Acting on the conviction that anyone can be an entrepreneur with the right motivation and support, the America for Bulgaria Foundation created the Summer Entrepreneurship Program (SEP) in 2010 to promote an entrepreneurial culture in Bulgaria and to allow enterprising young Bulgarians to implement their ideas.
Over the past seven years, more than 200 SEP participants have had the opportunity to receive entrepreneurship training at one of the top business universities in the world, Babson College, in the US state of Massachusetts. The program imparted both theoretical business knowledge and practical skills to help individuals start and manage their own companies successfully.
Today, a third of the program’s alumni have their own companies, 12% are self-employed as consultants, and half work in the private sector. One-fifth of program participants founded 50 companies after returning from the United States, and 39 of these are still in business, providing 160 jobs. Companies created by SEP alumni represent a variety of industries: just over a third are in the IT sector, 10% are in the food industry, and 8% of companies offer marketing and advertising services.
According to a survey of the entrepreneurship program’s impact, 87% of program participants receive a monthly income from the businesses they founded after the training. For half of these participants, this revenue represents over two-thirds of their personal monthly income—an indicator of brisk business activity.
Half of the newly established businesses operate in Bulgaria as well as internationally, and the total amount that the startups attracted from investors and startup accelerators is $1.6 million.
The study also shows the effect of the program on its alumni’s personal and professional development. The program has helped participants cultivate important business skills and key personal characteristics, and one of its most valuable outcomes is the creation of an active organization of program alumni—the Association of Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE)—which aims to encourage entrepreneurship in Bulgaria. Find out more about ABLE HERE.
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When the America for Bulgaria Foundation created the Summer Entrepreneurship Program in 2010, the training was one of a very few opportunities for entrepreneurship education. Today, there are many programs that help enterprising Bulgarians develop their entrepreneurial skills. The following table lists some of these opportunities.
