The executive director of RTIK - Mr. Milen Dobrev, introduced the young people to the activities of the chamber and our role as a link between education and business. And Desislava Dimitrova - training organizer - presented some of RTIK's current projects, among them Regio.Digi.Hub, GenZ4GD and initiatives implemented in cooperation with BIC Inobridge, such as SPECTRA and STRESSOUT.

In addition to being presenters, our team also played the role of an audience in front of which high school graduates presented their business ideas awarded with prizes from various international, national and regional competitions.   

Monika Mitkova, Plamena Petkova, Ralitsa Stefanova and Mihaela Mitsova from 12A, majoring in "Economic Informatics" presented "INOCARD" - a business idea for making contactless business cards and health cards based on NFC technology.

Daniel Georgiev from 12A class, major "Economic Informatics", introduced his party game "Brother You Can't". It aims to change the way youth have fun and encourage face-to-face communication.  

Boris Blazhev from 12A class, majoring in "Economic Informatics" presented the idea "Forest Wolves", which is an innovative website promoting art through new augmented reality technologies.

Eighth-graders Ioan Bukhov and Ioan Tsvetkov participated in the "I am an entrepreneur" event, who made a short presentation on the topic - "Why do I want to become an entrepreneur"? The young people also presented their business idea for a platform to create paid or free Horse - Learning skills lessons.

We are happy that more and more often we meet talented and motivated young people willing to develop entrepreneurial activity, and RTIK's participation in the initiative is one of the examples of the systematic efforts we are making to build a more favorable entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In the Europe Hall of NUI, Prof. Veselin Stoyanov presented the STEM project "The Way of the Bulgarian Book" - developed by young researchers from the 12th grade under the guidance of Milena Ilieva. And on the square "Al. Batenberg" students from the 6th grade, led by Negoslava Bachvarova, created an art installation "With love to the heart", where with music and text the young artists directed the attention of the audience to the problems of children with heart disease in Bulgaria.

Scholars' night was also held at Father Paisii Primary School. Children from the school visited the Eco Museum in Rousse and participated in a talk on "The influence of climate on biodiversity". The talk was a joint initiative of RIOSV - Ruse and the Regional History Museum and was led by Venceslav Petkov - ecologist and curator of the "Nature" department at RIM.

The official start of the European Night of Scientists was given in the courtyard of Olimpi Panov Elementary School. The discovery was bombastic with the chemical experiments of Associate Professor Lachezar Hristov from the Rapid Thunder Corps. Then, Petya Krasteva and Zehra Yuseinova introduced young and old to the world of climate change with a practical workshop and group experiments on the topic "Climate and Me". The program continued with Ivelina Pasheva, who revealed to us the secrets of carbon dioxide. We did experiments and discussed how humanity can adapt to new conditions. We finished with games and crosswords related to the environment.

In the Children's Palace, our youngest visitors and their families had the opportunity to build their own water filtration system, make solar toys, sort waste and have fun with a musical educational game. Visitors learned about the prehistory and evolution of man from the archaeologist Kristina Yanakieva, with whom they "buried in the past" in the children's laboratory of experimental archeology.

At the Luben Karavelov Regional Library, air quality and the carbon footprint were a major topic in the adult program.

Young scientists from the "Ivan P. Pavlov" Vocational High School of Tourism presented their own research on air pollution in urban environments and how it affects people and nature. Hristo Atanasov from Qnectd told us about the Internet of Things technology and how to apply it to air quality control in the rooms where we work and study. Finally, Prof. Georgi Hristov, Assoc. Dr. Eng. Plamen Zahariev and Assistant Eng. Georgi Georgiev demonstrated to us how 3D technologies can reduce the carbon footprint in various areas of human activity from industry to art.

The library also had a program for the little ones. Children and parents embarked on an exciting 3D adventure inside the human body and applied the principles of the circular economy by turning waste materials into designer toys.

The grand finale of the European night of Ruse scientists was on the square "Al. Batenberg " 3 with chemical miracles in the dark again with our beloved Assoc. Lachezar Hristov from the Rapid Thunder Corps at SU "St. Kliment Ohridski"

The RTIK team expresses its gratitude to all speakers, local and national partners who participated in the organization of this large-scale celebration of science!

We also thank all the visitors who respected our program and we hope that it has awakened their curiosity and inspired them to closely follow the world of science and innovation. We hope to meet again next year!

