site.btaRefugees Can Support Bulgarian Labour Market, Experts Say

Refugees who have found asylum in Bulgaria can support the labour market in the country and should not be isolated from businesses in the process of looking for employees. This was the view shared by participants in the opening panel of the fourth edition of the Powers Summit, organized by the Webit Foundation and the Digital National Alliance (DNA). The event takes place Tuesday at the John Atanasoff Innovation Forum at Sofia Tech Park.

"Business in Bulgaria needs about 400,000 workers, while at the same time there is a group of people who are not integrated", said DNA President Gergana Passy, who moderated the opening panel.

"What I would like to tell businesses is not to look at refugees as a different group of people", said Elitsa Videnova, executive director of the SUNOTEC Foundation. She said the Bulgarian company, which deals with solar solutions, has already recruited 16 refugees (13 from Syria and 3 from Afghanistan). Videnova pointed out that the process of obtaining the necessary documents for foreigners from these parts of the world who want to enter and work legally in Bulgaria is cumbersome and sometimes takes between 9 months and a year and a half. She gave the example of a relative of a company employee who was qualified but was hindered by the slow procedure "because he simply had not crossed someone's border illegally."

Videnova stressed that refugees are not a group of people that should be isolated from the employee search process.

In the words of Dina Jebali, who came to this country from Syria in 2013, Bulgaria has given her an opportunity for development. Jebali, who together with her family initially tried to start her own business here, later decided that she wanted to learn the language and develop in Bulgaria. Starting out as an employee in a shoe store, she found a new employee programme at one of the Bulgarian telecoms. As a result of the process, Jebali grew within the company and is now the Director of Managed Services at Yettel. She has completed two master's degrees (Technical University and American University) and is now preparing for a PhD on artificial intelligence.

"Refugees are people who have abandoned their lives, their homes and their dreams, wanting to be part of your society, to be part of you", said Iraqi Ambassador to Bulgaria Lina Omar. Omar herself was registered as a refugee in the United States in the 1990s. As a result of her participation in various US government support programmes, she was able to fulfill her dream of becoming a diplomat.

The Powers Summit event was opened with brief remarks by Aniela Ruseva, Director General of Global Webit Events and Dr. Plamen Rusev, Executive Chairman of the Webit Foundation. "Today's event is a place to start thinking about what we need to do in this extremely turbulent world, as a country without direction is like a ship with no headwind", Ruseva said.