Young people in our country have ideas in environmental protection, social entrepreneurship, and healthcare innovation - projects with a broad positive impact, CEO Viktoria Hristova said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on the occasion of the upcoming final conference of our Incubators for Innovative Enterprises programme.
The initiative was implemented with funding from the Erasmus Plus Programme and in cooperation with the Association for International Social Development and Sofia University. Mentoring sessions were held in nine cities across the country. More than 200 young people were trained, most of them students. "Young people should acquire skills that are important not only for their entrepreneurial endeavors but also for career and professional development," said Victoria Hristova, adding that this is just one of the Fund of Funds' initiatives to support youth entrepreneurship in the country. Another big and successful initiative of ours is the national competition "Best Youth Startup of Bulgaria", which this year has four times more participants compared to the previous two years".
"As we have developed initiatives across Bulgaria, we have seen that there are indeed regional differences and this is where the Fund of Funds has a role to play. Our core mission and vision is to work hard to overcome these over time. That is why our next financial instruments and programmes will channel half of the financial resources outside the South-West region", Hristova said.
Data from a Eurobarometer innovation report from March 2023 was also cited in the conversation. Bulgaria is listed as a leader in the EU in terms of attitudes towards entrepreneurship. The statistics show that our country has the highest share of young people between 15 and 30 engaged in entrepreneurship - 14% compared to the EU average of 9%. "We are ahead of the European level and young people need to acquire skills early on that are a prerequisite for success - financial skills, how to draw up a business plan and much more. This is why the Fund's training and programmes aimed at young people are really useful. We are preparing staff that will be adequate to the changing environment," said Victoria Hristova.
Find out what other programmes and initiatives we support youth entrepreneurship in Bulgaria with and what we are planning in the full interview here.
