On 11 December, the National Polytechnic Museum hosted the traditional Christmas Cocktail Party of Women in Business in Bulgaria. More than 160 members of the Leadership Academy, members of the organization, friends and supporters of the organization gathered to celebrate a successful 2019.

In the beginning, the chair of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria and the CEO of Siemens Bulgaria Boryana Manolova congratulated the attendees and thanked all the volunteers who help to develop the Council with its daily efforts. She called to the stage the ladies of Management board of the council, who attended the cocktail and wished each other even more success during the new year.

The moderator of the event Daniel Kiryakov, cope well with his tasks. He gave the floor to Maxim Meyer, one of the founding members of the organization, and to Katya Dimitrova, the last new member of the council. They told about the Council how it has changed so far 5 years later. At the end of the formal part, a group of nice five-year-old’s in a video message answered the question „Much or little is five years? “.

After a musical break, the raffle came. All over 80 gifts were provided by member companies of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria.By the end of the evening, guests had the opportunity to exchange experiences and celebrate their success with a glass of wine.

In summary we present some of the highlights of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria for the past 2019:

41 ladies have successfully completed the fifth anniversary edition of Leadership Academy, organized in partnership with UniCredit Bulbank, and a record 45 participants have joined the new 2019/2020 edition. In 2020 more modules of the Academy are forthcoming.

This year took place the fifth edition of young.LEADERS.talk – part of the National Internship Initiative “Staying in Bulgaria” of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria. 29 trainees passed through the training program, organized in partnership with A1 Bulgaria.

The forum “Women talents in business – incredible you” , organized in partnership with the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, won first place in category “ Investor in human capital and working conditions” of annual awards of Bulgarian Business Leaders forum in February 2019. The second edition of the initiative took place in June.

In March this year, the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria and the World Bank outlined the legal career and business opportunities for women. At the event, at that time acting World Bank President Kristalina Georgieva presented the report Women, Business and Legislation 2019: A decade of reforms. The honorary member of the CWBB, Mrs. Georgieva, is already chairman of the International Monetary Fund.

In 2019, the General Assembly re-elected Dr. Eng. Boryana Manolova for a new 3-year term as Chairman of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria, and three new ladies joined the management board of the organization. These are Gergana Ivanova, Irena Tsakova and Miglena Uzunova-Tsekova.

In the first half of the year we continued with After work meetings with interesting guest speakers. Among them were Karina Karagaeva and Nina Vladimirova from Human Business Studio, Ani Hira, who after years of extensive experience in the corporate world, today develops a consulting activity focusing on “Hygge” and Anna Tsolova, who introduced her new project “Talk to see you!”.

In the second half of the year, we launched a new initiative in which we are upgrading the form of Leadership Academy. The trainings are conducted by members of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria, who are renowned specialists in their field. We have successfully conducted three trainings so far, and many more and interesting topics are forthcoming in 2020.

We wish you a happy holiday and a successful new 2020!