A European Night of Scientists is realized within the framework of the SEARCH project, which is an ambitious effort funded by the Horizon Europe 2021-2027 programme.
It aims to help popularize science, scientific activity and the profession of a scientist among a wide audience, with an emphasis on adolescents.
SEARCH aims to encourage more Bulgarians, especially students, to engage with career opportunities in the field of scientific research.
More information about the project and its activities can be found here: Home - European Night of Scientists 2023 (fresher-researchersnight.bg)
#ERN23SEARCH #SEARCH

Visiting scientists presented their work and shared their passion for research. During the visits, lectures and demonstrations were held on the following topics:

• The place of glass in modern genetics;
• Amphibians, snakes, terrestrial and turtles in Bulgaria";
• Vegetation and natural habitats of Bulgaria;
• Chemistry of the sea. Alkalinity and pH;
• The secrets and mysteries of the Black Sea;
• Food in the past. Resources of plant origin;
• Danube River - biodiversity, status, trends. Methods for assessing the ecological status of freshwater ecosystems;

Young people had the opportunity to get up close and personal with different scientific methods, ask questions and even do experiments.

Guest speakers of the SEARCH project were:

• Dr. Rumyana Dodova (Molecular Medicine Center at the Medical University of Sofia)
• Ch. Assistant Dr. Emilia Vacheva (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at BAS)
• Assoc. Dr. Kiril Vassilev (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at BAS)
• Chemist Nadezhda Drumeva (Institute of Oceanology at BAS)
• Ch. Assistant Professor Mila Andonov, Ph.D. (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS)
• Dr. Stefan Kazakov (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS)
• Dr. Elitsa Stefanova (Institute of Oceanology at BAS)
• Technician, biology Hristiana Stamatova (Institute of Oceanology at BAS)

The SEARCH project is an ambitious effort that aims to help popularize science, scientific activity and the profession of scientist among the general public. It is implemented within the Marie Sklodowska-Curie initiative of the Horizon 2020 program. In autumn, the science ambassadors initiative within the project is also organizing the already traditional Night of Scientists for our city, which this year will be held on September 29. For more information on the topic, follow our information channels and the official website of the project.

The RTIK team works hard to promote the entrepreneurial culture in the region through a number of initiatives and trainings for young entrepreneurs.

AEG "Geo Milev" is one of the schools with which we successfully cooperate and we are happy to announce that a team from the high school is among the 9 semi-finalists in the competition Solve for Tomorrow of Samsung.

Young entrepreneurs are working on a business idea aimed at facilitating the access of minors to the labor market by creating a specialized platform for this. To validate and improve their idea, however, they need support. That is why we are asking human resources specialists and all companies that believe that young people should be supported in finding a job even before they reach adulthood, to fill out the following short survey:

We thank all respondents in advance for supporting local entrepreneurial spirit and initiative.

We will be following the RELiWORK team's progress and wish them success!

"Business with a cause" was the title that on January 23, 2023 brought together nearly 40 participants, including representatives of the NGO sector, education and many young citizens of the city of Ruse, in the "Table Center".

The event was held in two parts - educational and practical.

In the educational part, all the intellectual products of the FINMAN project were presented. The audience was introduced to the functionality of the educational platform (FINMAN (academy-finman.eu), and the presentation of the "Personal and Business Budgeting" module was a smooth transition to the practical part of the event.

During the second part, the young people had the opportunity to work on 5 real case studies provided by 5 local NGO organizations. Using the brainstorming method and applying the business canvas tool, the young people and their mentors from the participating NGOs developed idea projects - solutions to the problems posed.

The event ended with an informal networking session where opportunities for collaborations, implementation of the solutions generated and last but not least the possibilities of replicating the FINMAN program in local schools were discussed.

FINMAN (Personal Finance Management Program) is a 24-month adult training project under the Erasmus+ program. The project is implemented in partnership with 7 other organizations from 6 European countries and aims to give basic knowledge to people with low financial literacy by providing training on topics such as - taxation, cyber security, online banking, mortgages and loans and others.

You can get more information about the project, its activities and results at Finman Project | Facebook and on project site.

Organized as part of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) 2022 Annual Conference, the session “Final of the Better Incubation project" is an online open event that will take place on 2.12.2022 from at 3:30 p.m. EEST (14:30 CET) and will be broadcast live on Better Incubation's LinkedIn page ( (29) Better Incubation: Overview | LinkedIn) and on the EBN Youtube channel ( EuropeanBICNetwork - YouTube).

Programme (time is in CET):

2:30 p.m. -2:40 p.m.

