On October 21st, together with our partners from UniCredit Bulbank, The Business Institute, Forbes Bulgaria, ING Bank and Municipal Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises, we gave an official start to our Impact community, which aims at enhancing and improving the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship in Bulgaria. Up to now the community brings together more than 60 social entrepreneurs, investors and various stakeholders to create new solutions and develop knowledge in the field of social finance and investment.
The Impact Community provides access to events with international experts - lectures, webinars, round tables, as well as an international conference on the topic of "Social Impact and finance", network and contacts with other members, useful resources, know-how and tools in the field of social entrepreneurship and social impact investing.
The first community event was attended by over 40 members from different sectors, and our host was Launchee Event Space.
“Bringing together the positions of social entrepreneurs and investors is one of the tasks we set with the Valley of Growth initiative. To this end, the project includes a number of events, including discussions, the creation of a new financial instrument and a pilot “Investment Readiness”program for early-growth social entrepreneurs, webinars and lectures to share useful information and an international conference”, stated Dimitar Dimitrov, Director of Reach for Change Bulgaria.
Special guests and speakers at the event were Diana Aladzhova from Silverline Capital and Ivan Atanasov from Monety Academy.
Diana Aladzhova is an investor and entrepreneur with expertise in the financial sector and equity investments. She is a partner in the Silverline Capital Fund and a founder of the social enterprise “Box to Remember”. She teaches Social Entrepreneurship to students at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and graduated in Finance and Investment from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a member of the CFA community. During the event, Diana talked more about how we can bring together the viewpoints of social entrepreneurs and investors.
Ivan Atanasov is a social entrepreneur and financier with 20 years of experience in the field of financial services. He is the founder of Monety Academy - an online platform for play and learning, which teaches children and youth key financial skills. Ivan presented his work and shared more about the path to creating truly sustainable social entrepreneurship.
In 2022, the Valley of Growth initiative is organizing several events in various formats for the community and the general public, which aim at developing the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship, to start a discussion on social impact investing, social finance and financial instruments for social entrepreneurs, as well as to increase the capacity in this area.