Business Education Component under the Project "Job Opportunities through Business Support" (JOBS)

The United Nations Development Programme has recognized the tremendous need to educate Bulgarian youth in the concepts of a free market system. In order for Bulgaria to develop long term into a country with a well-developed private sector, the principles of the market economy and the skill sets need to be taught as early as possible. This understanding resulted in the Project BUL/97/005, Business Education in the General Education Schools. Project BUL/97/005 was designed to acquaint 9th grade students in general education schools with the fundamentals of the market economy, and the key attributes of entrepreneurs.

The BUL/97/005 Project was implemented from 1997 - 1999. Almost 2,000 students were trained utilizing the material as an optional school subject in 37 municipalities throughout Bulgaria. Mr. Robert Nelson, a consultant from UNIDO, designed the original teaching material. The materials were adapted to the Bulgarian reality by a local team. An integral component of the training material was the business simulation game titled "Going Solo" developed by the University of Illinois, USA. Finally, two students from the pilot course, Dessislava Borisova Velkova and Ekaterina Stoilova Mikhailova designed the illustrations in the teaching materials. The teaching package includes: student's textbook, teacher's book, a floppy disk with the business simulation game Going Solo as well as some small items for the game.

The Ministry of Education and Science was very supportive in the original project. Their staunch support proved instrumental in developing the teaching materials. Without their useful guidance, the project would not have proved so successful with the students, school directors, and municipalities. The project attempted to make the Business Education curriculum as a mandatory topic according to the Ministry of Education and Science.

The Job Opportunities Through Business Support Project (JOBS) BUL/00/005 decided to reintroduce the Business Education material into 23 of the communities throughout Bulgaria where it is working.

The sub component, under the JOBS Project, is for the business education of the youth. Teachers were trained in the methodology and 1,000 students were taught after school for 72 hours over one school year. The goal was to increase awareness among the students about the free market system and to create a culture that values the contribution of the private sector. The overriding goal was to work with the Ministry of Education and Science in accepting this material as a mandatory topic in its curriculum in order to allow students throughout Bulgaria to benefit from this material.

A Business Entrepreneurship competition was organized at the end of the school year to finalize the Business Education and Entrepreneurship Programme. The goal of the contest was to distinguish the most entrepreneurial students that had completed the Business Education course across the country and to motivate them to continue their entrepreneurial development.

The competition took place on several levels including within the classrooms and then on a local, regional and national level during the months of June - July 2002. The first two levels were based on the unique simulation game "Going Solo". The best students then had to develop business ideas for a promising business in their municipality with the technical support of the JOBS Project business centers. Then each team of 5 students had to present and defend their business plan before an evaluation panel at the regional and the national levels.

The regional competitions were held on the 9, 10 and 11 of July 2002 in the JOBS Project business centers in Samokov, Polski Trambesh, Silistra, Karnobat and Shumen. The evaluation committees were composed of representatives of the official authorities, JOBS Project and sponsors. All the members had a full set of copies of the competing business plans given to them in advance.

The major criteria that were taken into consideration with equal weight in the evaluation were:

1. Feasibility of the project;
2. Contribution to the region - the way regional natural resources and specific features are used in developing competitive advantage of the business, creating new jobs, social and economic impact on regional development, etc.
3. Written and oral presentation of the business idea.

The best business ideas on a regional level were awarded with attractive prizes, kindly granted by ET Komtex from Yambol, ET Elenko Computers from Shumen, ET Jivur from Bourgas, ET Sotir Nemov - Komersial from Samokov.

The regional winners were the teams that had presented the following projects:

1. "The Orchid" - a beauty parlour from Kubrat
2. "Health Oasis" Ltd. - (producing and selling dietetic and diabetic foodstuffs and providing consultations for a healthy way of nutrition) from Elhovo
3. "Krassi" - Sole Proprietor - (vegetable production and seedlings) from Novi Pazar
4. "Focus 5" Ltd. - Restaurant "The Castle"from Samokov
5. "SATEKRIYAN - S" EOOD - a computer service center from Polski Trambesh

The final stage of the Business Entrepreneurship competition on a national level, organized by the JOBS Project, was held on 26 July 2002 at Grand Hotel Radisson SAS.
Radisson SAS kindly provided the hall for the carrying out of the competition for free.

During the national competition the five regional team-winners of young entrepreneurs defended their business plans before a competent jury composed of:

1. Ms Marta Ruedas - Resident Representative, UNDP - Bulgaria
2. Mr Tomas Higgins - Chief Executive of BAEF
3. Ms Iglika Stancheva - Chair person, Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
4. Ms Penka Ganova - Ministry of Education and Science
5. Ms Ekaterina Popova - Editor in Capital newspaper
6. Ms Elena Panova - JOBS Project Manager
7. Mr Eli Anavi -PROGRESS (first prize sponsor)
8. Mr Jordan Kisiov - Chief Executive of "RISK Electronics" (second prize sponsor)
9. Mr Vasislav Stoilkov - Manager of the Sales Department, "COPYLINK" Ltd. (third prize sponsor)

The jury assigned the first place to the team from Samokov. The winners were awarded with 5 laptops DELL LATITUDE Pentium 2 that were personally bestowed to them by the sponsor.

The team from Novi Pazar took the second prize: 5 printers EPSON STYLUS, kindly granted by "RISK Electronics".

Third in the competition was the team from Elhovo, who were happy to receive their 5 discmans Panasonic SL, provided by "COPYLINK" Ltd.

All the competitors also received certificates from the national level of the Business Entrepreneurship competition under JOBS Project.

The subject applies unusual, interactive teaching methodology that provokes innovative thinking and creates entrepreneurial skills and culture. The inquiries made among the participants in the component prove the great interest of teachers, students and parents.

The accumulated entrepreneurial knowledge during the past school year will be applied in the continuation of the Program. The participants in the Business Education component will be given the chance to enter the real business milieu during the next school year. The JOBS Project with the support of its built network of business centers in 24 municipalities will provide internships to the young people that have successfully passed the Business Entrepreneurship course. The internships will be in compliance with the professional interests of the young people in order to give them the opportunity to gain experience in choosing career options, mock interviewing, candidate selection, team working etc.

The proposed project will teach young members of the communities how to make socially conscious career decisions that will help both themselves and their communities.