Welcome and introduction about Better Incubation - Chiara Davalli, European Business Innovation Hub Network (EBN)

2:40 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.

How can Business Support Organizations (BSOs) contribute to the implementation of the Social Economy Promotion Action Plan? - Brigitte Fellahi-Brognaux, Head of Unit, European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

Beyond Better Incubation, partner networks' thoughts on the way forward forward – Conversation with Tatiana Glad – IHUB; Roberta Bosurgi – EVPA; Laura Lecci – EBN

3:10 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

"Voices of Better Incubation" with moderator Lucia Radu, (Impact Hub) - You will hear the impressions of some of the business support organizations involved in Better Incubation regarding the support received within the program. What are their plans for the future?

• Francisco Pizarro, EU|BIC Fundecyt PCTEX
• Viktoria Soregi, IHUB Budapest
• Francesco Rocca, IHUB Lisbon
• Hrishabh Sandilya, EPIM
•  EVPA, Impact Shakers (TBC)
• Kristian Mancinone, EU|BIC Associate ART-ER
• Nayla Attas, Impact Hub Global

3:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.

Massive impact. Meet the winners of the 2022 Better Incubation competition. with moderator Laura Lecci, EBN - You will get to know the stories and business ideas of the three finalists of Better Incubation's international competition for social and inclusive entrepreneurship.

• Fela Akinse Buyi, Founder Salubata
• Esra Arslan, Executive Board Member at İhtiyaç Haritası Needs Map
• Ondřej Kolařík, CEO and Co-founder of ARBO Technologies

3:50 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Closing session with the three partner networks.

Better Incubation is a 2-year program (2021 – 2023) powered by the LIAISE project, funded by the European Union's Employment and Social Innovation programme. It unites the efforts and expertise of the European Network of Business Innovation Centers (EBN | Innovation network), Impact Hub (IHUB – Homepage – Impact Hub) and the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA - Welcome | EVPA ) and aims to change the system of business incubation aim to make it more inclusive and effective.

FINMAN (Personal Finance Management Program) is a 24-month adult training project under the Erasmus + KA2 program with the leading partner Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry and I am implementing it together with 7 other organizations from 6 European countries.

We are pleased to share with you the progress of the project activities and the results achieved so far through our FINMAN Information No. 4

Can you introduce yourself in 2-3 words?

My name is Tsvetelin Nikolov, 26 years old, married, Master of Business Administration and a young entrepreneur. For several years (already 5/) I have experience in business development in a software company and at the moment I am developing my own software company in a quite innovative field.

Why did you choose this path for yourself? Why did you choose to be an entrepreneur?

The truth is that everyone has someone or something in their life that inspires them. Seeing how someone has done something very interesting, one says to himself "I want to do the same"!

From a very early age, I wanted to be an inventor, to create something that would help others. Since I was at odds with the machines at the time, I told myself it wouldn't be. But entrepreneurship is about realizing, inventing ideas that are useful. And I want to create, to help, that's why I turned to him. In addition, my life's journey, however small it may be, met me with people who were already doing it. 

Then I thought why not?

How did it all start? What is the path you have taken so far?

My journey as an entrepreneur began in my student years. Every company creation project I've done as if it was going to be real, in the best possible way. I knew I was working in a secure environment where you operate and test. This was a gamified approach that some of my professors at university used. And I realized that this is the right method of assessment and learning. Since then, I fell in love with gamification and told myself that this is how I want to do things. In parallel, I went to events for training and development of human resources, but very soon I realized that this was not for me and that I was not the strongest there, but practicing in the field of human resources showed me that the most valuable resource of an organization is the human one. So gradually, together with colleagues who think like me, the idea of Pleggi.

What were the difficulties and problems you encountered along the way?

The first difficulties we encountered were related to deadlines and motivation. Everyone is looking for a quick result, but we realized that it will not come soon. This led to demotivation in the team even though we were very inspired and believed in our success. 

Reality has shown us that things don't always happen at the speed you imagined. 

The programmers helped us a lot, not only with their expertise, but also by lying to us that it would be done quickly. So we already know that when the programmers say that something will happen in X time, we multiply it by 2, 3, even 4. But the important thing is that then we have the time horizon. 

Ambiguity in deadlines is an obstacle, and a big one, because you cannot plan what your next step should be. 

Another major difficulty is related to gathering a suitable team.

How did that happen for you, how did you bring the members of your current team together? Where did you meet them? Your education and your environment at that time have nothing to do with IT environments.

