Optimism for Bulgaria

They are couriers, project managers, mechanics. But when a forest catches fire, they put on protective gear and head toward it. Meet the men and women of Sofia 343 – the volunteer firefighters who helped fight ten wildfires this summer and now need our help. Join us in supporting them on September 19.

Siyanna and Chris met at Hive in 2024. Today, the product they built with their team has more than 20,000 users and is now part of a European legal-tech company. What can begin with one conversation – and who might you meet at Hive on September 17–18 this year?

School ends. Some lessons don’t. We asked six leaders from business and the nonprofit world which teacher or lesson still shapes the way they think and work.

A schoolteacher sets out for Vienna and runs out of money in Belgrade. A century and a half later, the people around Pavlikeni are still good at making something memorable out of what they have.

At 22, graduating into one of Bulgaria’s hardest economic crises, Lidl Bulgaria CEO Milena Dragijska was not sure success and a clear conscience could coexist. Today, she speaks about the people who helped prove they could and why she believes business should help others move forward, too.

On their first date, David asked a family friend to give Bella away at their wedding. Years later, he folded her late father’s music into a concerto he wrote for her. Now their story leads back to Bulgaria.

His first game earned $37. Then Vasil persuaded a school to buy VR headsets and built a place where students could keep going after class. Meet the 23-year-old who treats failure as one more level.

Tsvetomir Stefanov was only 17 when he decided his homebrewing experiments could become more than a hobby. Today, Chiprovsko Pivo is a family business with a guesthouse, brewery tours, and a clear purpose: to create a livelihood in a place many young people leave behind. It is a story about entrepreneurship, but also about love for one’s hometown—the kind that does not remain a feeling, but becomes action.

For the Tchushkarev family, carpet weaving is not past tense. It is long hours at the loom, a conversation between generations, and patience made visible in every thread.