On 17 October Sofia Tech Park was the venue of the #StartUpTheBeat discussion – part of the Economics Faculty initiative “Your Future is Here. Success is in Bulgaria” which is supported by Cargill. The event was attended by young people, university and high school students, academics, journalists and representatives of the business. The participants came to see and hear four Bulgarians who have distinguished themselves in their respective professional spheres and have achieved recognition and success here, in their home country.

Young people met with the frontman of pop band “Ostava” Svilen Noev, the actor and TV presenter Aleksandar Kadiev, the founder of educational platform ucha.se – Darin Madzharov and the member of the Board of trustees of and inspirer of the “Your Future is Here. Success is in Bulgaria” initiative – Metodi Georgiev. Moderator of the discussion was Viki Blazheva, first Vice-President and Communications Director of UniCredit Bulbank.

Host of the event was Assoc. Prof. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Economics Faculty at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” who opened #StartUpTheBeat with the words: “Success is in Bulgaria both with regard to education and to one’s business and professional success. Here we can, not just work something, but develop as individuals, feel happy and achieve balance between a successful career and personal life.”

Viki Blazheva started the discussion with an acknowledgement: “This is my first time participating in a discussion the aim of which is to keep young people here right now. You are perhaps aware that there are many initiatives for bringing Bulgarians back to our country but just as in business – it is much easier to keep an existing customer than to attract a new one.”

Darin Madzharov spoke about the role that education has played for him: “I knew that I was going abroad as a guest, staying at a hotel, in order to acquire some skills, to develop professionally and to come back and contribute to the life we share here. I keep repeating it that it is getting better and better here and that there are many reasons for that – we work a lot here, we offer people quality and we see results. At the same time people here, who work more and are developing are becoming more and more. And this steers the whole system forward.”

Aleksandar Kadiev presented his universal formula for success: “I believe in one thing – if a person, regardless of who they are, loves and has a real passion for what they do, then they are bound to always succeed. If circumstances are right and you have roof over your head and people who love you, you are going to reach the destination you are headed toward. This is so, because man is the only engine of success – no one can help you as much as you can do yourself.”

Svilen Novel talked about his road to the music stage and what makes him happy: “You become a professional musician by listening to different kinds of music from dawn till dusk. In this way you gain information that is broad enough for you to make your own music.” He further said: “I am really happy to help some young boy or girl who wants to make a career in music in Bulgaria.”

Metodi Georgiev explained why here the career opportunities are better than other places: “Education in Bulgaria has been improving significantly in that it is becoming connected with business and is getting more practice oriented. There are also many opportunities at different companies where young people can start pursuing careers and become successful faster and more easily. You can even work for a US company or a French one but do it from here.”

Besides these distinguished speakers the participants in the discussion became acquainted with the young artists Martin Grahovski from 3 Minute Bulgaria who sets an example as a successful young Bulgarian who has chosen to come back to his home country. He presented a video he created especially for the initiative and dedicated to the opportunities open to young people in Bulgaria. Before the discussion dissolved into informal conversations, all attending participated together in the surprise of the day – an improvised performance of the music beat created for “Your Future Is Here. Success Is in Bulgaria.”

Additional updated information can be found on the “Your Future Is Here. Success Is in Bulgaria” initiative social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.