Events of the BBL

Last week, the BBL Club came together at the warm and welcoming Work Nomads’ Restaurant for a memorable General Assembly. Huge thanks to our gracious hosts for the wonderful evening! During the event members gathered to discuss pivotal topics for the club’s future in the coming year. 📆 Exciting plans are in the pipeline, and we can’t wait to share them with you!

🇧🇪 The Management Board of the Belgium-Bulgaria-Luxembourg Business Club, all together, during the elegant reception, organized by H.E. Ambassador Frederic Meurice and his wife Lydie at their Sofia Residence. 🥂The stylish evening cocktail, well-respected by Ministers, Ambassadors, partners and friends of the Embassy of Belgium in Sofia and our Club, marked the wrap-up of the #BelgianDays 2023 – a series of events, where we enjoyed an opening cocktail at the University Botanic Garden Sofia; a fine concert of medieval music at Sofia City Art Gallery and a family hiking event at the Seven Rila Lakes. 📷#StayTuned for the full photo album, catching the great atmosphere of July 21st!

#BelgianDays2023 – “The power of Diversity” 🥂160 years Solvay Group and 30 years presence in Bulgaria. 🍾An elegant celebration, exquisite medieval music, performers kindly invited by the Embassy of Belgium in Sofia and Ambassador Meurice. 🫶Diplomats, Ministers, business Chambers, Trade Unions and many many partners and friends of #Solvay and Belgium-Bulgaria-Luxembourg Business Club 💟Another memorable event on the #BelgianDays map. 🇧🇪 🇧🇬

✨In the presence of diplomats, Ministers and the “creme de la crème” of the business community, #BelgianDays 2023 were officially opened! 📍 H.E. Ambassador Meurice, the BBL Club President Sylvain Collot and Minister of economy Bogdan Bogdanov welcomed the guests with exposés on the importance and development of the economic relations between Belgium and Bulgaria. Each guest received as a compliment the traditional Annual Yearbook (directory) of all the Belgium Bulgaria Luxembourg Business Club members, hot from printing that very day.

the most noteworthy networking event of 2023, co-organized by 10 bilateral chambers in Bulgaria: “Business Networking Evening: Europe and Beyond” June 13th, 2023, 19:00, Sofia Tech Park With this event the community of the bilateral chambers demonstrates the unity among the internationally oriented business in Bulgaria and creates new business opportunities for potential growth for our members. We are delighted to welcome the American Chamber of Commerce and the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce as new partners joining our international business initiative this year. Thus, we upgrade our cooperation and partnerships. Following last year’s phenomenal success with over 500 guests and over 30 sponsors, we are proud to invite you to an even bigger promotional opportunity. Official guests of the event will include representatives from the economic and political institutions and diplomacy as well.

✨ We witnessed incredible moments at this year’s Annual #BBLTennisTournament, which drew an unprecedented number of participants and captivated a vast audience! ✅ The event was made possible with the invaluable support of UBB, DEVIN, DZI, Ingram Micro, and the delightful addition of French macarons courtesy of B Macaron, along with the involvement of Thomas Boeglin. 🎾 The day was filled with a remarkable blend of #FairPlay, #CompetitiveSpirit, #PowerfulPlay, and casual networking, with the added joy of having family members as enthusiastic front-row cheerleaders. 🏆 Our esteemed President Sylvain Collot served as the Master of Ceremony, while Ambassador Meurice presented the well-deserved awards to the winners! Our winners: 🥇1st place in male doubles: Christof De Mil from UBB & Jurien van der Horst from the Dutch Embassy. 🥈2nd place in male doubles: Ivan Papazov & Tsvetomir Tsank Mihov from IPS. 🥇1st place in mixed doubles: Iglika Zabunova & Tsvetomir Tsenkov from IPS. 🥈2nd place in mixed doubles: Jerome Kelle & Radost Stefanova from the French Embassy. A heartfelt congratulations to all the winners for their outstanding performances!

