November: The Entrepreneurship Challenge




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  • 2013-10-27 17:37:46
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This November will bring to AUBG yet another entrepreneurship competition, as the Student Government is working on executing the plan for supporting student business ideas. The so called Entrepreneurship Challenge will begin in the week right after the break and it will have teams of AUBG-ers competing with their projects for new product developments. The prize will be GN 500. The deadline to apply with a team ends today at midnight. [caption id="attachment_16469" align="alignright" width="192" caption="Teodor Dimitrov at his SEP"][/caption] “The prize is coming out of the SG projects fund and I think that this time we’re actually giving money for something valuable,” said Teodor Dimitrov, current SG treasurer. He explained that events related to the challenge will be happening throughout the whole of November, starting with the first presentations of the teams’ ideas the week right after the break. The organizers want to see how the candidates are doing without giving them any initial information or guidelines on how to do anything. The following workshops will aim at improving the business plans and making them more applicable. The workshops will be open to all AUBG-ers, who wish to participate and give their opinions to the teams. A panel of faculty, administration and business professionals will decide on the winner. Teams will be judged not exactly “on creating the possibly most profitable idea but on making the greatest amount of progress,” Dimitrov said. [caption id="attachment_16470" align="alignleft" width="282" caption="Temenuzhka Panayotova at her SEP"][/caption] The participants will be mentored by some of the students, who returned to AUBG this fall after completing their Summer Entrepreneurship Program (SEP) experience. Senior Temenuzhka Panayotova will be among the mentors. “I will try to teach them [her team] that what they need to do is not sit in one room and think what is best, but go and ask people, collect data and opinions. And most importantly- not to fall in love with their idea, but to be flexible and ready to change after gathering as much feedback as possible from peers, professional advisors, and local people,” she said. She also expressed her plans on trying to help the team she is mentoring by getting in touch with someone outside the AUBG community. In relation to the efforts to encourage the AUBG entrepreneurial spirit and the numerous related events, Dimitrov shared the idea of a future AUBG entrepreneurship fund. The proposal has been roaming around the SG, faculty, administration and the Board of Trustees recently gave the green light to this particular student effort. As for now the fund is supposed to be varying from USD 50,000 to 60,000 and will be given to students or recent graduates, who can prove that their business plan is both beneficial and feasible. Best efforts will be made so that the fund could open during the current academic year. The future development is still tied to staffing and to lots of legal arrangements. Either way, it something to be expected in the near AUBG future. So get the business ideas going, it seems that multiple opportunities lie ahead, as AUBG and entrepreneurship seem to be a love story meant to last. ** Pictures from Dimitrov and Panayotova's personal archives.