FINANCE ACADEMY: FINANCE LITERACY MATTERS

Finance Academy is an innovative educational organisation dedicated to offering accessible quality training in finance, business and economics. It focuses on learning through practice, game models and access to leading lecturers from Bulgaria and abroad. Training at Finance Academy is entirely online and available at each corner of the world.

Before founding the academy, Georgi Zahariev has accumulated a rich experience in business, management of educational projects and digital transformation and consultancy in major Bulgarian and international companies.

Are Bulgarians financially literate?

In 2020, according to the Bulgarian National Strategy for Financial Literacy, 48% of Bulgarians had an average level of financial literacy and only 10% were confident that they can manage their personal finances.

I believe that there is much room for improvement. Bulgarian households still rely on salary incomes and don't invest in additional sources such as stocks, ETFs, real estate etc. At the same time, the standard of living in the last couple of years has increased a lot. Many Bulgarians could grow additional income sources, but they don't know how to.

This is why we started the Finance Academy project. Our team includes analysts, experts, and coaches with years of experience in the finance and educational industry. Our main goal is to offer affordable education to people who want to benefit from the global opportunities.

What are the Finance Academy target audiences?

We have two 6-month programs.

Investments & Personal Finance is for everyone who wants to understand investing and acquire key knowledge about personal finances. We don't offer investment advisory. Our product is purely educational. We give the whole information to our students and let them manage their personal wealth.

Business & Entrepreneurship is for SME owners and future entrepreneurs who have great ideas but lack business experience.

We also have a high-intensity 6-month program that teaches how to build a successful business from scratch. It will cover every business's core. By the program's end our future business owners and entrepreneurs will be ready to pitch their ideas to investors and potential partners.

What competencies and skill sets does the curriculum cover?

The Investments & Personal Finance program covers the core of investment – stocks, ETFs, fundamental financial knowledge, insurance, personal budget planning, real estate investments. It is all one needs to understand the bigger picture and to become an investor.

The Business & Entrepreneurship program focuses on each business key aspects: business planning, organizational development and management skills, marketing strategy, negotiation skills, trade strategy, law and accounting basics.

What do you aim to achieve?

Our main goal is to grow the entrepreneurs and investors of tomorrow. Universities and governmental education have failed us. We need to build an alternative practical solution helping people grow and understand how the economy works by creating GDP growth.

www.financeacademy.bg