Leadership Education in America Program Home

The application deadline has passed.

Please read the “Timeline of the program” section for further information.

• Bulgarian citizens with a university degree, living and working in Bulgaria
• Bulgarian professionals from the public, private, or NGO sectors with ideas to improve local communities and/or Bulgaria
• Fluency in English (the program is conducted in English without interpretation)
• Up to 40 years of age (born 1985 and after)
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience
• No prior undergraduate or postgraduate study in the United States
• Personal and professional integrity
• Critical thinking, an open and experimental mindset, and strong interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team

We encourage eligible applicants from all backgrounds and locations in Bulgaria.

Note: Applicants who have participated in other ABF-funded programs in the US are not eligible to apply.

The selected group of up to 15 participants will spend 17 days in the United States — 14 days at Babson College in Boston, MA, for leadership training, followed by 3 days in New York City for cultural immersion at the program’s conclusion.

The program includes workshops on:

• Motivation — why people do what they do.
• Influence skills — how to engage with and influence different kinds of people.
• Collaboration/stakeholder engagement — working well with others.
• Negotiation — getting people to work with you through appealing to the core concerns and motives.
• Personal development planning — how to get better results and how to contribute to the group and its goals.
• Solving complex problems — understanding that even the most complex problems are solvable with diverse groups working together.
• Building collective goals — participants will work on setting ambitious goals and working together to address a communal goal.
• Sessions with specially selected guest speakers and leaders from the US public (government), private, and nonprofit sectors and academia.
• Sessions on: system thinking, advancing ideas, leading with empathy, leading through relationships, incorporating a “bottoms up” approach, managing one’s self, enrolling communities in innovation, innovation during good time and bad, storytelling with pathos, ethos and logos, personal branding, etc.
• A module on democratic values — where participants take on the role of a US Senator or Representative in a simulation and engage in a conference committee, taking part in the process of reconciling legislative bills from the two chambers of Congress. As the participants consider issues of policy, they learn fundamental concepts of successful negotiation aimed at identifying areas of common interest and expanding beneficial outcomes.
• Cultural immersion program in Boston and New York.

The key selection criteria are:

• Demonstrated leadership potential
• Demonstrated strong civic and community engagement
• Demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit and clear sense of purpose
• Demonstrated vision of how to personally effect positive change in Bulgaria upon return (e.g. in the applicant’s local community or in their field of work, etc.)

This year, the program will select an equal number of participants from the public, private, and NGO sectors, with five representatives from each. Applications will be reviewed and evaluated by a selection committee consisting of representatives of the America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF), the Association of Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL), and the Institute for Market Economics (IME). The final selection will be made by Babson College, USA.

The evaluation process will take place in four stages:

• Stage 1: Review of submitted applications, eligibility check, and shortlisting of applicants for interviews with a selection committee representative.
• Stage 2: Video interviews with shortlisted applicants leading to the selection of up to 40 participants for a two-hour virtual module led by Babson College faculty*.
• Stage 3: Participation in the two-hour virtual module, led by Babson College faculty, concluding with an individual assignment evaluated by Babson College faculty.
• Stage 4: Final selection of up to 15 participants (5 from each sector) who will travel to the US for the 17-day LEAP program at Babson College.

*The goal of the two-hour virtual module is to expose a larger pool of participants to the expertise of the Babson College faculty and introduce more people to the concepts of simultaneously creating social and economic value and Babson’s Entrepreneurial Thought & Action Methodology (ET&A). ET&A is a methodology that teaches participants to balance action, experimentation, and creativity with a deep understanding of business fundamentals and analysis to create maximum economic and social value. In addition to the new knowledge delivered by a premier educational institution such as Babson College, every participant in the virtual module will receive an individual leadership skills assessment by Babson College based on the submitted assignments.

Applicants are required to apply through the program’s “Apply here” section by filling in all fields and the application form.

The America for Bulgaria Foundation covers all program-related costs, including tuition, study materials, international airfare, domestic travel in the US, accommodation, meals, organized cultural immersion activities, emergency health insurance, and US visa fees.

To travel to the US, selected participants must have a valid US B1/B2 visa. Applicants do not need to have a US visa to apply for the program. Those selected who do not already possess a valid B1/B2 visa will apply for one after being accepted into the program. This fee will be reimbursed upon arrival in the U.S. (as of September 2024, the visa fee is USD 185).

All selected participants must attend a pre-departure orientation at a designated location a few weeks prior to departure to the US. In addition, each participant will have a 1- to 1.5-hour individual interview with Babson College faculty prior to departure to assess the group’s skill level and tailor the program content accordingly.