JEREMIE Bulgaria Update

Further to the signature of five guarantee agreements with Bulgarian banks in July 2011 under the Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) initiative, EIF progressed with the selection of financial intermediaries under the calls for expressions of interest for the equity products and is currently negotiating a potential commitment with the following private equity fund managers.

Neveq Capital Partners – an established team in the Bulgarian market, with an investment experience through NEVEQ LP, a previous fund of similar size and strategy, raised in 2007.

The new fund has a target size of at least EUR 30m and will focus on seed, start-ups and late stage transactions in Bulgarian technology companies. Investments into individual portfolio companies will typically be in the range of EUR 0.5m – EUR 1.5m per annum.

NEVEQ Capital Partners became a part of the EMPOWER 2011 Internship Program

As an organization that aims to assist young people in their career progression NEVEQ decided to become a partner in the National Internship Program – EMPOWER, conducted for a second year. By giving Bulgarian students a chance to use their acquired knowledge in practice under the guidance of a professional mentor, the company is hoping to encourage their development. After a careful recruitment process NEVEQ selected Tanya Bencheva, who, after accomplishing a 12-day training supported by the American University in Bulgaria, on July 18th started her 6-week-long work placement.

The National Young Leadership Development Program – EMPOWER started its recruitment process, comprised of three selection stages, on March 16th. Three months later out of a pool of 341 the 40 finalists to do an internship in one of the 30 partner companies, were announced. This way, after the 2-week educational training, incorporating lectures by established in their areas of work professionals, the young leaders started their placement. NEVEQ believes that this is a significant step in their professional realization.

About the Program

Empower United is a not-for-profit organization with the mission to help empower Bulgarian citizens and Bulgarian companies to realize their full potential. The National Young Leadership Development Program – EMPOWER is being conducted for the second consecutive year with the financial support of the America for Bulgaria Foundation and the partnership of JobTiger and the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG).

The program is an eight week internship program which starts with a two-week intensive orientation course hosted and lead by AUBG in conjunction with training professionals and consultants. A main part of the 2-week orientation is guest lectures and discussions presented by top managers of leading Bulgarian and international companies. During the 6-week paid internship in the hosting companies the interns are expected to take active part in the day-to-day business of the company, while in addition working on their own focused project. During the whole period of the placement the interns are supervised by a mentor, which guarantees maximum benefit of the internship for both the students and the hosting companies.

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