Category: ONGOING

BASE

Business Academy for Starting Entrepreneurs (BASE) is а training program designed to enable small business owners and budding entrepreneurs from under-served communities to obtain financial success by starting and operating successful businesses that provide jobs and improve communities.

Inspired by US training programs for small-business owners, BASE shortens the distance from idea to implementation by relying on volunteer mentors with an entrepreneurship background and on learning by doing. During the three-month program, participants master the basics of starting a business, as outlined in ABF’s Practical Handbook on Entrepreneurship: they learn how to develop their business ideas, why it is important to do a market study, how to talk to potential customers and suppliers, where to get start-up capital, how to price their goods and services, and much more. With the help of their mentors, they develop business plans that compete for funding at the program’s end.

Since 2019 ABLE has been a local partner for the Sofia editions of the program. We started BASE Mentor as a follow-up program for the most promising and ambitious BASE alumni who get the chance to work with individual mentors for a period of 6 months. Currently, we run the Sofia editions of the program, BASE Mentor as well as coordinate BASE seasons with local partners around the country.

WHAT DO PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS GET?

Program

A 13-week course, once a week, after working hours.

Participants

Ambitious people with a business idea or an active small business.

Lecturers

Entrepreneurs who have created a successful businesses ready to share their experiences with you.

Plan for success

A business plan developed by you to pitch to funders institutions and investors.

BASE club

You become part of a community whose members are not afraid to share and dream

TO THE OFFICIAL SITE:

ABLE Activator

ABLE Activator ABLE Activator is a 6-week entrepreneurship program providing intensive experiential entrepreneurship training for 30 university students and young professionals under 35 years of age. The program is held in English and designed in the following six modules, which take place over six long weekends (Friday-Sunday): Character & Leadership Building Deep Dive: Idea Formation [...]Continue reading

StartUp Navigator

StartUpNavigator.eu is the digital map of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Bulgaria and the region.

It provides greater visibility of ecosystem players, reinforces links between them and integrates entrepreneurs, talent, researchers, business partners, investors, and others.

What you can do in the StartUp Navigator is:

Develop and maintain your profile for greater visibility;
View the directory with the option to filter through industries, stages, and venues of 16 different types of stakeholders;
Look for business partners, talented employees, customers and other parties that can boost your business or idea;
Follow the one-stop shop startup event calendar, which sums up for you all the events related to the ecosystem.

The project is realized by the Association of the Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs with America for Bulgaria Foundation.

Register now for free at startupnavigator.eu and follow our Facebook page to be up-to-date with the latest trends in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and be a part of the startup community in Bulgaria!

Official site:

ABLE Mentor

About the project

ABLE Mentor is one of the Association of the Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE)’s projects. The primary purpose of the project is to connect students and professionals with students from the upper secondary school classes and create a network where they can share knowledge and experience. Students and mentors will be assigned into teams of one mentor and one student based on common interests. Within three months they will have to develop their own case or project that can be related to entrepreneurship, personal development or social causes. The concept of individual mentoring and building a sustainable relationship of trust between the players in each team is in the essence of ABLE Mentor, while the main goal is to increase the knowledge and skills of the students.

How it started

The program started initially in the spring of 2014 in Sofia, and by summertime 2016 five seasons of the project have successfully been carried out. To date, the program has scaled to the total of six cities across the country – Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Kazanlak, Blagoevgrad, Vratsa.

How the program is carried out

The program takes place two times a year in the periods November to January and March to June.

Participants commit:

to work together during the 12 weeks the project lasts;
to participate in the three full-day events, serving as ‘the backbone’ of the program;
to devote at least eight hours a month to work on their couple’s project.

In addition, mentors and students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of trainings and other events, organized by either ABLE Mentor or ABLE.

Official website:

Council Leaders

Council Leaders by ABLE

The aim of ABLE Council Leaders is to improve sustainably the performance of student councils in Bulgaria. The purpose of the project is to transform the already existing 50 organizations throughout the country into more open and transparent structures that promote entrepreneurship, leadership and active engagement in education, civil society, the start-up ecosystem, and the NGO sector in Bulgaria. In addition, the project promotes active communication and cooperation among student councils, as well as between student councils and other ABLE projects.

The central priority of the team is the organization of an annual National Leadership Forum for student councils, where selected candidates from various student councils would receive a scholarship to participate in intensive trainings. Within three days the participants would develop leadership and managerial skills, improve organizational culture and teamwork, enhance their feeling of responsibility and commitment to the activities of the student council and their classmates. The gathering also sparks inspiration to organize new and joint initiatives. The Forum is designed for thoughtful and active people who would take the future in their own hands and in turn would help their colleagues develop the same skills.

More about the program

The program provides participants with both theoretical and practical knowledge that would significantly improve the effectiveness of the student councils, as well as their popularity among students. The program is presented through games and case studies, both of which make it accessible and easy to digest. ABLE Council Leaders facilitates easy learning through fun activities and teamwork. The networking panels included in the program allow exchange of experience, and lead to improved communication between councils from various universities, and also eventually lead to unique inter-university projects. The speakers in the forum are a selection of recognized leaders and experts from the private and NGO sector, who would share their professional and life experience, and would offer advice on all matters the students find relevant. The aforementioned information turns the program into one of the top events for student councils in the country.

Official website:

All ABLE members – as BYLP-graduates, active participants in all ABLE activities, and experts in high positions in a variety of areas – have extensive professional experience and practical knowledge. Entrepreneurship, leadership, team and organizational management, and problem solving are all areas of expertise. The ABLE Council Leaders project aims to preserve this accumulated knowledge as well as share it with organizations of wide social spectrum, such as the student councils in Bulgarian universities.