💡 The first edition of our new format #LearningAndLeadership, kindly hosted by our President Sylvain Collot at the state-of-the-art Melexis Bulgaria workspace was fully booked a week in advance, we had a full house of #leaders and an atmosphere of energy and drive! Our keynote speaker, business coach and author Владимир Борачев, lead the participants through the main pillars of emotional intelligence and the big picture. Vladimir tested the audience’s EGO’s, attitude towards people and leadership strategies – with a sense of humor, but with a lot of learnings to take out 😉 📖At the elegant cocktail everyone had the opportunity to grab Vlado’s hot new book #ПътешествиеЗаЛидери (A leaders’ journey) with a personal note from the author. And it was just the start of a journey for everyone present. We look forward to meeting Vlado again! 🍫To take home was not just food-for-thought, but also sweet temptations by #vandergeeten (VDG) and the lovely brands Droste Holland and Reese’s

💡An insightful presentation by the World Bank hit team in Bulgaria, followed by a corporate panel, featuring two new Club members : WorkNomads and ESFAM Bulgaria. 👏Ambassador Meurice and our President Sylvain Collot welcomed the guests in a full-house, despite the weather, and the two new members were spotlighted at their best thanx to our moderator Katya Dimitrova. ❗️A not-to-miss opportunity to exchange ideas and best practices and….we are already preparing the next event!

Belgium-Bulgaria-Luxembourg Business Club held its 15th annual Gala Dinner in the ballroom of the Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia on Saturday. The Gala, under the auspices of the Embassy of Belgium in Sofia, brought together ambassadors, diplomats, ministers and representatives of leading business organizations in Bulgaria. A jury composed of Bulgarian News Agency Director General Kiril Valchev, Founder and Managing Partner of JobTiger Svetlozar Petrov, and H.E. Belgian Ambassador Frederic Morris, (Chairman of the Jury), honored the winners of the annual competition of the business club – #PrimusInterPares (First among Equals). This year’s award was under the motto “Most Valuable Player” – for leaving a mark and contributing to corporate spirit and culture. Participating companies were DEVIN, DZI, Turbotrucks Bulgaria – HQ, Solvay, Ingram Micro Bulgaria, Soudal Bulgaria, Reynaers Aluminium Bulgaria LTD, WorkNomads, and BrandQuardergy. The award went to Solvay Sodi’s talented Dr. Krasimira Gyurova, who dedicatedly guided the company’s team through the difficult years of the pandemic. The show was hosted by actor and musician Vladimir Mihaylov and featured folk singer Vladislava Hristoskova and her dancers, and pop stars from the Dani Milev Band.

✨ The Belgium-Bulgaria-Luxembourg Business Club paid a visit to the region of Varna and became closely acquainted with the fast-passed development of some of BBL’s members, leaders in their sectors🏆: Devnya Limestone, Solvay-Sodi, Technophos & Agropolychim. ✅ The gathering presented great opportunities for networking as well as appreciation of the heritage of the seaside region 🌊 – Black Sea Rama, Balchik Palace and Evksinograd.

🎾🥎 Great moments from the Annual BBL Tennis Tournament that attracted a record number of participants and audience this year!😉 🤝With the precious support of UBB, DEVIN and Beer Trade we had an amazing day of Fair Play, competitive spirit, powerful play and informal networking, including family members of all participants as first-row cheerleaders! 👉Our resigning and current Presidents Christof De Mil & Sylvain Collot were the Masters of Ceremony and Ambassador Frederic Meurice was of course the one to not only play and win, but award the winners as well! 🥇🏆AND OUR AMAZING WINNERS ARE… Team DEVIN on Doubles – mixed Team BeshkovTodorov (TD Law Firm) on Doubles- Men and we have impressive runner-ups, among which Ambassador Meurice and a representative of the Embassy of France in Bulgaria!