Svetlan Stanoev is founder and senior facilitator of The Business Institute. He's an experienced expert in the field of strategic management, performance management, business development and financial management. He has been a restructure and corporate finance consultant at KPMG, Financial Director of Orbitel and CEO of the investment fund Ceres.

Svetlan has an MA in Finance. In the period between 1999 - 2007 he taught Corporate finance at the University of Portsmouth. Currently he designs and facilitates different trainings and workshops in the fields of strategic management, business modeling and financial management. He's a leading consultant in projects connected to implementing KPI systems, Balanced Scorecards and using OKRs to measure corporate results. 

Ivan Dimov is the founder of the Single Step Foundation, whose mission is to support, motivate and empower young LGBTI people in Bulgaria. He is also the executive director of The Steps, the foundation's social enterprise.

His professional career spanned finance: as an investment banker and venture capitalist in New York and Sydney, Australia. He is the co-founder and CFO of the Bulgaria Innovation Hub in San Francisco, the organization that provides a two-way bridge between the tech startup ecosystem in Bulgaria and Silicon Valley.

Ivan is a screened marathoner, crossfit athlete and traveler.

He has an extensive experience in the management of funds from the European structural funds, accumulated successively in the Employment Agency, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Science.

He holds a doctorate degree from SU "St. Kliment Ohridski" and postgraduate specialization with a Fulbright scholarship at Iowa State University, USA. Author of several published scientific articles in the field of sustainable development, climate change and limiting its negative effects in the agricultural sector and the labor market.

Davide Libralesso is a manager in the beyond profit sector who works at Microfinanza as senior expert, in the sustainable and development finance sector. Before joining Microfinanza he has been consulting the Switch Med Programme of the EU- Regional Activity Centre for Cleaner Production (CP/RAC), in the design of innovative financial solutions to boost the adoption of sustainable consumption and production practices (SCPs) and the transition towards sustainability among the SMEs in the Mediterranean. Earlier Davide acted as head of Programmes and International Relations at Etimos Foundation, focusing on the role of the private sector in development.

He previously worked for international organizations, EU cooperation programmes, and Italian public institutions, mainly designing and promoting innovative financial solutions to leverage the potential of the private sector in developing and emerging contexts. He has directly promoted the role of diaspora through several innovative international programmes, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. From 2016 to 2020 he has also been member of the Board of Directors of FEBEA, the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks.

Davide holds a degree in International Politics and Human Rights from the University of Padua, Italy.

Diana Aladzova, CFA is a partner in the investment fund Silverline Capital and a social entrepreneur.

Diana has 10 years of investment experience and co-founded Box to Remember, a social enterprise supporting the deaf community.

George Sidjimkov is a partner in Sofia Angels Ventures KDA and a very experienced investment professional whose background includes working on the buy side as well as on the sell side of financial transactions. His work experience includes Director CIP Advisers Ltd, Jersey where he was managing venture capital investments in growing technology companies across the European Union and Australia; Lecturer at the Investment Banking Institute; CEO of Development Capital Management (Bulgaria). George’s experience also includes working for Corporate Finance Partners GmbH where he executed several sell-side mandates for European technology companies and Deutsche Bank Investment Banking where he worked on the privatization of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company.

George holds an MBA degree from the Yale School of Management with distinction in Corporate Finance. George is fluent in Bulgarian, English and German.

Evelina is a long-time presenter at Radio FM+, and over the years she was also the program director of the media, as well as the program director of Radio Star FM. Host of various TV shows, including "I love Bulgaria".

Evelina is the creator of the youth media platform Teen Station, which unites both students and school teams from all over the country, as well as young people who are already students. Over the years, over 200 people have developed professionally on the platform, developing media content in various formats - articles, podcasts and video.

Hristo Boyadzhiev is an energetic business leader and social entrepreneur. He has experience in the technology industry as CEO of digital products agency Despark, and in previous roles he has worked in finance, energy and specifically. He is a co-founder of the association "Tuk-Tam" and "Academy for Parents". At present he is fully dedicated to the two NGOs.

In his free time, he is a map photographer, traveler and mountaineer. Currently traveling to all 7 continents, visiting over 50 countries and climbing 3.5 continental tops while maintaining a photoblog of his travels -https://inasearchofbalance.com/

Krasimira Hadjiivanova is the co-founder of the digital parenting platform Maiko Mila!, and the foundation of the same name, which stands behind the social enterprise Ole Male, working to support mothers of children with disabilities.

Ole Male is the winner of the 2018 edition of "The Change".

Sofia Breitholtz is CEO at Reach for Change.

She has previous experience from strategy and management consulting with EY and Ben & Jerry’s, experience from development cooperation with the EU in Southern Africa and social entrepreneurship as Deputy CEO of Solvatten.

