BFS Holiday camps

The BFS sports training camps bring together children aged between 6 and 14 from across Bulgaria to provide learning entirely in English. 

During the camp as well as having fun and learning new skills, values such as fairness, teambuilding, equality, discipline, inclusion, perseverance and respect will be taught. And players will receive a new football kit to feel like a true professional! 

An example daily program at the British Football School holiday camp includes:

• 09:00                Arrival and discussion
• 09:15-11:30     Training session  
• 11:30-12:00     Review and analysis in English
• 12:00-13:00     Lunch, football quizzes and themed games
• 13:00-14:45     Training session
• 14:45-15:00     Review and analysis in English
• 15:00                Departure

SPRING CAMP

Location: AAS Campus, Sofia

Dates: Monday 10th to Friday 14th April

Ages:  6-12

Time:  09:00-15:00 

Price: €300.00 (includes training, football kit and food), 20% discount if purchased by 31st January)

SUMMER CAMP 1

Location: AAS Campus, Sofia

Dates: Monday 3rd to Friday 7th July

Ages:  6-12

Time:  09:00-15:00

Price: €400.00 (includes training, football kit and food), 20% discount if purchased by 31st January)

SUMMER CAMP 2

Location: Hyatt Regency Pravets Resort

Dates: Monday 10th to Saturday 15th July

Ages:  6-14 

Time:  09:00-16:00

Price: €400.00 (includes training, football kit and food), 20% discount if purchased by 31st January)

SUMMER CAMP 3

Location: Santa Marina Resort, Sozopol

Dates: Monday 17rd to Saturday 22nd July

Ages:  6-14

Time:  09:00-16:00 

Price: €400.00 (includes training, football kit and food), 20% discount if purchased by 31st January)

For more information here.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

The seminar “Tax Update 2023” will be held online on 18th January 2023. It will be delivered by tax specialists from PwC Bulgaria with extensive experience, knowledge expertise in the respective area.  

The main topics which will be discussed during the seminar are: 

• News and expected changes in VAT Act 

• Recent developments in the area of Corporate Income Taxes and International Taxation, including the Multilateral Instrument (MLI), shell-companies, etc. 

• Recent developments in the area Transfer Pricing 

• Current questions and developments in the area of Personal Income Taxation 

You can find additional information about the seminar here.

You can register here.

“Maconis is a boutique firm specializing in corporate finance services, with its core business focused on M&A advisory. And in this activity, the company’s team often works on transactions related to the entry of foreign investors in Bulgaria, as well as the exit of such investors. According to Kanev, in addition to integration and consolidation in certain sectors of the Bulgarian economy, in recent years there have been more and more transactions where a supplier buys a client or a client buys a supplier. And there are cases in which Bulgarian companies are no longer only subject to acquisitions by foreign companies, but they themselves go abroad and expand their market positions.”

You can read the whole interview in Bulgarian here.

Kingly received the Socially Responsible Strategic Management Award 2022 at a ceremony organized by the Ministry of labour and social policy in Bulgaria on December 22, 2022. The company was nominated in the “Ecology” category and won 1st Place in the contest for their continuous work towards implementing sustainable projects within the merchandise manufacturing industry. 

Recently Kingly’s upcycled cotton socks and GOTS organic cotton socks were shortlisted in the “Sustainable Product of the Year” Category for BPMA’s Product Awards 2023. The company has been working on shifting the perspective of textile products for quite some time. At the beginning of 2019, the company introduced their upcycled cotton socks in compostable bags to the promotional merchandise market. The company even received the Promotional Gift Award 2020 as upcycled cotton provides significant savings in resources and compostable bags can break down within 8 weeks once disposed of. With a single order of 1000 upcycled cotton socks you save 2652 kW/h of energy, 1088 kg of C02, 710 530 litres of water, and 120 m2 of landfill. 

Following the success of their upcycled socks, the company launched eco-sustainable knitted sweaters that became an instant hit. The environmental savings when it comes to the creation of upcycled sweaters are even more substantial. Every customer can calculate the amount of preserved resources with our sustainability calculator and get a certificate from Kingly. The product statements have been calculated through LCA work and verified by Universidad de Valencia and UNESCO. 

