22.11.2021

THE SUSTAINABLE LADY FUND DISTRIBUTED BGN 10,000 IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

The fund in support of innovative green projects of Bulgarian women entrepreneurs Sustainable Lady handed out its first prizes. It was established by First Investment Bank, together with Mastercard at the beginning of the year and has since welcomed its most courageous candidates through a competition with a prize fund of a total of BGN 10,000.

At a special ceremony in Sofia, the winners were announced in two categories: Start-up Business and Working Business. The special jury was composed of: Vanya Manova - MasterCard Manager for Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo; Nadia Koshinska - SME Banking Director and Member of the Management Board of Fibank and Mira Badzheva - journalist and publisher. It had to choose only the first two places, among the many applications received, each with a useful and valuable focus for society.

Svetoslava Simeonova from the Sofia2Go platform grabbed BGN 5,000 funding and first place in the Start-up Business category. She is the owner of a project aimed at solving the problem of food waste. First place in the other category - that for an already operating business, took Elitsa Ilieva, owner of "Elian Generation Varna" Ltd. - the first eco-friendly bar in Varna, established in 2015.

In the Starting Business category, two second places received the same number of votes. These include Ivelina Atanasova - Genchev from "SCOOP": analysis system and program for development of sustainable business policies - a unified certification system for measuring and analyzing the social, economic and environmental sustainability of business. The other award-winning project is by Nusha Spirova-Ognyanova from Cactus lab - The First Plant Maker Space, where adults and children can experiment, learn and create with plants.

Diana Boneva, creator of "Bikee.Fun" - a platform for renting electric bicycles, was ranked third in the category.

In the Working Business category, the jury determined second place for Reneta Borisova from Energomonitor Bulgaria EOOD, who trades in intelligent products for remote energy monitoring and real-time management. The same number of points was awarded to Gergana Noveva from Gipities EOOD - eco-oriented production with recycled and biodegradable materials. Third in the competition is Victoria Tsacheva from the Association for Social Responsibility and Development through Innovation (ASORI), which holds an annual interdisciplinary cultural festival. The ladies in second place in both categories received a diploma and a Silver Coin "Bulgarian Rose", and those in third place - a diploma and a Silver Bar Medallion "Glagolitic".

"We are pleased that the Sustainable Lady Fund has attracted courageous women entrepreneurs who want to work for a cleaner planet and given new meaning to the Mastercard Smart Lady program. We aim for the fund to grow every year and to honor and support green ideas on a regular basis. We recently announced that Mastercard is setting up a global laboratory in Stockholm - a center for research and development of digital products and environmental solutions to transform businesses in the financial sector - we believe that Sustainable Lady projects have a chance to be part of this laboratory“, shared Vanya Manova, Mastercard Manager for Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo.

"The Sustainable Lady Fund, part of Fibank's Smart Lady program, has the main goal - to help women who want to develop or develop sustainable business. Sustainable business is based on several main pillars - education, equal start, innovation, circular economy, but the most important thing is the desire to work in the name of the global idea - to leave future generations a cleaner planet. We saw this in each of the projects of the ladies who applied with their ideas. Which once again proved the thesis that the consistent, small steps that each of us takes every day in the direction of sustainability, will necessarily lead to the desired success at the global level," said Ilona Staneva, Marketing and Advertising Director at the bank.

The organizers have set a goal to launch a socially responsible initiative to further support the activities of the Fund for 2022, so that it can lend a hand to more and more innovative ideas aimed at protecting the environment.

Mastercard believes that innovation only adds value when it radically improves people's lives and the planet as a whole. That is why in 2020 Mastercard made a global commitment to support 25 million women entrepreneurs in the world to be included in the digital economy by 2025 and the project with First Investment Bank is part of this long-term global commitment. Sustainable Lady is also among the first projects of the green network of global and local Mastercard projects to support the environment.