It is normal for everyone to try to realize their idea with friends and acquaintances at the beginning. (I don't recommend doing it with relatives.) Subsequently, acquaintances of acquaintances were brought into the team so that the appropriate piece to the puzzle could be found and the machine worked. 

The truth is that I was an extremely proactive student and I participated in many events as a volunteer, one of which was for game creation, where I met programmers, designers, sound engineers and all kinds of people who can create games. In this way, I made a lot of contacts. 

Later, my job at a software company helped me start to understand them better and to know the given programmer if he has the expertise in the area I need. 

Do you think that access to contacts, to networking, to various specialists contributed to the crystallisation of your entrepreneurial idea?

Of course. If an idea doesn't change, then something is lame, then you haven't collected enough feedback. There are probably some brilliant ideas that do not need to be changed, but my opinion is that 99.9% of the ideas are modified and this is done based on the feedback - whether as a result of the market, whether because of the opinion of future customers, mentors, etc. n. 

I don't recommend taking the feedback of friends and family too seriously, as they can always be a little more supportive or encouraging than necessary. In my case it was not like that - almost everyone, with few exceptions like my wife, said "don't bother".

Has the lack of support from your loved ones discouraged you? 

The environment is extremely important. We don't choose our family, but we do choose our friends. I have certainly already created an environment for myself. I started interacting more with like-minded people, which is how I get valuable feedback, motivation and ideas. This environment came as a result of communicating with many people, participating in various events, projects, etc. Now even my family believes in the idea!

Was there anyone to support you? Was there access to information about existing support programs?

The truth is that among my professors I met people who were my mentors. But I'm a special case and it doesn't happen to everyone!

There is not enough information about the processes of creating an idea. It is necessary for every entrepreneur to answer some questions in advance. To understand how this idea is useful - is it social entrepreneurship, can this idea make money or not. Because a business that cannot support itself is not a business. 

It is necessary to work more in this direction through clubs, mentoring, accelerator programs. I know they exist because I've been interested, but are they everywhere? Or only in the city-state of Sofia? If you are from a less populated place you are limited. I am from Kozloduy and there is no one there to support young entrepreneurs. And they can be grown even at school.

Am I to understand that the most correct approach to stimulate youth entrepreneurship is personal example? Through meetings with mentors while still in school?

Yes, a good example inspires. You can help with your experience, your expertise, your interesting and inspiring story. 

You are not talking so much about training and accelerator organizations, but rather about practitioners, about real entrepreneurs?

I'm a fan of practitioners. I don't think they are better than theorists, but I think meeting real entrepreneurs is really valuable. There must be synergy here too!

Do you think that young entrepreneurs have access to useful information about programs, competitions, networks and trainings? 

I know there are similar opportunities and programs, but they are not enough. If we wait for them to inspire us and give us everything without putting in the necessary effort, things will not work out. They provide the necessary knowledge, but without the necessary passion and energy, nothing will happen. At the same time, I don't think these programs are marketed enough. Many people do not know about their existence. Personally, I would make more use of the communication channels in social networks, where many entrepreneurs can actually be found.

Let's go back to your business idea. To date, what form of support would be most helpful to you? You now have a viable product.

Yes it is! We are looking for investors who, in addition to supporting us financially, also through expertise, knowledge, skills and contacts.

I'm not a fan of going to accelerator type shows and events especially after one stage of the business - having as you said a viable product. Why? You go, you show up, and you expect to attract an investor. You are a kind of entrepreneur on a feeder of different events - accelerators. Your job is to create! I know a business very close to us that spent all their money on exhibitions in Europe and they didn't get funding. If they had invested their time, effort and money differently, surely things would have looked different for them. In my opinion, good ideas should be shown, but not solely relied on.

And how can contacts be made if not by attending such events for entrepreneurs?

By proactively searching for the contact of the people we are interested in. Excluding events - accelerators, it remains to find them offline at events they are interested in and online by answering a few questions. What social networks are they on? What do they like? What is their business? Do they have public emails, phones? For example, I like to use LinkedIn. I find the person, research him and write to him, sometimes choosing the time in which I write, including important things about the person himself, it may even be related to things he shares on the same network, and only then would I introduce myself and subsequently my business.

If a business support organization wants to be as effective as possible, should it personalize its support in some way?

Absolutely. That is how true value will be obtained. 

It is necessary to first determine the stage at which the given project, idea, business is in order to offer it the necessary knowledge and guidance - sales, marketing, finance, accounting, human resources.

