Is there one thing university students find most trying? The answer would probably be – learning and being able to present large amounts of information, some of which they are unable to grasp completely. Having to memorize this information actually affects their ability to concentrate and their motivation.

Alexander Naydenov is the man who set his mind on tackling the problem. Together with a friend from Germany, he created a platform called Paper Hive to assist students and researchers 
 
“Together with a friend who has a PhD in mathematics we decided to wrestle what is a big problem for school and university students – comprehending complex texts. Scientific literature – millions of articles and books - is the most difficult kind of text in the world. For example, students read and get to a formula they do not understand. So, they start googling it and waste a lot of time. That is what we want to change. Our platform enables them to ask any question, connected with the given article online and receive an answer online from a fellow student or someone from the scientific community.”

Scientists spend a lot of their time reading and brushing up on their knowledge. The Paper Hive platform helps them find the answer to the thousands of questions they have much more quickly. It makes available 1.5 million articles and whole books free of charge. Alexander is hoping that the website will reach more people, including students and lecturers inside Bulgaria. Negotiations are underway with Bulgarian scientists and researchers in all spheres to help supplement the information the website offers. Alexander calls himself a “temigrant”. What does he mean by that coinage?

“It came to me while I was watching environmental protests in Berlin. For some reason two words merged in my mind – time and emigrant. I myself was an emigrant back then and I started regarding myself as an emigrant in time, a person who does not belong in any one place, but in a mesh of friends, causes and work. Every day, whether I am in Berlin, Sofia or London, I spend a good deal of my time talking to my Bulgarian friends.”

He says he is a “temigrant” because when he is travelling around Europe, being able to clear passport control by just showing his ID card is something that fills him with pride and he is able to shuttle between Berlin and Sofia because there are cheap airline tickets. There is no problem working with Bulgaria from abroad and he says he has a circle of friends there that make him feel at home, though he may be thousands of kilometers from Bulgaria. He has a degree in business and IT but even when he was still at university he was not indifferent to events inside the country but also to Bulgarians living abroad. That is why he decided to create a network of Bulgarians to promote initiatives of social significance. He calls it United Ideas for Bulgaria. What are its aims and principal projects?

“United Ideas for Bulgaria has two objectives. One is to help bring Bulgarians inside the country and abroad in contact. The second aim which is currently in the focus of attention is social entrepreneurship – long-term sustainable projects benefiting society. We started out almost five years ago with a group of friends studying in Bulgaria, Germany, Great Britain and USA. And we said to ourselves – if we don’t start doing something for our country while we are still at university we shall be torn away from Bulgaria and never return. Our biggest project is a social entrepreneurship project – Ideas – that’s us - bringing together 100-150 Bulgarians every year, wherever they may be studying or working. Divided up into groups, they come up with brand new initiatives from scratch with the aim of improving things in their country.”

An example of one such successful project is Medical Treatment without Borders for helping Bulgarians going for medical treatment abroad. If they don’t speak the language, if they need somewhere to stay or seek help from the institutions, they can contact one of more 130 volunteers in 13 countries.

Causes such as this is what we call social entrepreneurship – helping many people solve their problems. If we want to make a difference, any one of us can be a social entrepreneur. The first step towards our better future is to believe that it is in our hands.

English version: Milena Daynova