Galery

1

Victoria Mindova

The main character in this story is Anastasios Brakatsoulas. He is a young lawyer graduated in London. He believes in the opportunities to develop successful business in Bulgaria and intends to act exactly in this direction. A bottle of Shumensko beer amidst a modern night bar in downtown Athens puzzled me so much one night that I had to find out how it got there. I asked whether the owner sold this beer in the bar and he said "No!". Then he showed me a smiling young man who was carelessly speaking with his friends while sipping from the bottle with the label familiar to me. "Hello, how did you find this beer?" I asked him without too much embarrassment and he replied: "I brought it myself!"

So, I met Thanasis (shorter of Anastasios) who agreed to tell me about his experiences to develop business in Bulgaria as well as about the similarities and differences between the two countries.

How did you decide to start business in Bulgaria?

All the people ask me especially when they realize that I turned to farming or in short with sheep-breeding. This wasn’t my decision. My father and his two friends initiated this at first. We decided to do it because we really appreciated that Bulgaria is a country that provides great opportunities for business development and has serious economic growth. Agriculture is especially attractive because there are all the necessary preconditions and the area around the town of Kotel offers many advantages in this field.

How was the first contact established?

One of the company’s associates acquainted with our Bulgarian connection – a Bulgarian of Karakachan origin. He speaks Greek and was the first to present the advantages of the region. From the Greek side, my father with his two partners went to see the land. He liked it and this was how it all began in 2003. The aim was to develop a vertical production unit which connects the production from the input to the output - land, animals, meat exports and dairy for organic cheese at a later stage. Important role in the investment decision played the price too - the land in Bulgaria especially in the area around Kotel is really cheap.

When did you get involved in the project?

I was still in England and studied when it all started. I accompanied my father twice in the period 2003-2005 but I became part of the business in 2006 actually. I began to learn things for Bulgaria, farming and for the particular business to be able to help. Unfortunately, our original undertaking did not go well but I found new opportunities through it. I want to emphasize that Bulgaria and agriculture in the country have huge potential for development in spite of all.

You said the undertaking did not go well. Why?

This is the most frequently asked question I hear when I talk with other Greeks about our business in Bulgaria. The failure was the result of a mistake we made not because some external reason. And that's the big difference between the two countries - the problems here come mostly from the surrounding factors which stumble you when you're determined to achieve something rather than help you.

Do you mean the state?

I mean the state, but not only. There is always the possibility of a neighbour to complain or not to get permission if you do not give a bribe to a public servant besides the endless paperwork. To open a bar in downtown Athens, for example, you must get permission from the Archeological Department. In fact, it has nothing to check because the premise is located in a building built during 1950s. You will have hard times if you have to go to institutions such as the municipal urban planning, tax offices, fire safety, etc.

We haven’t got problems on institutional levels in Bulgaria. On the contrary, everything was according to the rules. Even a little more straightforward than necessary but with no departure.

What do you mean?

We invested 100% own capital to develop the business. We applied for one of the SAPARD European programs for agricultural development to develop it to the next level. It turned out that one of our documents was not correct when they came to check. We tried to convince the supervisory committee that we could correct the error but they did not step back and did not allow us to delay. Anyway, there was no real production in this region five years ago. Our project offered development of new activity in the region and would open up new jobs. We were the only company that was interested in doing anything in this region.

The committee did not consider any of the above and wrote a report to the central office in Sofia. The control committee from Sofia arrived accompanied by a police officer and it was also a little strange.

What happened to the stock-breeding farm and dairy project finally?

SAPARD refusal resulted in a serious debt to the bank for us. Our calculations showed us that the project would not bring us the expected return on that stage. So, we froze the business which does not mean that I abandoned it. The other two partners split this year and I undertook to found the new company by myself. Its main activity is agriculture rather than stock-breeding.

I think it is wastefulness to possess land so rich and fertile and not to exploit it, not with the usual crops but new modern developments that will have future. I turned to tree plantations which are not well developed in Greece, except the olive tree. Currently, there is no production in the country of many different types like chestnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and a bunch of other cultures. They are being imported to meet the demand. It is the same in Bulgaria. Moreover, the problem there is that even local producers prefer to export their goods abroad not because there is no domestic demand but because the export brings greater profit. On the other hand, the land in Bulgaria is purchased through brokerage firms. This is an additional expense and the investment should begin to pay back.

