A few years ago Stanislav Vangelov and Poli Stoyanova decided to leave Bulgaria's capital Sofia and settle in the Rhodope town of Chepelare. Tsvetelin Andreev is a founder of a software company in Sofia. Two years ago Tsvetelin met Stanislav and Poli by accident when he was looking for an office in Chepelare. At that time Poli and Stanislav were already welcoming freelancers and digital nomads. These are people who travel across the globe while working.

They made their first large-scale joint initiative with an international company for mobile payments, which opened an office in Bulgaria. The company gathered 40 people from Bulgaria, Germany, Brazil and Ireland. Several days ago they completed another large project - the CoWorkationCamp. The name combines the idea of merging their vacation with a new inspiration, while participants work under a given project.

“The CoWorkationCamp is an initiative which was held in the town of Chepelare within three weeks this summer. It provides shared work space to people who can work from a distance”, Tsvetelin Andreev told Radio Bulgaria. “Over 100 people joined us. A number of things motivate people to come here. Firstly, they manage to escape the heat in the big cities. Besides, they do not want to stop the working process and meanwhile they need to make their everyday life more interesting. The camp participants know that they come here for both work and entertainment. Their time for entertainment is strictly fixed and they work hard in the rest of the hours. ”

The CoWorkationCamp coincided with several interesting events held in this region - the big folklore festival at Rhozen, the running and cycling competition named Chepelarski Tarkala and the big bagpipe contest in the village of Gela.

“Our team has developed over 100 fun applications-workshops for local crafts, cooking, knitting, playing the bagpipe, clay molding, rope climbing, etc.”

According to the organizers, Chepelare is the perfect place, where people can combine their business activities with their holiday, because the Rhodope town offers them fresh and clean air and unique nature. Moreover, Chepelare is the place where people can escape from the summer heat. In winter time this resort is perfect for ski tourism, which is one of the best incentives for a prompt and high-quality job.

“It was a very nice experience. We had a lot of fun and the conditions were perfect”, German Marc-Alexander Krist said.

Here is what Todor Popov who works at one of the companies participating at the COWorkationCamp said: “This is the place where each one of us can work without having the prejudices of the conditions and the communication in the city office. That is why we focused more on our problems and I believe that we achieved positive results.”

After the successful end of the CoWorkationCamp the three organizers are looking towards new projects and ideas in the coming autumn and winter season, because the town of Chepelare is suitable for team buildings and recreation any time of the year.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov