AUBG welcomed its EMBA Cohort 23 at a reception at Elieff Center on Jan. 25, 2024. The event also celebrated Cohort 22, which will embark on its final semester this spring.
Present at the event were Dr. Bujar Deskaj, Counselor at the Embassy of Kosovo in Bulgaria, and H.E. Ms. Inid Milo, Ambassador of Albania to Bulgaria.
“Happy Spring 2024 semester, it is a pleasure for us to have all of you here, not only the Bulgarian business leaders but also our friends from Kosovo and Albania,” said Momtchil Karpouzanov, Academic Director of Graduate Programs at AUBG.
The newest EMBA Cohort comprises 20 leading professionals – including two international students – coming from a variety of sectors and companies such as IBM Washington, Postbank, Oracle, and the Navy Federal Credit Union, USA.
Among the new students is Boyan Nedyalkov, Business Manager at Intermedica, where he leads the unit of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Therapies. Boyan won the NOVA EMBA Scholarship for social entrepreneurship with his project focusing on early cancer detection.
“For a very long time, I used to be a service engineer,” Boyan said. “And I have seen the fruits of my labor. When something needed to be repaired, I could repair it and help patients get the care they deserve.”
“However, I have seen that this may be not enough of an impact,” he continued. “I wanted to have a bigger impact. So I got more into the business and innovation side of things where I had to think of ways to improve the situation in the country in a more impactful way.”
Driven by his desire to enhance his business knowledge, Boyan began researching programs that would allow him to study while still working. This is how he set his mind on an EMBA program.
“I was thinking about going abroad,” he said. “But I want to excel in Bulgaria. I want to live here in the future. So I decided to choose the best program in the region, which is of course the American University in Bulgaria.”
Cohort 22, which will graduate this May, was also present at the reception.
Taulant Mecaj, a student from Albania, reflected on his journey with the program so far.
“To be honest, after 15 years of working experience, I was expecting this program to be an enhancement of things that I already knew,” the student, who is Head of Retail Sales at One Albania, said. “But as soon as I stepped into the EMBA, I understood that I had a lot to learn. Each class has been unique and the professors have been really insightful. I’ve learned a lot about business and I’ve learned a lot about myself.”
Taulant also discussed his experience as an international student in Bulgaria.
“I was very surprised because being in another country, we expect to have some differences or some barriers,” he said. “But in Bulgaria, I feel quite at home. All the colleagues in my cohort have been very welcoming, and I made new friends.”
Svilena Valcheva, Head of Customer Protection Operations and Regulatory & Legal Support – International at Entain, is also set to graduate this May.
“My experience so far has been great,” she said. “It has allowed me to fill in certain gaps in my knowledge. I haven’t had any experience in the financial sphere so, for instance, classes such as Accounting and Corporate Finance have been extremely helpful.”
“The biggest advantage of the program is of course meeting the wonderful people along the way, great professors but also great students and friends,” she also said.
