Three young, ambitious and inspired friends fulfilled their dream to be able to open new horizons for those who seek new opportunities. In the beginning of March these guys established an International Education Business Center in their native town of Gotse Delchev and started to pursue their biggest dream to train the country's future leaders.

Andrey Iliev and Brothers Georgi and Marian Temelkov graduated from Bulgarian universities. Meanwhile, they were dreaming of establishing their own school and employ teachers who would help young people find their vocation. Ten years later the public mineral bath in Gotse Delchev turned into a Leaders Academy and its first alumni already study subjects such as How to Start a Business, Managing Time and Stress, How to Do Business at Home, etc. Georgi Temelkov told Radio Bulgaria that people acquire unique knowledge at the International Education Business Center and that such knowledge can't be acquired at the regular universities:

“When people study at the university, they have no practical experience, whereas at the Leaders Academy our lectures are based on personal experience. Thus, people are convinced that they can be successful in their careers, provided they have a very strong will and ambition. We are to pursue our goals through the experience of our successful guest lecturers.”

One of the lecturers at the academy is the General Manager of Viber for Central and Eastern Europe Atanas Raykov. He attended the official opening of the educational center and held a lecture about competition in times of global economy of knowledge. In other words, the Leaders Academy will follow the idea that mentorship is an important prerequisite for one's future success.

“There is a mentor behind every successful person”, Georgi Temelkov went on to say. “Unfortunately, in Bulgaria that idea is still perceived as an abstraction. If we start helping young people through our personal example, they will be able to apprehend the ideas easier and meet their targets. That is the main task of the mentorship -to guide people, instead of give orders only.”

The programmes at the educational center address two main groups - young people who are trying to join a university and business-oriented people.

“The programmes are directed towards peoples' personal development. Most of all we would like to help young people learn what they want to achieve in life after they graduate from school. Business development is the other goal of the educational center - it aims at helping those who already graduated from university and started work, but want to achieve more in their career. In that case, our task is to guide people and help them find their way easier. We do not rely on specific programs used at the universities. We rather use more flexible programmes. Our idea is to split people from their environment and their zone of comfort and train them to find new horizons and achieve new and better results.”

Georgi Temelkov adds that the young and successful people must know what they want from live and they should sacrifice part of their spare time and take responsibility for their actions. He also contends that education needs to change.

“Our purpose is to bring education, society and business closer, because currently they are far from each other and lack efficient communication. Nowadays, the universities offer a series of majors to students, but most graduates are struggling to find a job in their field and this is one of the main problems in our educational system. That is why our purpose is to shorten the distance between the universities and the business. Students should not waste time and money. Our task is to help them find a major which would guarantee them a successful career. We want to popularize personal guidance among young people, in order to learn what they really want to study.”

Initially the education at the new center will be held on weekends only. Gradually, the educational center will broaden its activity. The long-term goal of the organizers is to help young people start a job immediately after their graduation from the center.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov