When an alumn returns to AUBG and contributes with their knowledge and experience, it reaffirms the impact of their education. Such is the case with Gabriela Belnikolovska (‘19) – Chief of Staff to the CEO at Payhawk.
She started her journey in Business Development back in 2021, and has since acquired the skills and knowledge in the business development field – a rather new and emerging field in Bulgaria with ample potential.
This year, she returned to AUBG not as a student but as a lecturer. Together with her team at Payhawk, she created a one-credit course tailored for senior Business Administration students. Now the course has concluded, the knowledge and positive experiences of learning about sales remain.
Provost J.D. Mininger said: “As a company founded by AUBG alumni and employing many of our graduates, Payhawk represents the kind of success story that inspires our students.”
The urgent need for sales education in Bulgaria
“Sales is an incredibly useful skill in business, but also in life, because we sell our ideas, ourselves, our companies, and so on every day. In fact, 60% of Payhawk’s deals are outbound. I’m extremely happy that our CEO, Hristo Borisov, with whom I work directly, shares this vision,” said Belnikolovska.
Both Belnikolvska and Hristo Borisov are surprised by the lack of sales education in Bulgaria.
“It’s actually quite hard to find talent in business development here. Usually, our best approach is to hire fresh graduates or current students so we can teach them the skills and help them understand the added value,” explained Belnikolovska.
However, she sees potential for establishing more permanent sales training in Bulgaria:
“What Telerik and SoftUni have done for the software engineering industry, especially with Telerik Academy, is incredible. We should be able to create the same hype around sales. I think the American University definitely is a place where this could be really influential, given the high quality of its students.”
AUBG President Margee Ensign also recognizes the benefit of hands-on skills development and welcomed the idea for the course with excitement.
“I believe that President Ensign is really leaning towards practical sessions and hiring as many professors with real-world experience as possible,” shared Belnikolovska.
Negotiation, objection-handling, and persuasion skills at play
During the first session of the course, Hristo Borisov, CEO at Payhawk, and Konstantin Dzhengozov, Chief Financial Officer, painted the bigger picture of what it’s like to be a BDM. The rest of the sessions provided more context and specific frameworks, leveraging the expertise of guest lecturers such as Hristo Tomov, the first Business Development Manager at Payhawk; Rade Moneva, Sales Manager for Enterprise Clients in the Nordics at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions; and Andrey Bankovski, VP of Sales.
Speaking about the impact of the course, Teodora Miteva, a senior Business Administration and Computer Science student, shared: “We learned skills like asking the right questions to get people talking and make them feel comfortable, as well as handling objections smoothly, which are useful in any field, not just sales.”
Elio Pujo, a senior Business Administration student, added: “The skills I gained, particularly in persuasion, negotiation, and handling objections, were very helpful in understanding what the business development function is and how it achieves its end goal.”
The course concluded with a hands-on workshop where students put their knowledge into practice. They cold-called 77 contacts to find sponsors for the senior prom at AUBG. Several companies showed interest, securing refreshments, prizes, and funding.
Lifelong learning and giving back
This may be the business development journey for now, but Gabriela is hopeful that the education will continue in the future.
“This course is the best thing that has happened to me this year. According to the Ikigai philosophy, the formula to a happy life is finding a way to combine what you love with what you’re good at and what the world needs. I’ve found this in this course,” concluded Belnikolovska.
Such courses solidify AUBG’s mission to provide lifelong learning and reinforce the power of community beyond graduation.
As Provost J.D. Mininger said, “Partnering with Payhawk for this course not only provides a great opportunity for students to gain practical skills, but it expands and strengthens the invaluable bridge between our alumni and the next generation of AUBG students.”
