Entrepreneurship Development Centre

1
Entrepreneurship Development Centre
How to teach Entrepreneurship and prepare future
entrepreneurs The practice of

• University of National and World Economy
• Students Town Hristo Botev, Sofia 1710
• phone/fax [phone]
• e-mail uedc_at_unwe.acad.bg

2
Statute

• Established in 1995 in the frames of
  international Phare Tempus Project
• Part of the UNWE, but having special statute
  self-financing
• Pays to the university between 10 and 15 of its
  incomes
• Employs full-time and part-time experts
  (including Ph.D. students)

3
Historical development

• Introduction of Entrepreneurship as teaching
  discipline at the UNWE in the spring of 1991
  (25 students) first in Bulgaria
• ESBID project - Entrepreneurship and Small
  Business Development in Bulgaria - 1993-1996
  (initial accumulation of data)
• Phare Tempus Project 1994-1997 Educational
  Programme and establishment of Centres for
  Entrepreneurship Development (University of
  Ulster, N. Ireland, Universita Autonoma de
  Barcelona, Spain, DeVlerick School voor
  Management, Belgium)
• Establishment of Centres in Bulgaria
• Technical University in Plovdiv
• D.A. Tsenov Academy of Economics in Svishtov
• St. st. Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko
  Tarnovo

4
Training Programmes for University Students

• Foundations of Entrepreneurship obligatory
  subject modules
• Small Business
• Entrepreneurship
• Starting-Up Own Business
• Small Business Management and Growth modules
• Small Business Management
• Survival (crisis) Management
• Growth Management
• Approach Every spring term the first subject
  ends with about 30 business plans and 10 case
  studies, as 7-8 students start-up own business
  (total about 120 starters up to now)
• In the autumn in the frames of the second subject
  students make project for management improvement
  for SMES as well as project for SMEs growth from
  the practice

5
Joint Programmes and Activities

• Seminar in Entrepreneurship with the Florida
  International University (FIU), Miami, USA, on
  global entrepreneurship and business
• 25 American and Bulgarian students make joint
  projects in selected Bulgarian companies (by
  teams) to be defended in English
• The American students receive credits and
  Bulgarian pass their exams by these projects
• The successfully completed this seminar receive
  certificates signed by the rectors of both
  universities
• Seminar with ISTUD (Milan) How to teach
  dynamic entrepreneurs?
• Other seminars

6
Training for Entrepreneurs and Managers

• In-company training SMEs and large companies
• Open courses (starting-up business, management)
• Regional development
• Gabrovo training of export-oriented companies
  (preparation for establishing joint-ventures with
  Dutch companies
• Pernik training of women would-be
  entrepreneurs
• Growth management
• Specilised seminars (export, subcontracting,
  negotiation skills, etc.)

7
Training for Banks

• United Bulgarian Bank
• Diagnosis and change of organisational culture
• DSK Bank (branch Haskovo)
• Credit experts (business planning, entrepreneurs
  figures and behaviour)
• Managers (management of change transition from
  savings bank to commercial oriented bank for SMEs)

8
Consulting Services

• For starting-up companies (entrepreneurs)
• For entrepreneurs and managers in existing
  companies
• For dynamic (growing) companies
• Consulting services for Encouragement Bank (the
  state bank for SMEs credits)
• Special subjects subcontracting, entrepreneurial
  networks, joint-ventures

9
Some projects and conferences

• Dynamic Entrepreneurs comparative study for
  Bulgaria and Poland (RSS project)
• Internationalisation, inter-firm linkages and
  SMEs development in Clothing and Food Industries
  (the United Kingdom, Greece, Poland, Estonia and
  Bulgaria)
• The Influence of National Business Culture on the
  Success of Joint-Ventures (the Netherlands,
  France, the Slovak Republic and Bulgaria)
• Internationalising Entrepreneurship Education and
  Training IntEnt99 (annual world conference,
  organised for first time in Central and Eastern
  European country
• International Conference on Entrepreneurship and
  Industrial Organisation in transition, Albena
  1995.

10
Preparing Ph.D. Students

• Themes (completed and under development)
• Management Consulting for SMEs
• Organisational Culture in Growing SMEs
• Subcontracting between SMEs
• Entrepreneurial Networking
• Management of Growth in the Firms from the New
  Economy
• Organisational Restructuring of Holding Companies
• Future
• Design and evaluation of supporting programmes
  for dynamic (growing) SMEs

11
Published books (some of them)

• 101 Business Plans for Starting Up Own
  Businesses, 1996
• 25 Case Studies for Entrepreneurs and Managers
  from the Practice, 1997
• 9 Business Plans for Starting Up Own Businesses
  under Conditions of Currency Board, 1998
• Foundations of Small Business, 2000
• Strategic Management in Small and Medium-sized
  Enterprises - Theory and Practice, 2001
• Handbook for Starting-Up Own Business in the
  Service Sector. 2003 (ordered by the Ministry of
  Defence)

12
Some summarized results

• 2800 trained students in the two entrepreneurial
  subject (since 1991)
• 6 Ph.D. students (2 completed)
• Approximately 120 SMEs started-up since 1991
• Completed 11 research and training projects of
  which
• 4 national
• 7 international
• Trained 18 own experts (most of them occupied
  leading positions in Bulgarian and foreign
  companies)
• Organized 8 conferences and seminars of which
• 4 international
• 3 national
• 1 regional

13
Problems and Barriers

• In fact, EDC pays itself to create entrepreneurs
  (75 of the time is spent to prepare students and
  Ph.D. students who do not pay EDC)
• There is not, up to now, institutional and
  financial support by the interested institutions
• How to disseminate existing results and know-how
  in other universities and training organisations?

14
The Future

• Dissemination and diffusion of the available
  results and know-how in more Bulgarian
  universities, centres, and companies (needs
  institutional and financial help)
• The best way for dissemination Upgrade of the
  existing 4 entrepreneurship centres at different
  universities and establishment of 6 more at
  others technical and classic universities in
  different regions. Utilisation of the existing
  know-how of EDC and the rest centres preparation
  of intellectual entrepreneurs ready to meet the
  new challenges EU membership, globalisation
  processes and the development of the new economy.
  (estimated high by the EU Phare expert)