Fund of Funds will start series of lectures on the free elective course "European Funds and Financial Instruments" at the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". This academic year it will partner with Founder Institute Eastern Europe. The aim of the training is to introduce students to the world of financial instruments and start-ups, as well as to provide valuable practical knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship.

The course is included in the curriculum for the third year, first semester of the academic year 2024/2025. It is open to students of the Faculty of Economics from the Bachelor programmes: Economics and Finance (English and French programmes), Business Management (English, German and French programmes) and Business Administration (English, German and French programmes).

Guest speakers, professionals from the private and public sector who manage private equity and debt investments, will be invited during the training. Fund of Funds managers, partners from venture capital funds, banks, Bulgarian Stock Exchange, and other top financiers will share their experience and opportunities provided by this billion-dollar sector of the financial industry. The discipline will be interactive, based on game models, case studies and mainly discussions.

Students will learn about European funds and programs, the legal and institutional framework of European financing, debt and equity financial instruments, venture capital funds, start-up creation and financing, pitching start-ups to investors, development of the start-up ecosystem in Bulgaria, state aid, ESG principles, sustainable financing and other relative topics.

The course is a continuation of the partnership between Fund of Funds and Sofia University, which started with the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in April 2022. The efforts of the two institutions to help all young people who want to change the environment through entrepreneurship and innovation are focused on the national competition "Best Youth Start-up in Bulgaria". This competition provided hundreds of young people the opportunity to realise their dreams through training, mentoring, and funding. Students from the Faculty of Economics who will enrol in the elective discipline will have the opportunity to prepare for participation in the fourth edition of the competition, which will start in January 2025.

This year's partner, Founder Institute, is the world's largest accelerator for early-stage start-ups and a proven global network for turning ideas into fundable companies, and start-ups into global businesses. To date the Founder Institute has helped launch over 7,500 companies in over 200 cities on six continents that have attracted over $1.85 billion in investment. Its programs train teams in business activities such as pre-scouting, branding, team management, revenue and expense management, product development, marketing and sales, investment attraction and more.

Based in Silicon Valley and with programs in over 100 countries, Founder Institute mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated individuals to build impressive technology companies around the world.

Dr. Dotchka Vassileva, Head of Project Information and Financing Unit at the Fund of Funds , will be leading the “European Funds and Financial Instruments” course. Students of the Faculty of Economics who are interested can find more information at tel. 0877834646, as well as by email: d.vassileva@fmfib.bg.

You are welcome to attend the opening of the course on 03.10.2024 at 10:00 am in Room 304 of the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski”.