About GEN in Bulgaria

The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) has been active in Bulgaria since the very first Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in 2008, with Junior Achievement Bulgaria (JA Bulgaria) as the country's founding host. The inaugural campaign drew on JA Bulgaria's national network of schools and educators to reach 119 events, some 2,800 participants, and an estimated 95 partner organizations in its first year. By 2014 — JA Bulgaria's seventh consecutive year as host — the campaign had grown into a nationwide initiative spanning 160 events across 50 regions, more than 100 schools, and over 5,000 students. 

JA Bulgaria has now led the national GEW campaign for more than fifteen consecutive years, building one of the most consistent and school-focused entrepreneurship campaigns in the region. The campaign has attracted recognition at the level of Bulgaria's head of state — President Rosen Plevneliev was among the heads of state worldwide who formally endorsed GEW in 2012, with President Plevneliev and Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski both endorsing it in 2013. The 2014 edition expanded through cross-institutional partnerships, including the EvriDika! Entrepreneurship Education forum with Bulgaria's Human Resources Development Center, and an “Education and Business” forum at the Royal Norwegian Embassy where JA Bulgaria's Operations Director Vera Petkantchin presented “Green Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development,” a joint project with Norway's Ungt Entreprenørskap Sogn og Fjordane. 

The 2019 edition — JA Bulgaria's 12th consecutive year as host — illustrated the campaign's depth: more than 100 schools from 87 settlements participated, 23 kindergartens joined World Entrepreneurship Day events, and nearly 5,900 students engaged with JA Bulgaria's programming. Over 480 teachers across the country submitted reports for 30 innovation camps, 68 open lessons, and three business visits — illustrating geographic breadth well beyond Sofia. 

That depth has been built in part through a Training of Trainers (TOT) program that GEN has held up as a model. Vera Petkantchin has described the methodology: selecting the 30 most active and experienced teachers as initial trainers, building a community of practice through a major scientific conference, and only once 150–200 trained teachers had been reached, approaching the Ministry of Education to roll out the program nationwide. Bulgaria's TOT model — alongside those of Indonesia and Germany — was cited within GEN as a leading example of scaling entrepreneurship education through ministerial partnership. 

Bulgaria has developed a meaningful connection to GEN's policy community over the years, reinforced by a remarkable career arc within the country's own government. Milena Stoycheva served as Chief Executive Officer of JA Bulgaria for over fifteen years, and in 2021 was recognized with the JA Worldwide “Soraya Salti” Award, the network's highest individual leadership honor. She subsequently served as Bulgaria's Minister of Innovation and Growth in 2023 and 2024. 

Writing for GEN during GEW 2023, Stoycheva described her transition from educator to policymaker as a continuation of the same mission — orchestrating ecosystems among universities, risk capital providers, large corporations and governments. In her words, “entrepreneurs thrive here because they are supported at every stage of their formation.” During her time as Minister, the Ministry placed startups at the forefront of its strategy, supporting legislative innovation including the Variable Capital Company (VCC), designed to reduce the need for Bulgarian startups to register abroad. Bulgaria's broader policy orientation has also been signaled by the appointment of Ekaterina Zaharieva as the European Union's first Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, with a mandate running from 2024 to 2029. 

Bulgarian startups have participated in the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC), a global startup competition presented by GEN and Monsha'at that offers finalists free training, mentorship, investor exposure, and the chance to compete for a share of a $1 million prize pool. Humans in the Loop, a Sofia-based social enterprise providing ethical dataset annotation and AI model validation services, reached the EWC Top 100 in 2021. GEN's 2023 and 2024 Impact Reports also feature Bulgarian founders in GEN's global community, including Kostadin Nedev of Youth Inventor, Nirdesh Dwa of Veda App, Jane Dimitrova of Foodobox 2021 Ltd., and Zoe Holliday of Humans in the Loop. 

Bulgaria has been actively engaged with GEN's research outputs for more than a decade. In December 2014, JA Bulgaria organized a Sofia event to present the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) results for Bulgaria, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy, Industry Watch Bulgaria, and the America for Bulgaria Foundation. Stoycheva was joined by Georgi Stoev of Industry Watch Bulgaria, Prof. Petko Ruskov of JA Bulgaria, and policymakers including Deputy Minister of Education Vanya Kastreva and parliamentary education committee chair Milena Damyanova. Prof. László Szerb, GEDI's global data specialist and a co-author of the Index, joined via video to outline the case for Bulgaria's participation in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). GEN's 2018 Impact Report later highlighted Bulgaria's rise of 13 positions in the Index — among the largest year-on-year gains globally. 

GEN maintains relationships with key Bulgarian ecosystem stakeholders, with JA Bulgaria as the country's primary and long-standing GEN partner. GEN's engagement also touches the Ministry of Innovation and Growth and BESCO, which are engaged in GEN's Startup Nations policy community. Through these activities, GEN has connected with a wider partner set including Industry Watch Bulgaria, the America for Bulgaria Foundation, the U.S. Embassy, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Human Resources Development Center, and Start it Smart, alongside Bulgaria's growing technology and startup community in Sofia.  Jonathan Ortmans, President of GEN, has visited Sofia twice to speak and coach at the invitation of the US Embassy. 

GEN's relationship with Bulgaria reflects a model of long-term, education-focused partnership that has delivered consistent national GEW campaigns for more than fifteen years and connected the country's innovation ministry to GEN's international policy community. The elevation of JA Bulgaria's chief executive to a national ministerial role is a testament to the stature that consistent engagement with GEN's network can help build.  GEN welcomes idea and input from the nation’s new ecosystem leaders as it seeks to continue to contribute to a robust startup community.