• • General Assembly of the Council approved the 2015 activities report and adopted plans to expand operations

• • Members of the Board manage companies with an annual turnover of 7.1 billion Levs, which is nearly 9% of last year’s GDP

Tsvetanka Mintcheva and Darina Stoyanova joined the Board of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria. The decision was taken by the General Assembly of the organization.

The assembly re-elected for another three-year term the current board representatives – the President Boryana Manolova, as well as the members Diana Maneva, Maxim Meyer, Julieta Serafimova, Vanya Kaneva-Minkova, Valentina Dikanska and Zoya Paunova.

The General Assembly adopted the annual report of the organization and took decisions regarding the expansion of the activities of the Council.

For a year and a half since it started an active work, the Council has become the largest women’s business organization in the country. Starting with 13 founders at the end of 2013, currently 50 individuals and companies are members of the Council that make an annual turnover of 7.1 billion. Levs, which represents almost 9% of last year’s GDP of Bulgaria. The member companies and organizations of the Council employ around 23,000 people, with an average of 1030 young people having the opportunity to gain professional experience in them as well.

In 2016 the Council will host an International Conference – Global Women Leaders’ Forum. The event is under the patronage of the UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova. The forum will be attended by similar organizations around the world, business leaders, government representatives, diplomats and others. Among the planned topics of the conference are key issues related to the good practices of encouraging women leaders in various spheres of society – political, social, civil, business, economics, etc. and inspiring the next generation of leaders.

Main activities and new projects in 2016

For 2016 the General Assembly decided the Council to develop further its core activities and projects. These include meetings with prominent guests from various fields of business, science, politics, diplomacy; the Leadership Academy; the National traineeship initiative; organizing the Global Women Leaders Forum; participation in conferences and public appearances, etc. Council insists its activities to be transparent and open to the public and will continue its active communication with stakeholders and through the media, web site of the Council, facebook, twitter, instagram, etc.

Next year, the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria plans to start two new projects: monthly trainings on topics suggested by participants in the Leadership Academy, as well as an initiative aimed at support, retention and return of young professionals in Bulgaria.

Members and representatives of companies in Council work on a voluntary basis and invest their time, effort and money in achieving the goals of the organization.