On July 29th, 2020 the HR & Education Committee organized a consecutive webinar to present two opportunities for partnerships. At the opening Iva Todorova, Co-Chair of the committee and Board member presented the recent activities of the Chamber incl. the feedback with proposals that AmCham sent last week to the Ministry of Labor and Social Works with regard of the open for discussion Amendments and Supplements Act of the Labor Code.

Then followed two presentations – first of FEBA, and the second of Teeonvator program. Below you can find their resumes and download additional information.

Collaboration in a business-academic partnership

Opportunities at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEBA)

The FEBA is one of the leading institutions for teaching and research in the field of Economics and Business in Bulgaria and the Balkan region according to research papers of experts of the World Bank. It is part of Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, which is the oldest (est. 1888) and most prestigious university in Bulgaria. According to a ranking of university education in Economics in Bulgaria, carried out by the Bulgarian Human Resources Management and Development Association, Sofia University graduates are preferred by most employers. Other rankings put FEBA in the Top 3 best performing academic economics institutions. In the new official ranking system of the Bulgarian universities (by the Ministry of Education) Sofia University takes up the top places in “Administration and Management” and “Economics”.

FEBA Career Center

The Career Center at FEBA is not the typical university career center that collects CV-s and communicates them to potential employers. It is dedicated to the development of students’ unique capabilities and its mission is to support FEBA students and alumnus in finding the job that inspires them. For this purpose, the center maintains a sustainable partnership network. Currently it includes more than 80 partnering institutions. Among them are trade and commerce chambers and associations, national and multinational employers, SME-s and startup companies as well as NGO-s and research centers. Together with its partners, FEBA develops a wide spectrum of business-academic activities.

Business-Academia Collaboration

Among the major in-class activities are invited lectures of top experts from the business, integration of real life case studies in the teaching process as well as mentorship in the process of master theses development. Workshops, seminars, and webinars are important part of the faculty out-of-class life. The Career Center at FEBA organizes every year a job fair where FEBA partners meet students and alumnus. In addition, regular career events such as open-doors-days are organized. Some of the FEBA partners refurbish and brand classrooms, create co-working space at FEBA building and donate laptops, books, etc. Other FEBA partners establish scholarships for distinguished students. Last, but not least, FEBA academics are reputable researchers in multiple interdisciplinary fields. Their cutting-edge knowledge is transferred to the business via post-graduate training and industry funded PhD programs.

Read more about FEBA

Teenovator – Teenage Startups in Action

Proznanie Foundation is devoted to make education more efficient, easy and accessible to everyone. Our not-for-profit social activities are based on the belief that education can make profound changes in the society. We provide top-quality educational services to various disadvantages communities, such as children with special educational needs; minorities; refugees; children without parental care and others.

About the program

Teenovator is part of the international network, adapted for Bulgarian schools, in which mentors from start-up and developed companies in Bulgaria and with experience in various fields help students in grades 10 and 11 find their passion and turn it into a winning startup project. The program is free of charge and the format is based on the practical application of successful practices from Stanford University. Design thinking, ‘lean development’, ‘rapid prototyping’, ‘business canvas model’ etc., combined with personal development and ‘soft’ skills, educational games have been implemented as well. Visits to offices of realized companies are also organized. The focus of the program is to stimulate creative thinking and self-confidence in personal capabilities. The meetings between the mentors and the students in the Teenovator clubs are held once a week for a period of one school year in the school premises. At the end of the school year, all teams from the Bulgarian schools attend a national competition and present their business ideas to a jury of investors. The best team from Bulgaria participates in an international competition. The Program started in Bulgaria at the beginning of 2018-2019 school year in 4 schools in Sofia. In 2019-2020 school year it is running in 17 schools in three cities – Sofia, Varna and Vratsa. This school year 34 mentors have been included. Teenovator’s The Program is running in 9 countries on 3 continents.

Teenovator Success Stories for 2019/2020

• EduBots which is already successfully running educational program – it offers sets for assembling robots and training videos in Robotics and has been created by students from Sofia High School of Mathematics, the German Language High School and the National High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

• HappyTree, created by students from 119 SU in Sofia. Their idea is everybody to have the opportunity to give a tree as a present to a special person – the company plants the tree and sends a video and a certificate to the receiver of the present.

• Woof Ball, created by students from 19 SU in Sofia – a light up dog ball made from recycled material which solves a widespread problem of dog owners.

This year the first-place winners will take part in Digital Innovation Hackaton in Berlin, organized by the European Commission in November 2020. The grand prize is participation in pre-accelerator program Innovation Capital’s XL Bootcamp in Sofia which provides the opportunity of winning funding of 25 000 euros.

Teenovator’s students share: video
Teenovator in pictures
More about Teenovator