Postbank
The Bulgarian office of Endeavor global network is seeking entrepreneurs who are striving to expand their business on a global scale. Those, who pass the selection stages, will be included in the 4-month program, Dare to Scale. It is the first-of-its-kind growth program in Bulgaria, designed for entrepreneurs and businesses which have already passed the early phase of development and are beginning to expand.
The pilot project is implemented jointly with the leading partner of business and innovative financial institution in Bulgaria, Postbank, and with the support of one of Bulgaria’s biggest software companies, ScaleFocus, as well as the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA). The program is open to entrepreneurs from all spheres of economy, regardless of the region in Bulgaria they are based in. They must meet the following conditions: to have an own successful product or service on the market, to have generated a turnover of at least BGN 200,000 for 2018 and, most importantly, their business must have potential for global growth. Companies, which have been operating for years, as well as businesses which have been launched comparatively recently, can apply for the new program.According to plan, 10 participants will be selected. They will undergo specialized training and interactive sessions, led by successful entrepreneurs and leaders from Endeavor’s network. The training is focused on the core areas which are essential for each successful company such as organizational management, marketing, sales, financial planning and capital raising. The program will be carried out in Sofia.
The entrepreneurs with the best results will have the chance to receive support also from Endeavor’s global network.Everyone willing to apply for the Dare to Scale Growth Program can fill an application by clicking on this link. The full information about the program is available here.
Momchil Vassilev, executive director of Endeavor Bulgaria:
“By implementing the Dare to Scale Program, Endeavor is striving to expand the opportunities of Bulgarian entrepreneurs for gaining access to knowledge and experience in a phase of development of key importance for their success, namely the phase of early growth. Relying on Endeavor’s global experience and resources of, we believe we will help the participants in the Program to expand and, thus, boost the growth of the overall economic environment of Bulgaria. We’d like to thank our partners and allies, with whose key support we have managed to implement this project, for their trust.”
Petia Dimitrova, CEO of Postbank:
“Postbank is joining this new and really ambitious project with lots of expectations and, as Endeavor Bulgaria’s partner, we are yet to select the best growing companies and provide them with our know-how, expertise and financing. We’d like to give a chance for expansion to promising scale-up companies as part of Postbank’s corporate vision to make targeted investments in the Bulgarian business environment. We are a bank of the future, we successfully realize the ideas of our clients together with them and we provide them with financial solutions aimed at efficient business growth. We, ourselves, are also innovators, who are changing the market of bank services and are constantly introducing innovative products. Our internal culture upholds encouraging bold ideas.”
Viktor Bilyanski, co-founder and CTO of ScaleFocus:”
“Since the launch of ScaleFocus, we have successfully worked with many start-ups, for which we have been not only a software partner, but also a mentor of their overall growth and business structure. We have learnt how to successfully penetrate foreign markets and expand one’s business thanks to hard and purposeful work. We are open to sharing our successful model and help other Bulgarian companies to follow suit. We are glad we have the opportunity to support this program because we believe there is a huge human and innovation potential in Bulgaria.”
About Endeavor
Endeavor selects and supports entrepreneurs with big ideas and businesses which have the potential to grow fast on a global scale. The organization has offices on 34 markets and the Bulgarian office is just the third one in Europe. The entrepreneurs, part of Endeavor, are those who could be a key factor of long-term economic growth, job opening and the creation of innovations. They have the potential to change their countries and the world. Endeavor provides the selected entrepreneurs with access to the markets, capital and talent of its network of over 4,000 global mentors and investors. The entrepreneurs part of Endeavor’s network opened over 1.5 million jobs and generated over USD 1.5 billion revenues in 2018 alone. Endeavor focuses on companies, which are already successful in their business but need more expertise, contacts, capital and resources to make the next step in their expansion.
About Endeavor Bulgaria
Endeavor Bulgaria was launched in July 2015 with the goal to expand the presence of the organization in Europe. Bulgaria is just the third European country where Endeavor opened an office after Greece and Spain. The organization is backed by a board of directors consisting of 13 successful entrepreneurs and business leaders who believe in Endeavor’s mission to strengthen the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing Bulgarian entrepreneurs with access to Endeavor’s global network of markets, capital and programs, staff and training. So far, 26 entrepreneurs from 16 companies have successfully passed the selection process and have joined the network. Out of them, the office currently is actively supporting 13 entrepreneurs from nine companies, who opened over 500 jobs and generated revenues of over BGN 75 million in 2018.