Bourgas Business Center is a non-governmental organization committed to encouraging the development of minority communities in Bourgas Municipality by providing employment and income-generation opportunities and by fostering the development of small and medium-sized businesses. Bourgas Business Center has been designed on the model of the JOBS Project Business Centers Network, which has proven its viability. The JOBS Project is a joint initiative of the Bulgarian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the UNDP. This model employs specific to encourage entrepreneurship, facilitate the setting up and consolidation of small and micro businesses and generate permanent employment and income-generation opportunities. The main line of activity is focused on employment generation in economically underdeveloped areas.
Main objectives
• to facilitate and encourage the development of minority communities and enterpreneurship in Bourgas Municipality;
• to assist towards providing better economic conditions to ethnic minority producers;
• to work towards the development of the local social welfare potential for the unemployed by providing specialized professional support and facilitating the access to funds for starting and operating small and medium-sized businesses;
• to provide producers, entrepreneurs and those willing to start their own businesses with professional business consultations and advice in the areas of production, marketing, finance, business planning, taxation, legislation, as well as the incorporation and management of a company, human resource selection and management, etc.;
• to organize professional qualification and vocational training courses with a view to achieving a higher degree of adequacy of the workforce to the local labor market requirements;
• to conduct specialized courses and training programs aimed at broadening the business scope and managerial skills of businesspeople and entrepreneurs;
• to provide assistance and cooperation in the drafting of business plans, investment projects and economic argumentation in the process of applying for loans with banks or other financial institutions;
• to assist ethnic minority entrepreneurs and businesspeople in finding sources of financing and communicating with the funding institutions;
• to collect, manage and store up-to-date economic information with a view to presenting it to interested persons;
• to organize and assist in the organization of local public events such as seminars, workshops, exhibitions, fairs and the like, aiming at the promotion of local businesses;
• to provide information and assistance in the establishment of business contacts, both locally and internationally;
Some of the main activities of Bourgas Business Center include:
• studying and assessing the economic and development potential of the local minority community in Bourgas Municipality;
• studying and assessing the level of business knowledge and the need for specialized business training within the local minority community;
• providing professional business consultations and advice;
• developing, organizing and conducting specialized training courses and programs for ethnic minorities in Bourgas Municipality;
• organizing and conducting qualification and vocational training courses, assisting present and future entrepreneurs and local agricultural producers in concluding loan and lease contracts with banks and other financial institutions; concluding lease-purchase contracts;
• providing commercial representation and agency;
• collecting, processing and interpreting statistical and other information with a view to creating and maintaining a database of up-to-date economic information, and presenting it to interested persons;
• assisting minority communities in establishing business contacts locally and internationally;
• cooperating with Bulgarian and international organizations with similar objectives and activities;
• organizing seminars, workshops, exhibitions and other similar public events with a view to developing and promoting local businesses;
• publishing, printing and disseminating brochures, information bulletins, advertising materials and other publications to showcase the objectives and activities of the Bourgas Business Center;
• providing technical support in the design, layout, print and copying of documents and other publications, as well as their electronic or telecommunication transmission;
• developing and managing projects, submitting project proposals to various donors.