Sofia is a true activist who believes in the power of bringing diverse sectors and perspectives together to solve global challenges, and has a passion for our most important resource - our children, inspirational women and empathetic leadership.

Erich Suni Melgar is heading Sustainability Global Lead Community Investment & Employee Engagement at ING. His professional experience is connected with the company for the past 20 years where he leads variety of programs in sustainability, community investment, charity programs for children and many more.

Erich has extensive experience in building partnerships and strategies resource mobilisation for organizations creating significant impact, among which UNICEF.

My entrepreneurial mindset and drive for meaningful change has led to 15 years experience working with executive management and strategic implementation, authentic- and inspirational leadership, and development of impact ecosystems and cross-sector partnerships. Working in the sphere of venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship supporting impact investment and capacity development of impact startups.

I strive to learn something new every day and some of the learnings I have found particularly important and helpful throughout my professional journey are: Practice active listening and reflection to bring perspective; diverse teams and a strong feedback methodology supports the learning organization. Avoid complexity - stay lean and agile; and - a favorite: opportunities can and will be found in unexpected places!

Svetoslav Zahariev is the founder of the first specialized gym for children with disabilities in Bulgaria.

During his sports career, he became the world and European grappling champion.

He is currently a boxing coach for children and adults, a fitness instructor and a physiotherapist for children and youth with disabilities.

Hristina Popova heads the "Programs" department of Reach for Change at the global level. She has been part of the foundation since 2015.

Initially, she is responsible for the Incubator and the CHANGE and other programs of the foundation in Bulgaria, which gives her the opportunity to work directly for the development of the capacity of the social entrepreneurs supported by the foundation. In 2019, she joined the organization's global program team. Hristina is currently responsible for the development of the methodology and quality of Reach for Change programs in all countries where the foundation operates.

Hristina is part of the "30 under 30" selection of FORBES Bulgaria (2019) in the "Social Entrepreneurship" category.

Nikolay Tsenkov manages the Municipal Guarantee Fund of the Sofia Municipality since 2018. He is a lawyer and doctor of social philosophy.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Company "Industrial Zones" (2014-2016). Since 2022, he has been a member of the board of the Vienna Economic Forum. He has professional experience in the field of economic diplomacy and project financing.

Dr. Tsenkov is a part-time lecturer at the University of National and World Economy, as well as at Neophyt Rilski Southwest University

Nadya Klisurska-Zhekova is Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in the period from 12.05.2021 to 31.12.2021. She was a Member of the 44th National Assembly. She has worked in the municipal administrations of Strelcha and Pazardzhik. She was a municipal councillor in Pazardzhik for two consecutive terms. From 2015 until April 2021, she was part of the city’s bar association.

She graduated in Law at the St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo and in Bulgarian language and history at Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv.

She organises and coordinates the activities of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in the field of social dialogue, labour income and living standards, social economy, demographic policy and corporate social responsibility. She is responsible for policies on social inclusion, social services, child and family support, people with disabilities, social protection and support, equal opportunities, gender equality and anti-discrimination. Chairperson of the Board of the Social Protection Fund. She monitors and coordinates the activities of the Social Assistance Agency, the Agency for People with Disabilities, the Agency for the Quality of Social Services.

Kamen Slavov became a member of the The Board of Directors of FMFIB after five years as Head of the Financial Instruments unit.

Prior to the Fund, Kamen Slavov served as a Corporate Finance Manager at KPMG in the Balkans, advising clients in both the private and the public sector space in the region. He was focused on projects in Infrastructure, Financial Services and Telecommunications.

Previously, he served in key roles in Corporate Banking at the Bulgarian subsidiary of a major banking group in CEE, achieving a considerable expertise in financial due diligence and the rating of large corporate clients.

Earlier in his career Kamen Slavov was a loan officer for mid-caps and SMEs demonstrating strong track record in deal origination and execution. Furthermore, Kamen is giving lectures on financial instruments as an international tutor to the ESI Funds Academy.

Kamen Slavov holds an MBA from INSEAD (France) and a Bachelor of Accountancy from UNWE (Bulgaria).

Martina Grigorova is the CEO of SIS Credit- a leading microfinance institution in Bulgaria, certified under the European Code of Good Conduct. The company’s main focus is put on the support of entrepreneurs and micro enterprises by provision of tailor-made funding products in partnership with its partners- Bulgarian Development Bank, Fund manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria and European Investment Fund.

Martina is strongly involved in the topic of social entrepreneurship by taking part as a jury and mentor in Academies for entrepreneurs and supporting different initiatives at local and European level.

She holds master’s degree in Financial management from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia.

Mario Tanev dedicates his career in the media sector to the search for successful business stories on the home stage.

He has an open interest in disruptive technologies, which he also covers as a managing editor for the "Fintech" department in the Forbes Bulgaria team.