34-year-old Elena Marinova has made every woman’s dream come true – she has a successful career, a wonderful family and a terrific five-year-old son. She is manager and co-owner of a leading Bulgarian software company, Musala Soft. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Strategic Management from Sofia University. She has been on the Board of Managers of two of Bulgaria’s biggest IT associations – BAIT and BASCOM. She is winner of the Young Manager of the Year Award of the Eureka Foundation for 2010 and the Next Generation distinction of the financial Pari Daily for young entrepreneurs.
“It all began as a joke. A few of us started a small software company with the help of some friends from the United States, who provided us with our first customers. Those were small start-ups from California. I was still studying for my Bachelor’s degree and taught English at a private school. We took off in 2000 and only a few months later the greatest crisis ever hit the IT world, the so-called ‘dot-com bubble burst’ when hundreds of IT companies in the States went bankrupt. We lost many of our US partners, and things became serious. But over the next ten years a lot of things happened, and we began operating with big customers. IBM acquired a small Norwegian company with which we had been partners and after a series of audits they took us on board.”
Contrary to business logic the company first established itself on the international markets and began work with world giants such as DHL, IBM, SAP, Siemens, etc. In the past 5 or 6 years they have attracted Bulgarian customers working under various European projects with ministries and NGOs. They have large Bulgarian companies and small, innovative ventures on their customer list. A few years ago Elena Marinova and Deyan Lilov set up a special R&D centre dealing with applied research carried out by university scientists. The centre has devised the first media platform for tablets and smart phones. Owing to their efforts the Bulgarian iPad customers have access to the first Bulgarian e-tabloid, iVestnik, and the iPad version of the Manager business magazine. The company has also programmes for young talents in the IT sphere, such as the IT Leaders Academy established jointly with the Department of Mathematics and Informatics of Sofia University, an annual programming competition, the InfoMan specialized portal, etc.
“What I missed the most when I was a student was the connection between academic studies and the business. I believe it is very important, because it can help a young person find out what they are interested in, and what opportunities are there in the world, as well as learn more about the qualities necessary for their development. We believe the young people are our future employees and customers, and they are the future of this country. As far as research and development is concerned, I believe Bulgaria ought to develop as a destination that offers products and services with high added value not only in the IT sector, but also in priority spheres, such as agriculture and tourism: for example, organic farming, and cultural, spa and rural tourism. The services in the IT sector have to be greatly innovative. That is why the link between universities and the business is crucial.
The company has an international traineeship programme as part of a larger scheme to encourage the development of young people. It has already more than 100 trainees from Bulgaria, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. “The fact that at any given moment we have a foreigner working with us at the office makes us feel citizens of the world. It enriches our culture, too. All our trainees are highly motivated and not only learn things but do actual work which is useful to them and us.”
“Generally, I don’t see much difference. But I do feel that my intuition helps me a lot. Worldwide the IT sector is dominated by men, which helps me stand out of the crowd at large international gatherings and conferences. It makes first contacts a lot easier, and people remember your face more readily. But the most important thing is how you will develop those opportunities. And last but not least, the line in front of the ladies’ room at such major events is not as infinite as on other occasions,” Elena adds with a tongue-in-cheek gleam in her eye.
The young business lady has reached a very good balance between her career and family life. She likes spending a great deal of time with her 5-year-old son and her family, and meeting new people or travelling around the country and abroad. Rio de Janeiro is her favourite destination, and perhaps the only place outside Bulgaria where she could possibly live, she admits. I love travelling, but I prefer to live in Bulgaria, she says.
“Bulgaria is located at Europe’s edge – not too far from the northern countries to do serious and responsible business, and not too far from the South, to make a rich social life. In my leisure time I love going to the mountains. We managed to climb Musala peak, the highest in the Balkan Peninsula, when my boy was only 4 years old. And I am very proud of him for doing that. I have childhood friends with whom we keep in touch. I love spending time with children. They are very wise and they give a lot of ideas, including business ones. For example, we devised children’s games for iPhone in Bulgarian as one of our recent products. We decided to come up with games that not only develop logical reasoning and the motor skills, but also the learning of the Cyrillic alphabet. And they became very popular and in particular Bulgarians who live abroad download them because there they do not have access to teaching materials in Bulgarian,” Elena Marinova says in conclusion.
English version by Radostin Zhelev