Here I would also like to draw attention to legal support, which is very important. Most young entrepreneurs do not realize the role and importance of lawyers until it is necessary at the last minute. If they use them correctly, lawyers will be "pit bulls" who will protect them and protect them from problems. They can even help them a lot to win partners, support and further develop and clarify the business. 

You are quite young. Would you say if there were times when your age put you in any kind of obstacle? Have you faced prejudice? 

Even now I face prejudice. Sometimes it's hard for me to get the attention and support of HR experts who don't believe that people younger than them can improve processes and solve years-old problems. I admit that this hinders, but also develops sports malice, which for me is useful. It was the prejudices of others that made me seek and learn more to be able to demonstrate a different expertise. 

The truth is that my age can also be seen as a plus, because it is a great excuse - I am young and learning. Expectations for youngsters are not that high and when mistakes are made, the doors are still open. If I were older, that might not be the case.

Most of the questions in the interview were related to external obstacles and external support for young entrepreneurs. What you shared with us was focused on internal motivation and self-effort. Where is the key to the success of a young entrepreneur?

Both the external and internal environments matter. There should be synergy between them. If the feedback from mentors, institutions and organizations directs them to set more specific tasks and goals, then surely young entrepreneurs will understand that even if their idea does not come to fruition, the experience, practice and skills gained will be useful to them for every single thing going forward. The truth is that even if the idea does not materialize, the effort will be rewarded. Since being an entrepreneur I am much better at my job because I now understand the business much better. I understand how the money flows, I understand the team, the motivation, every single thing. 

Most young entrepreneurs are shy and do not want to tell their idea live in front of many people. Many of them guard and hide their ideas. I myself lost a year guarding ours so that no one would steal it from us. After thinking about it, I realized that even so, someone could steal it from us. As soon as an idea develops in one person's head, it is sure to develop in the head of another. Either you act or someone else will before you. The game never stops!

This interview is part of the Better Incubation international program (http://betterincubation.eu/). Better Incubation is a 2-year program (2021 – 2023) powered by the LIAISE project, funded by the European Union's Employment and Social Innovation programme. The project aims to promote inclusive and social entrepreneurship in Europe by mobilizing and empowering business support organizations (BSOs) with tools and good practices to effectively support social enterprises. The program focuses its assistance on entrepreneurs falling into one or more of the following groups - youth, people with disabilities, women and people over middle age to support their inclusion in society, through the implementation of socially significant business ideas. 

FINMAN (Personal Finance Management Program) is a 24-month adult training project under the Erasmus + KA2 program with the leading partner Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry and I am implementing it together with 7 other organizations from 6 European countries.

We are pleased to share with you the progress of the project activities and the results achieved so far through our FINMAN Informational No. 3

ABOUT US

FINMAN (Personal Finance Management Program) is a 24-month adult training project under the Erasmus + KA2 program

The team is composed of:

• Rousse Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bulgaria
• A & A Emphasys Interactive Solutions Ltd, Cyprus (https://emphasyscentre.com/)
• UPI – ljudska univerza Zalec, Slovenia (https://www.upi.si)
• COOPERATION BANCAIRE POUR L'EUROPE, Belgium (https://cbe.be/)
• FEUZ (Fundación Empresa-Universidad de Zaragoza), Spain, (www.feuz.es)
• ATLANTIS ENGINEERING AE, Greece (https://atlantis-engineering.com)
• EUROCREA MERCHANT SRL, Italy (http://www.eurocreamerchant.it)
• IDEC SA, Greece, (https://idec.gr/)

OUR AIM:

Our goal is to provide financial education of the people disadvantaged who need this knowledge most before they make important financial decisions.

WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR?

The FINAMN training methodology was developed to provide a more in-depth and precise approach to teaching financial literacy to adults.

All partners conducted a national survey aimed at:

• Review existing resources
• Involvement of relevant stakeholders and target groups (focus groups)
• Identification of specific training needs at national and European level.

During this study, 8 themes were identified for the development of the learning content:

• Taxes
• Savings and investments
• Loans and mortgages
• Online banking
• Cyber security
• Pensions, Social Security and Future Planning
• Personal and business budgeting
• Salary and elements of the employment contract.
• Their content is based on the conclusions of the conducted focus groups, which are the basis for the preparation of the FINMAN training course.

WHAT NEXT?

Based on the established training methodology, the partners have started the development of the training material in English, which is expected to be finalized by the end of December 2021.

Adapted versions of the training material and trainers' guide are expected to be ready in February 2022.