Big enterprises can benefit by supporting smaller entrepreneurs

Large enterprises and the public administration must support small entrepreneurs if good initiatives are to happen. This was expressed by Lyubomir Filipov, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Regulations at Veolia Bulgaria. He participated in the seminar "Opportunities for Entrepreneurship in Pernik", organized by Brand Media Bulgaria as part of the EU-funded project TOP JOBS, in partnership with the Municipality of Pernik.

It is very important for large companies to realize that they provide benefits to startups, but they could also benefit from (small) entrepreneurs," said Filipov.

According to him, large and cumbersome corporate structures need a different perspective, which they can gain precisely from innovative people and companies, which "give us the opportunity to see solutions that seem obvious, yet we have been impervious to until now."

In recent years, Veolia Bulgaria has been trying to support the local startup ecosystem; for instance, in the circular economy and water management.

We are looking for different companies whose solutions we can validate, and then these startups can further develop their utility models or find funding," he explained.

The company will soon announce a program in partnership with Endeavor Bulgaria that will fund green solutions.

Advice to future entrepreneurs

We often receive various startups or companies looking for a partner, trying to sell us an idea or solution or to test the waters to see if we could join as investors. And it strikes us that very often, when companies come with a very good idea they lack insight into potential markets and competition, and into the financial flows that this business could generate," said Filipov.

He added that very often entrepreneurs focus only on making their technical solution very good, but they lack an idea of how it will bring money in the future.

My advice to people looking for strategic partners for their business is to also focus on potential markets, on sales, because no matter how brilliant the idea is, if there is no one to sell it on the market, it will remain only a good intention.”

Veolia’s partners, which is the largest utility company in the world, say that they want the startups they would work with to have balanced teams with different backgrounds and a very strong sales team to sell the solution.

Another recommendation from Filipov is for startup partners to sign contracts from the beginning that very clearly regulate the rights and obligations of each partner, so as to avoid future conflicts and the collapse of the startup.

Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Managing Authority. Neither the European Union nor the Managing Authority can be held responsible for them.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov