"First Steps in Business": the free entrepreneurship seminar that went national
Contents · 7 sections
In the summer of 2013 I came back to Plovdiv after a master's degree in international business at Aston University in Birmingham. Soon after, at the end of that year, my colleagues at JCI Plovdiv and I realised that young people in the city who wanted to start a business had to travel to Sofia for every serious entrepreneurship event. We decided to change that. That is how "First Steps in Business" was born: a free seminar where successful entrepreneurs share practical experience with people who are just taking their first steps.
The format grew from an event for 120 people in Plovdiv into a national initiative in several cities. In this article I have brought together the story of all editions, which used to be covered in separate posts on the blog.
The principles of the format
- Free to attend for everyone who wants to learn more about entrepreneurship.
- Speakers who practise what they preach: business owners, managers and experts who speak from their own experience, not from textbooks.
- Specific topics: starting a business, management, people, marketing, financing and legal questions.
- Run entirely by volunteers from JCI Plovdiv, with the support of partners such as AIESEC, ABLE, Youth Voice and the city's universities.
The first editions in Plovdiv (2014)
The first edition took place on 1 March 2014 at the Rectorate of Plovdiv University. Around 120 people came, and in seven talks we covered starting a business, management, human resources, marketing, financing and legal questions. The speakers included Miglena Kakanasheva, Georgi Angelov and Dimitar Dimitrov.
The second edition took place on 29 November 2014 in the hall of the Technical University in Plovdiv, with speakers such as Georgi Stoev, Georgi Gruzdev, Vanya Ivanova and Simeon Todorov.
2015: the third and fourth editions
The third edition took place on 22 March 2015 at the Technical University in Plovdiv and brought together more than 150 people. The speakers were Miglena Kakanasheva, Stefan Stavrev, Justin Toms, Rositsa Kasabova, Emil Georgiev and Stefan Goranov. I still remember two pieces of advice from that day: "Criticise the team, but praise the individual" and "Being paid a salary is one thing; paying salaries is another."
The fourth edition took place on 28 November 2015 in a hall for more than 200 people. The speakers were Georgi Darzhanliev, Konstantin Vasilev, Lalka Zlatanova, Ivaylo Hristov and Simeon Prusiyski. Two quotes from it stayed with me: "The word 'impossible' should be removed from the dictionary!" and "Try to make your mistakes safely." After four editions we had brought together more than 600 young people.
2016: the fifth and sixth editions
The fifth edition took place on 14 May 2016 in the hall of the Technical University in Plovdiv. For the first time the event was fully funded by the municipal programme "Plovdiv for Young People", and the talks were recorded and published on YouTube. The speakers were Ivo Radulovski, Kris Georgiev, Katya Todorova, Martin Popov and Georgi K. Parvanov. At the time I called it our best-organised event so far.
The sixth edition took place on 10 December 2016, again at the Technical University, with the support of "Plovdiv for Young People". The speakers were Stanimir Nenov, Anita Klasanova, Dr Slaveyko Dzhambazov, Georgi Prusiyski and Aleksandar Hinkov.
2017: the format goes national
After six editions in Plovdiv and one in Svishtov, in 2017 we took the next step. On 13 May 2017, "First Steps in Business" took place in three cities at once: in Plovdiv at the Boris Hristov House of Culture, in Sofia at IT Step Academy and in Varna at the University of Economics. For the first time I was also a speaker, in Varna, where I talked about my own first steps in business.
In three years the format had reached around 900 people. Our biggest reward was the stories of participants who started their own businesses after the seminar, such as Ivaylo Stefanov with his IT company and the team behind "Zelena Rabotilnitsa" (Green Workshop), set up after the third edition. At the time I said this event changes lives, and I still believe it.
The format continues
JCI Plovdiv kept organising "First Steps in Business" in the following years: the eighth edition took place on 21 October 2018 at the Boris Hristov House of Culture, the next on 8 September 2019 at the International Fair Plovdiv, and the anniversary tenth edition on 17 October 2020 at the Congress Centre of the International Fair Plovdiv.
What I learned
"First Steps in Business" taught me that big change often starts with a small initiative. We did not need a budget, just the will, a team of volunteers and people ready to share their experience for free. Thank you to all the speakers, partners, sponsors and volunteers who made every edition possible, and to the hundreds of participants who came to listen and ask questions.
Petar Dyaksov
Entrepreneur, investor and managing partner at SEOMAX, with more than 15 years of experience in e-commerce and digital marketing. He builds businesses in technology and e-commerce, invests in companies and supports entrepreneurs. Speaker, trainer and mentor at dozens of conferences, seminars and entrepreneurship programmes.
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