Eric Rubin, the outgoing US ambassador, is a man of many vocations. He effortlessly alternates between State Department duties such as enhancing security and police cooperation and going to open-air opera performances, from patronizing the arts to visiting some of Bulgaria's off-off-off-the-beaten-track locations, and from hosting business lunches and receptions to quietly contemplating the beauties of Bulgarian nature. Eric is no newcomer to what used to be the Communist bloc.
Mars products are so ubiquitous that they have become a part of our everyday lives: we snack on Snickers and Twix, we chew Orbit, we cook Uncle Ben's and feed our pets with Pedigree and Whiskas. A family-owned company, Mars dominates the world market and stepped in Bulgaria 25 years ago. The company realizes its responsibility towards the environment and the health and wellbeing of consumers, and implements policies that are clean and energy and waste-efficient.
The woman that enters the luxury meeting room surprises me. I have seen her on photos yet I am caught off guard by her genuine warmth and femininity. Still, Silvia Veselinova is unapologetically successful in a male-dominated business, property development.
Few buildings are able to grab the attention of the passer-by and to become an iconic part of the cityscape. Ellipse Center is such a building. Rising at the entrance of Sofia at Tsarigradsko Shose Boulevard, this distinctive leaning tower with diamond-shaped mirrored façade cast its spell over passers-by long before it welcomed its first tenants.
In 2019, AIG celebrates its centenary. What started as an American insurance company in Shanghai is now an international giant. AIG arrived in Bulgaria in 1996. Today it is a household name and the centre of innovation including BPO and industry digitisation.
We are talking about AIG's past, present and future with Christina Lucas, General Manager for Bulgaria. Previous posts included roles in Asia and Latin America.
What did AIG achieve in Bulgaria?
Finding and keeping talents for any business is one of Bulgaria's greatest challenges. The country's official unemployment rate of 5.4% is both good and bad news. More people work and the wages in the most rapidly developing sectors have significantly increased. Shortage of skilled labour, however, can become an impediment for Bulgaria's economy.
Omnipresent Internet connection, Internet of Things, smart homes: the world we are living in would be unthinkable only 10 years ago. D-Link is one of the companies that have brought about this change. Established in Taiwan 32 years ago, it is behind a number of innovations, technologies and solutions, and entered the smart home market as early as 2010. Today, its platform, mydlink, is the world's largest cloud surveillance platform, providing connectivity and intelligence a smart home needs.
Artificial intelligence, clouds, big data analysis, Internet of things: until recently such terms belonged to sci-fi novels and movies. Not anymore. Our lives, business, entertainment, healthcare and a lot more is getting increasingly dependent on software and digital experience. Software economy is a thing.
Before he arrived in Sofia last September, Danish Ambassador Søren Jacobsen had taken diplomatic positions in Turkey and China. Jacobsen has been here for less than a year but has already done something many would consider telltale Bulgarian: he planted tomatoes and herbs in the yard of his residence. Gardening, however, has been a passion that predates Søren Jacobsen's Bulgarian posting.
The wine and spirits market is in a constant flux and for a connoisseur following and understanding the trends is both exiting and a bit disorienting. There are few people who can better navigate the matter than Jelena Lalic, the new CEO of Pernod Ricard Bulgaria. Pernod Ricard is an international leader in distribution of high-quality wines and spirits, boasting the most comprehensive portfolio in the world. Before taking over its Bulgarian branch, the Serbia-born Jelena Lalic was the finance director of Pernod Ricard Adriatics.
As we start a chat with the Greek ambassador in the elegant rooms of his residence in Sofia I keep thinking that Bulgarians are usually very interested in making comparisons between themselves and their neighbours. Grigorios Vassiloconstandakis is in a very interesting position to shed some light on that: he is Greek and he has had experience in both Istanbul and Bucharest. How do they compare to Sofia? There are many things that disunite the Balkans but is there anything that unites them?
And when she is doing neither, she likes to travel. In fact, for the three years she has been in Bulgaria there is hardly a place she has not been to, often several times over. Irit is simply a perfect guide to Bulgaria – and not only for Israelis but for anyone with a deeper interest in this country and its people. Our imaginary tour of Bulgaria starts, naturally, in the capital, Sofia.
The Binational Chamber of Commerce Bulgaria-Israel works in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel in Bulgaria and other official bodies in Israel, as well as the Bulgarian government to attract new investments in Bulgaria and develop trade, economic and humanitarian relations between the two countries.
Turkish Airlines has scores of international awards for the outstanding quality of its services in both economy and business class. However, it only takes a single flight with the company to realise that all those awards are more than well-deserved. Turkish Airlines takes hospitality, comfort and efficiency to a whole new level, and its extensive network of flights to 302 cities spreads over the planet, making the company the largest carrier in the world by number of countries.
Victor Blagoev is an up-and-coming Bulgarian/American bassist born and raised in Prague, Czechia. He is quickly expanding his repertoire, playing with internationally renowned musicians such as blues singer Diunna Greenleaf, and some of Prague's biggest names including Martin Kratochvil, Rene Trossman, Cyrille Oswald and more. He is also set to work with, and eventually create and record music with the Rene Trossman, as well as developing a unique musical project with a modern neo-soul, Latin, R&B, jazz group, Skeptemistic.
Probably the most impressive things we experience nowadays when we watch period movies and TV series, like Mad Men, is not the vintage fashion or the dated technology. It is watching all those people smoke. We are living in a world that is rapidly parting with the smell of burning tobacco, and with the health risks it brings. Astonishingly, one of the agents of change is a tobacco company. Philip Morris International is now building a smoke-free future, says George Margonis.
Sofia's real estate market is booming, but the names of Hristo Chepishev and Europroperty stand out among the competition thanks to the consistent, proven quality of their projects. Hristo Chepishev has been into construction development for 15 years. In the past 11 years, Europroperty has invested over $500 million in land, development and sale of luxury properties as well as logistic and industrial centres in Bulgaria and abroad.
Expats in Bulgaria often fell deeply for the country, but the enthusiasm that Israeli entrepreneur Avinoam Katrieli nurtures for all things Bulgarians stands out. It comes second only to his belief that Bulgarians can build a better version of modern Bulgaria, and that they should be proud with their nation.
The advertising business in Bulgaria has been rapidly developing during the past few years. This branch is already well positioned, its various fields are clearly diversified and new regulation, consistent with the best EU practices, has been enforced. These achievements, however, were related to overcoming serious challenges.
At a speed that sometimes seems as if it belongs to a sci-fi movie, high technologies change and reshape the way we live, work, have fun, study, travel, take care of our health, consume news, and much more. They have changed the economy and businesses too, often beyond recognition. Outsourcing was born and became a major modus operandi, with significant development in the IT and BP services.