Omaya Yachts CEO and co-founder Kaloyan Radulov has announced his participation in the high school entrepreneurship mentoring programme, Teenovator, for a third year.
Originally started in 2018 as a pilot initiative in four Sofia schools, Teenovator now includes participants from 30 different Bulgarian cities, with 2023’s programme seeing 60 mentors working with 420 students over an eight-month period to develop a business idea and includes two events. The first event sees the Teenovators have their ideas validated by meeting mentors from across the country and receive feedback to develop, refine or change their ideas. The second event is where all the startup ideas are presented in a sales pitch to real venture capital investors, and the top three ideas win financial prizes.
Kaloyan Radulov explained:
“I am allocated 10-15 teenagers to work with, and we meet every week for 90 minutes and stay connected via a group chat, enabling me to share interesting resources from my daily work and life. While the programme provides theoretical learning materials and suggestions for practical exercises, the real value comes from being mentored by actual entrepreneurs and professionals rather than traditional teachers. We bring real-life experience to the table and critically examine their ideas and plans for product development, sales, distribution, supply chain, and more, offering feedback based on practical insights.”
Although last year Radulov was the sole mentor for the group, this year, he is introducing two additional mentors for different perspectives, which include his sister, who runs a cosmetics business, and a school friend who graduated in European Law from Wales and specialised in trademarks and intellectual property.
“Remarkably, 60-70 per cent of this year's class are returning students from last year's intake, which I find incredibly rewarding. It shows that they value the time we've spent together and want to build upon the knowledge they've gained. All the participants are highly engaged students with numerous extracurricular activities, including languages, science, arts, and sports. Most of them attend local high schools such as the Foreign Languages School and the Natural Science and Mathematics School.”
Radulov believes that we need to work for our future today, and our future is the generations after us.
“I believe that investing in the next generation is crucial for our collective future and if we don't build sustainable bridges between ourselves and them, we risk losing valuable knowledge and progress. By engaging with young people and transferring our experience and wisdom, we help ensure a better future for everyone, including ourselves.
“It's not just about giving back, it's about building sustainable communities. A healthy community supports local businesses and cultivates rational, intelligent new generations. We all live and function within various societies - our families, towns, countries, industries, and even groups like book clubs. To thrive, we need to take care of our communities and we need to nurture the environment around us for us to continuously grow.
Bulgarian family-owned business Elica Group announced the launch of its luxury power catamaran brand Omaya Yachts earlier this year, with its first model, the OMAYA 50, due for completion by the end of the year.
