way the AUBG environment nurtured us to become questioning, confident and capable people.” In terms of their professional development, both Gery and Zarko have many achievements and personal triumphs. Both have worked in small and large companies in marketing positions and moved steadily up the corporate chain, but each is now managing his and her own start-up companies: Gery as co-founder of Trendsta Ltd., which develops and markets the style management application La Koketa for iPhone, and Zarko and his Telerik co-founders now oversee their own global enterprise with 11 offices and 700 employees worldwide. “I think we are also the biggest employer of AUBGers,” says Zarko proudly. Gery and Zarko still have many burning ambitions related to their professional development but are simultaneously enjoying exciting travel, time with family and friends, and appreciating that there is still more good work to be done. Both feel a drive “to make our companies even more successful, so that we serve as inspirations to other young people who want to live and work in Bulgaria, rather than to emigrate.”
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Gergana and Svetozar: “AUBG was a mind-opener for us”
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Dimitar Nachkov: “AUBG’s EMBA program is the best investment you can make” By Yana Aladzhova An alum from the first AUBG graduating class, class of ‘95, Dimitar Nachkov, considers himself to be one of the founders of the university. But having said that, he hastens to add that his experience in AUBG classrooms did not end with his first commencement ceremony because Dimitar is also a proud holder of a Master‘s degree from the first, again “founding” cohort of the University’s Executive MBA program. Dimitar’s career started back in 1996 when he was co-owner of Interbridge Ltd, Bulgaria for two years. This was followed by an Executive Director position at Macropharm, Bulgaria from 1998 to 2007. Currently, however, he is the Executive Director of Rodopski Kilim AD. “This is a small family business with several activities, principally the production of unique custom-made hand-knotted carpets, the production of custom-ordered clothing, and trade with other textile products,” Dimitar explained. He advises current businesspeople to think hard, like he did, about applying for AUBG’s EMBA program because “recognizing that your current business is not operating in the most optimal way it could be operating is half the battle towards improving it. The other half is making yourself into the upgraded change agent that moves it ahead. Investing your time and talent in the challenging tasks that the EMBA provides is the best type of personal and business investment.”
EMBA
The EMBA program helped him review the knowledge acquired at AUBG and to “re-consider it through the prism of the professional business experience” he had gained. He learned about the latest developments, concepts and practices used in different business fields and
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considered how they might be applied to his own business. “During the classes and throughout the team projects we did, I had the chance to learn new things about operating a business and changing my own business in Bulgaria,” Dimitar said. According to him, going through the EMBA program is also useful to entrepreneurs who want to break out of a conventional employee mold and bring their own dream to fruition. “Entrepreneurship is something you are born with,” Dimitar believes. “You are either an entrepreneur or not, and if you are one, you owe it to yourself, your investors, and your employees to be the best leader possible by updating your knowledge and skills.” With his goals set and his career running well, Dimitar wishes for health and energy so he can enjoy his work and family as much as possible, and he credits AUBG and the EMBA with being the perfect combination for people who want to work in or with Bulgaria.
American University in Bulgaria Blagoevgrad
Main Building 1 Georgi Izmirliev Sq. Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria President’s Office: (+359 73) 888 307 Development: (+359 73) 888 366 Fax: (+359 73) 888 344 Published by:
University Relations Office Phone: (+359 73) 888 215 Fax: (+359 73) 888 399 AUBGToday@aubg.bg
America for Bulgaria Student Center 12 Svoboda Buchvarova St. Skaptopara Campus Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria Admissions: (+359 73) 888 111 admissions@aubg.bg American University in Bulgaria Sofia
Elieff Center for Education and Culture 1 Universitetski Park St., Studentski Grad Sofia 1700, Bulgaria Switchboard: (+359 2) 960 7910 Fax: (+359 2) 961 6010 emba@aubg.bg U.S. Mailing Address: American University in Bulgaria 910 17th St., N.W. Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20006
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