Kingly’s upcycled socks are supported by BCome’s Cradle to Grave sustainability platform. It empowers textile and apparel businesses to build responsible supply chains, guarantee transparency and bring it to the final customer The company’s upcycled socks have earned “Advanced Score” when it comes to planet care and transparency, and “High Score” when it comes to circularity. 

BCome also embraces Kingly’s GOTS organic cotton socks. This product has achieved “Honours score” – the highest rank given by Cradle to Grave sustainability platform. For a sock to call itself an organic cotton sock, it must not have used any chemical pesticides, genetically modified seeds, or artificial fertilizers. Its production is supposed to promote and enhance biodiversity and biological cycles. Spun with care and comfort, it is softer, kind to your skin, and gentler on the planet. Moreover, if not recycled it’s biodegradable, so it creates less waste going to landfill. The qualities of the GOTS organic cotton socks created by Kingly have already been acknowledged and awarded the Promotional Gift Award 2022.

Recently the company launched The Kingly Upcycled Project which intends to retrieve textile offcuts from sock production for creating new products. In line with their ISO 14001 Environmental Policy, the leftover fibers find a new life as stuffing for printed pillowcases and furniture.

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.

 Job Category:  Department for International Trade roles (DIT)

 Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities): The main purpose of this internship is to support trade advisers in delivering services to UK companies in Bulgaria in accordance with the annual business plan. 

Roles and responsibilities:

• Respond to volume inquiries, managing the relevant mail correspondence and engagement with BG/UK counterparts as necessary
• Gathers information and prepares written reports on key sectors of interest; monitors upcoming tender procedures and report writing
• Supports DIT team members in organising events including preparing invitations, following-up, building lists and other activities
• Work on ad-hoc work requests from across the team and deliver them in a timely manner

You can learn more and apply here.

Last week Bulgarian Fintech Association held its fourth consecutive annual conference “Bulgaria on the European Fintech Map”.

During the event, BFA presented its brand new Fintech Report 2022 and discussed some of the preliminary topics in the fintech sector: the fintech regulations, fintech education, and Innovation, with some of the most renowned experts in the sector.

Thank you all for attending, both personally and virtually, and participating in the conference! You can read the report here.

Earlier this month we were pleased to announce the date for our 2023 Global Annual Conference:

• When:  Wednesday 17 May 2023

• Where:  QEII Centre, London

BCC Global Annual Conference 2023 will bring together business leaders, policy experts, media and government representatives to tackle important business issues and create lasting change. At the BCC, with our network of national and international chambers, we are on a mission to help businesses thrive in Trade, Skills, the Economy and Net Zero.

In 2022, we welcomed speakers and partners including:

The RT Hon Rishi Sunak MP

The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP

Bobby Seagull, Maths Teacher, Broadcaster, Author & Investment Banker

Mary Portas, Founder, Portas and Co-Chair of the Better Business Act

Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; current Chair of The Elders

Rachel Reeves MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Andrew Harrison, Managing Director, Business Banking NatWest Commercial Banking

Baroness Alison Wolf CBE, Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London, and the Prime Minister’s Expert Adviser on Skills and Workforce policy

Dear Chamber colleagues,

As we come to the end of 2022, I’ve put together a short video which looks back over the year, celebrates our achievements and looks ahead to an exciting 2023.

It’s been a hectic 12 months, but I have had the opportunity to meet you and your business members in person a lot more which has been fantastic! These Chamber visits remind me how privileged I am to represent and to work with you, your teams and your business members.

This year, you and your teams have been a vital lifeline for the businesses and communities you represent. While it’s been another tough one, there’s much to celebrate at the BCC and across the Chamber Network.

Wishing you all the best for the upcoming Holiday Season, a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Best wishes,

Shevaun

Shevaun Haviland

Director General, British Chambers of Commerce

You can watch the video here.

• More than three quarters (77%) of firms for whom the Brexit deal is applicable say it is not helping them increase sales or grow their business  
• More than half (56%) of firms face difficulties adapting to the new rules for trading goods    
  
•  Almost half (45%) face difficulties adapting to the new rules for trading services, and a similar number (44%) report difficulties obtaining visas for staff  
  

The BCC has sent the Government a report setting out solutions to many of the issues . New data released today from a survey of more than 1,168 businesses (92% SMEs) shows significant challenges for UK firms trying to use the Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA).  The TCA was agreed on Christmas Eve in 2020 to allow tariff-free trade with the EU once Brexit took effect. But a high proportion of businesses say they are still having major problems trying to use the deal to trade with Europe.

The survey also found that alongside problems with the TCA, four in five (80%) firms had seen the cost of importing increase since January, more than half (53%) had seen their sales margins decrease and almost three quarters (70%) of manufacturers had experienced shortages of goods and services.  

What Businesses Say: 

“Customs on both sides of the EU border seem to have a separate set of rules to be able to charge different amounts for the same thing. We don’t know until it’s too late what these costs are.” 

Retailer in Dundee  

“Leaving the EU made us uncompetitive with our EU customers. We would have lost all of our EU trade without a base in the EU. This has cost our business a huge amount of money which could have been invested in the UK had it not been for Brexit.” 

Retailer in Ayrshire 

“Exporting goods into the EU since Brexit, continues to prove difficult. We have experienced a lot of our goods going missing when they reach customs control. Due to additional import costs, we have found that quite a few of our EU customers that we have dealt with for a long time, in regard to providing a qualifying service, now stay within the EU instead of the UK.” 

Manufacturer in the East Midlands  

“Brexit has been the biggest ever imposition of bureaucracy on business. Simple importing of parts to fix broken machines or raw materials from the EU have become a major time-consuming nightmare for small businesses, and Brexit related logistics delays are a massive cost when machines are stood waiting for parts. We used to export lesser amounts to the EU, but the bureaucracy makes it no longer worthwhile.” 

Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:  

“Businesses want political leaders on both sides to move on from the debates of the past and find ways to trade more freely. This means an honest dialogue about how we can improve our trading relationship with the EU. With a recession looming we must remove the shackles holding back our exporters so they can play their part in the UK’s economic recovery. If we don’t do this now then the long-term competitiveness of the UK could be seriously damaged. It is no coincidence that during the first 15 months of the TCA we stopped selling 42% of all the different products that we used to. Businesses feel they are banging their heads against a brick wall as nothing has been done to help them, almost two years after the TCA was first agreed. The longer the current problems go unchecked, the more EU traders go elsewhere, and the more damage is done. There are clearly some structural problems built into the TCA which cannot be addressed until it is reviewed in 2026. But as we set out in our report to Government there are some issues that do not need to wait on months of negotiations or major reviews to be fixed.” 

The BCC’s TCA Two Years On report sets out 24 recommendations to increase UK-EU trade. 

Its top five proposals for quick action are:  

1. Create a supplementary deal with the EU which either eliminates or reduces the complexity of exporting food for SMEs.  
2. Establish a supplementary deal, like Norway’s, that exempts smaller firms from the requirement to have a fiscal representative for VAT in the EU
3. Allow CE marked goods and components to continue to be used in Great Britain after 2024.
4. Make side deals with the EU and member states to allow UK firms to travel for longer and work in Europe.
5. Reach an agreement on the future of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland with the European Commission in the early months of 2023, to stabilise our trading relationship. 

You can read the whole report here.

Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena Bansko’s fine-dining restaurant, Come Prima, has been recognised as “Bulgaria’s Best Hotel Restaurant 2022” by the World Culinary Awards.

Votes were cast online by hotel guests as well as culinary-industry professionals and on the organisation’s official website from 7 June to 31 August 2022, for a range of categories, including best restaurants, best hotel restaurants, culinary festivals and culinary destinations. The winners were announced during the official gala ceremony, which took place on Tuesday, 13 December at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Culinary experts, professionals, and influencers from all over the world gathered to celebrate the most anticipated evening in the international culinary industry. Executive Chef Nikola Todorov and Ivo Ichev, Food and Beverage Manager, were also present at the event and had the pleasure of accepting the trophy on behalf of the hotel.

This year was very successful for Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena Bansko. The hotel has already been awarded three other international awards – “Bulgaria’s Leading Lifestyle Hotel 2022”, “Bulgaria’s Best Hotel Spa 2022” and “Bulgaria’s Best Ski Hotel 2022”, by the World Travel Awards, World Spa Awards and World Ski Awards, respectively.