It is all still in a primary stage and needs more work. Earth and man alike need time and attention to regain their best form when they were unkempt. I think that after two years we will be able to make necessary changes and to conduct studies that will found out what are the most suitable crops for this soil.

Did you face corruption?

No, I didn’t. Even if there is corruption, and I know there is, it does not affect small and medium businesses. I heard about cases of very large projects under SAPARD of companies linked to the ruling forces. There were breaches found. The cases were investigated, the irregularities found and the culprits had to pay the money back, as far as I know. It is clear there is corruption in Bulgaria but it is at the higher levels and does not affect the everyday life of ordinary people so much as in Greece.

Unfortunately, not all the people in Bulgaria are well disposed to  Greeks for a variety of reasons. Were there any problems with the Bulgarians at the beginning?

Both sides were cautious at first. There is also a historical burden that makes the relations between the two nationalities more difficult unlike, for example, the relations between the Greeks and the Serbs. We started to communicate more closely only in the last twenty years. We wanted to do business at first but we did not know what to expect. On the other hand, the Bulgarians were not sure of our intentions from the start and there was a distance. In the end the personal contact solved all the problems. The both sides got to know each other and the objectives and expectations were clear.

What is the most serious problem in Bulgaria which you faced?

There is a lack of skilled people willing to work. The strongest people of Bulgaria willing to achieve something, the people of working age, have gone abroad or to the cities. About a million and half people have left the country since the early nineties. They live in Spain, Greece, Italy, USA today. Many of those who stayed in Bulgaria are either in retirement or approaching retirement age, or unwilling to engage in agriculture, or people (politically correct, he explained elegantly) of low working culture and without motivation – lazybones. This is my opinion.

There are a small number of people that have graduated in agronomy. They work as specialists in large corporations in the sector in cities such as Pleven, Lovech, Dobrich, or in other provincial cities and are not ready to come to work in a small company that has just begun to operate.

The first time I saw you you had a bottle of Shumensko in your hand. What are your favourite Bulgarian products?

First, let me tell you about the bottle of Shumensko. This is a pretty good beer that I think is much better than the well known Amstel or Hayniken which are also more expensive. I love lutenitsa. There are many good wines in Bulgaria also, various sausages and other meat products of very good quality. You can buy very tasty and organic cheese from local producers. It is still a little wild in taste like the wine. They have Balkan flavour and are quite different from the French types of cheese which are known for their elegant taste.

However, many Bulgarian products are of high quality and are essentially organic products without having the stamp for that. The land is fertile and can grow a high quality product of balanced quality and quantity of the stuff input. Greece has maintained good quality of local products for a long time. However, this has changed over the years. Bulgaria still has this advantage.

So, the Bulgarian products have a future on the Greek market, right?

They have a future. But if the Bulgarian products fail to enter the Greek market the reason certainly will not be the quality. The reason probably will be because the Greeks are among the worst, or more precisely, the strangest consumers in the world, according to me. They have a lot of prejudice and this will be difficult to change. The average Greek has no good opinion of Bulgarian products and considers them of low quality although they do not know them. The Greek consumer likes to buy more expensive products although they might not be of the best quality some time. Let’s take the walnuts – the Greeks will prefer Greek walnuts although the Bulgarian ones are of the same or better quality but twice cheaper.  

I've tried to promote Bulgarian products on the Greek market in recent years and faced much of a skepticism everywhere in the beginning.

Perhaps the Bulgarian government and manufacturers lack adequate policy to support exports.

I do not know. In fact, the Greek is not hungry in order to understand that the cheap Bulgarian product is of good quality (he laughs). Surely, there is something to be done by the Bulgarian side to make the Bulgarian production popular. Almost no one told me that a Bulgarian product is bad having tried it. There are many cases, however, when they tell me that it is good but not refined. It lacks the eclectic taste when it comes to cheese, for example. However, it appeals to all.

Do you think the growing economic crisis in Greece will support your venture in Bulgaria?

Yes, I think I am on the right track and it will help me in one way or another. I also believe that working and productive force in Greece between thirty and forty-five years of age must understand that nothing will change in the country if we do not take the thing into our own hands and take some risks. That's what we did by crossing the border with Bulgaria. This is a well-organized country and you can do business there. Bulgarian products are good and there are opportunities for development.