Mariana’s plan for the future of Nanka Creative was one of the funded projects in the program’s 2020 edition in Smolyan. The prize money helped her purchase a new sewing machine. Mariana received further assistance developing her business through BASE Mentor, a mentorship program the America for Bulgaria Foundation launched in partnership with the Association of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs.
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Mariana Barakchieva has programmed eye surgery software, worked in radio, done broadcasts for TV networks in Bulgaria and the United States, managed a mountain shelter in the Swiss Alps, and pulled off daring rock-climbing feats. Nothing in her experience, however, prepared her to run a business. Business Academy for Starting Entrepreneurs taught Mariana to value her work more fairly. “I realized that my early prices didn’t factor in profit,” she says, laughing about her rookie mistake today.
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