JA Bulgaria plans to open an entrepreneurial center in Pernik

Junior Achievement Bulgaria (JA) plans to open a multifunctional center for the training of young people in the field of entrepreneurship in the Pernik Region. This was announced by Vera Petkanchin, operations director of JA Bulgaria - a non-governmental organization, which took part in the "Realization of opportunities - Pernik" roundtable.

The event, organized by Brand Media Bulgaria, is part of the European project "Transition Opportunities", which aims to publicize the contributions of the EU Cohesion Policy, the Just Transition Fund and the European Recovery Plan in ensuring a smooth and fair transition to a climate-neutral economy of the three Bulgarian regions that will be most affected by the energy transformation - Pernik, Kyustendil and Stara Zagora.

Center for Entrepreneurship

Our goal here (in the center) is to teach young people about entrepreneurship. We plan to have a co-working space as well as dormitories, both of which will be additional sources of financing," explained Vera Petkanchin.

The idea of the organization, which mainly deals with training young people in the field of entrepreneurship and soft skills, is to encourage the youth to think outside the box.

This is our vision of how we can contribute to the development of the region."

At the moment, the idea of creating this type of campus is at the stage of searching for suitable terrain and financing for the project realization.

I imagine the center being in one of the villages around Pernik. Very soon, we’ll have a meeting with the Radomir town council," Petkanchin told Economic.bg.

In fact, JA Bulgaria has been exploring the possibilities of creating a specialized entrepreneurship center for quite some time. However, it was the events linked to "Transition Opportunities" that gave an impetus to do more active work for the realization of the idea.

According to Petkanchin, this model of building specialized training centers outside the big cities is extremely popular in the USA.

In this way, local communities also get support, apart from everything else," says Petkanchin.

Who are Junior Achievement?

JA Bulgaria - a member of JA Worldwide and JA Europe - reaches out to over 30,000 pupils and university students in the Balkan country each year. The organization uses an educational model that has been described as progressive or one that builds on previous stages. Thanks to this model key competences in entrepreneurship are built and inculcated.

The business model of the organization is built on the basis of close cooperation with the private sector and experts involved in the creation and delivery of educational content, training and services, as well as in the development of policies in the field of entrepreneurship education.

Co-financed by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are entirely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission bears responsibility for them.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov