site.btaBulgaria Among Leading Destinations in Southeast Europe for Starting Business, Says Economy Minister

Bulgaria is already among the leading destinations in Southeast Europe for starting business, said caretaker Minister of Economy and Industry Petko Nikolov, who opened an international conference on Thursday concerning key challenges faced by start-up companies at different stages of their life cycle and the involvement of venture capital funds in this process. He added that Bulgaria has a well-developed support ecosystem promoting entrepreneurship, start-ups and growing businesses, which includes research centres, laboratories, business incubators, accelerators and venture capital funds. The event, which is being held at the Hilton Hotel in Sofia under the title The life cycle of start-ups: challenges, is organized by BOYANOV & Co. in cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Nikolov drew attention to the government's work to improve the conditions for doing business and developing start-ups in the country. He mentioned the legislative regulation of variable capital companies as one of the forms for start-up businesses with advantages for private equity investors. The Minister also raised the startup visa as a measure to attract entrepreneurs from third countries to establish enterprises using high technologies and developing research and development. He noted Bulgaria's accession to the declaration on the introduction of the European Union (EU) standard of excellence and the nations of start-ups.

On the other hand, the strategic documents in the programmes that are being implemented - the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, the Recovery and Resilience Plan, prioritise measures to improve access to finance, diversify the sources and instruments of financing, promote the use of alternative sources of financing, and overcome the shortage of qualified personnel, which is a serious problem not only in Bulgaria, Minister Nikolov said.