The Council of Women in Business’ latest initiative is establishing Bulgaria’s biggest National Internship Program. The idea was announced by the President of the Council Boryana Manolova at a meeting with MEP Eva Paunova, who recently won the prestigious title in the category of “Best Newcomer MEP” of the Parliament Magazine. Eva Paunova became an honorary member of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria.

“The National Internship Program is a large-scale professional project that we are undertaking with Council members. Our goal is to show young and educated people from universities in the country and abroad that Bulgaria can be an excellent place for professional and personal development,” said Boryana Manolova.

“It is nice to see that we are like-minded in our ideas and initiatives. For this reason, I would be pleased to support the National Internship Program. I am extremely happy and that the Council of Women in Business will join the initiative Education Bulgaria 2030,” Eva Paunova said during the meeting. The young MEP explained that together they will seek the answers to the questions of what should be changed in education in the next 15 years, what percentage of GDP should be spent on education, and what changes in the education act needs to be made.

Council members agreed on the idea that the government should give priority to the investments in education. The Council of Women in Business is convinced of the need for reform in education, and that businesses should support this process through ideas and proposals for new ways of teaching and learning.

“Everyone’s efforts should be directed towards partnership. Business representatives should be involved in education,” said Milena Stoycheva, CEO of Junior Achievement Bulgaria. According to her, internship programs and career guidance should start in secondary education, but this requires efforts to change the culture of both people and companies, so that they are open to bringing more young people to a real business environment.

At the end of the meeting of the Council of Women in Business, Milena Dragiyska-Dencheva, General Manager of Lidl Bulgaria, concluded that we need to change the business environment and the country’s reputation, because only then young Bulgarians studying abroad would like to come back and contribute to the country’s development.