“After each mentorship meeting, the horizon gets bigger, the fog dissipates and we learn new things.” This is how one of the first mentoring meetings for Let's GO 2023 ended, and we are just getting started. The mentorship meetings are that part of the social entrepreneurship program that throws you into the deep, but with the clear feeling that you are not sinking, you are sailing with the wind. Do you know why are we so sure? Because those meetings are B2B (business to business) – mentors from the business field pass on their experience, knowledge, and practical guidance to start-up social businesses.

The mentoring meetings that each organization receives in LET'S GO are individual and focused on their specific plans – business plan and financial plan. The mentors support each organization with 2 meetings in the fields of "Business Planning and Marketing" and "Financial Planning".They manage to step into the "shoes of social entrepreneurs" and give them the right guidance according to their context.

Here are the mentors this year!

Mentorship meetings in the field of business planning and marketing

Georgi Hristulev – manager of digital agency Web Direct

Georgi Hristulev is the manager of the digital agency Web Direct, sales coach, NLP master practitioner, and mediator. Georgi is also a partner in accounting company QBS, manager of "Agency for Law and Finance" LTD. More than 4,000 people from almost 1,500 companies attend his training which he leads and organizes. He is the author of the book "From the Love of Sales".

Vladimir Vassilev – co-founder of “Istinski med” (Real Honey) and manager of marketing and sales in “Bee Smart Technologies” JSC

Vladimir Vassilev is a serial entrepreneur who has developed various technological and social businesses. Among them are the recruitment platform Jobio, educational media SmartiGraphs, and design studio Shivachi. Currently, he is the co-founder of "Real Honey" and the "Marketing and Sales" manager at "Bee Smart Technologies" JSC.

Veselina Panayotova – business development consultant, “Impact Drive” Foundation

Vesselina Panayotova has 15 years of experience in the corporate sector in senior management positions. She worked for P&G, Ficosota, and Carlsberg Bulgaria. In 2019, she started a circle of female consultants and thus started working as an entrepreneur. She also works actively with the NGO sector for business development. Since January 2022, she is part of the management board of the Impact Drive foundation, with a main focus on the development of the initiatives www.momgotajob.eu & www.digicoms.eu.

Teodora Ivanova-Vuleva – CEO of “Impact Drive” Foundation

Teodora Ivanova – Valeva’s professional path is related to the design and management of grant schemes, projects, and programs of various scales. She has worked briefly in public authority and private management consulting but finds passion and meaning in working in the non-governmental sector. She was part of the team of the Open Society Institute – Sofia and participated in the development of organizations and initiatives that create connections between NGOs and the corporate sector (CSR Bulgaria, Diversity Pays Off). In 2017, she was among the founders of Impact Drive and since then, she has been working for sustainable organizations, an adequate environment for the work of NGOs and active citizens.

Milena Stratieva – CEO of “Nine” Foundation and co-founder of the business academy “9Academy”

Milena Stratieva is the executive director of the “Nine” Foundation and co-founder of the “9Academy” business academy. She is a marketing and PR specialist with over 10 years of experience. The projects and organizations she has worked for are both in the NGO sector and among small and large business organizations. Her professional experience includes management positions in a vocational education center and theater, and she also has extensive experience as a consultant and trainer.

Mentorship meetings in the field of financial planning

Iskra Ganetsovska – associate director of “Coca-Cola Europacific Partners”

Iskra Ganetsovska is an associate director at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and has over 15 years of management experience in international companies, with her main activity being in the field of income and expense accounting. She has been part of the Coca-Cola family for 9 years, in charge of various positions related to the management of receivables and trade discounts in Europe. Her passion is working with talented professionals and their development. She believes that personal motivation and responsibility are the basis of everyone's success. For 5 years, she has been actively involved in personal development and personal finance management.

Pavel Hriskov – business and financial consultant, founder of “Hriskov Group”

Pavel Hriskov is a business and financial consultant, founder of "Hriskov Group". In 2009, he began developing a successful career in the IT sector and for 5 years he worked at Hewlett-Packard. In the meantime, he joined the insurance broker “Together Bulgaria” and later became a co-owner of the company. In 2014, he founded "Hriskov Group" and to this day the company supports organizations in the field of business and financial development.

Daniela Popnikolova – Director of Varna’s branch, Unicredit Bulbank

Daniela Popnikolova started her UniCredit Bulbank career as an intern in 2008. Over the years, she held various sales positions. Since 2014, she has been the manager of various branches in the city of Varna. She has an economics education and an MBA program from Bologna Business School, part of the University of Bologna, Italy. Daniela participated in UniCredit's TMR program for young talents, Unbound – the Bank's project implementation program, Customer Experience – a program to increase customer satisfaction, and UniCredit's Social Impact Banking. She volunteers in sharing her expertise in student financial literacy programs.

Borislava Kuneva – Manager business clients, Unicredit Bulbank, Silistra branch

Borislava Kaneva is a business client manager at UniCredit Bulbank, Silistra Branch. Her entire working experience has been spent in managerial positions in the field of sales of products and services, and since 2014 she has been part of Unicredit Bulbank AD in the position of Manager of Business Clients in the Silistra Branch. The main focus of her daily work is to advise clients on the products offered by the Bank, and her greatest satisfaction is the opportunity to help them realize their business plans – start-up, development, and innovation, through the Bank's products.

What's next? The teams of the organizations now have a lot of work to do that will bring them closer to a real launch and realization of their ideas. And the great amount of effort they put into improving and becoming better is the right step towards the search for the idea that will support their causes in the best way. Let's GO!