Ms. Desislava Simeonova, leader of KBC Group’s Sustainable Finance programme and Executive Director SME Banking at UBB greeted young people in the UBB Head Office and wished them courage and perseverance in putting their ideas to practice. Biser Petkov, Executive Director of FMFIB and Assoc. Prof. Todor Yalamov, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the Sofia University also greeted the competition participants and they jointly watched the project presentations.

This competition is being organized by the Fund of Funds (FoF) and the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, FMFIB and the Faculty of Economics at the Sofia University jointly with 40 key partners from the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The main goals of this initiative are to promote junior entrepreneurship, make young people aware of funding possibilities for startups, train them in the elaboration of business plans and in presenting their ideas before investors.  

This is the third edition of the competition this year and UBB is the only partner-bank. More than 160 teams with a total of 300 participants from all over Bulgaria presented their applications and 40 teams were admitted to the finals.

The ten best ideas, selected after the semi-finals yesterday, will compete for the big prize, and the winner will be announced on 31 May.

Finalists will be given the opportunity to develop their projects and to be involved in the accelerator programmes of the FoF Fund Managers, as well as in internships, will receive incentive awards, etc.