• The first three ranked interns will visit the European Parliament in Brussels
• “Our aim was to show you that whatever you want to achieve, it is possible here, today, in Bulgaria, as long as you have confidence, ambition and a desire for development”, stated Doctor Engineer Manolova

“Today we have gathered to encourage success, to honor inspiration and reward talent”. These were the words of the chairwoman of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria and CEO of Siemens Bulgaria – doctor engineer Boryana Manolova at the opening of the awards ceremony for the winners of the National Internship Initiative “We are staying in Bulgaria”.

Official guests of the event were the MEP Mrs. Eva Maydell, who is also a patron of the initiative; the Ambassador of Israel in Bulgaria – Mrs. Irit Lilian, members and friends of the Council, members of the competition and journalists from different media.

“Dear ladies and participants of the biggest and maybe one of the most meaningful initiatives of this kind, for me it is a great pleasure that every year, so many young people who want to succeed in Bulgaria participate”, stated in her greeting Eva Maydell.

Several dozens of applications were submitted for the third edition of We are staying in Bulgaria. The participants had to prepare a material on the topic: A portrait of the successful person who I know.      The applications were assessed by criteria such as a clear personal stance, clarity of content, choice of appropriate language tools and correct usage of Bulgarian language.

First place was for the essay of Ana Petrova. On second and third place were ranked Martina Teneva and Eliana Alexandrova.

“Our aim with the National Internship Initiative was to show that whatever you want to achieve, it is possible here, today, in Bulgaria, as long as you have confidence, ambition and a desire for development. We saw those qualities in all works that participated in the competition and this is really great. This is the reason why it was really hard for us to choose the finalists”, said to the participants, Mrs. Doctor Engineer Manolova.

Among the awards which the authors of the most influential essays received was a day trip to the European Parliament, organized by MEP Eva Maydell, as well as a visit in the representative office of Bulgaria in the European bank for recovery and development, provided by its director Mrs. Larisa Manastirli.

Among the other prizes are internships, visits to member companies of the Council, trainings, vouchers, etc.

Israeli Ambassador Mrs. Lilian handed in a special prize for a 6 month internship in Public Diplomacy department in the embassy. “Success is a balance.

This is the true mastery of the successful person – to achieve the balance between all spheres of his life, without pity for energy, to give himself to the maximum and to find harmony between his priorities. For me, an example of a successful person is my mother for her energy to develop and surpass herself”, shared the winner of the competition Ana Petrova.

The Internship Initiative “We are staying in Bulgaria” of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria is the biggest national campaign which offers an exceptionally wide profile of opportunities for internships in economic sectors such as finance, energetic, public administration, healthcare, manufacturing, high technology and services. The main objective of the program is to create conditions for the realization of young people in Bulgaria and encourage them to stay in the country.
To achieve this goal, the companies, members of the Council provide opportunities for hundreds of young people. By October 2017, the number of trainees in them was nearly 2000.