A global community of Bulgarians with international experience, Tuk-Tam has established a scholarship fund that every year supports talented young Bulgarians who have been accepted for a graduate degree at a prestigious university abroad and who plan to contribute to their home country upon graduation.
AUBGers are often among the awardees, and this year two alumni, Rosen Dinchev (’20) and Alexandra Milkova (’20), received Tuk-Tam scholarships to pursue their Master’s degrees abroad. We spoke to each of them to hear more about what helped them win the scholarship, what are they going to study and what they plan to do after graduation.
We now introduce you to Rosen, who studied Business Administration and Information Systems at AUBG, and who is the co-founder and CEO of video production and creative design outsourcing company CreativX. He received a 2,000 BGN Tuk-Tam scholarship from Playtech and pursue a master’s degree in Entertainment Communication at the University of Amsterdam.
Congratulations on your Tuk-Tam scholarship! What is the significance of this award to you and in what ways do you plan to contribute to Bulgaria upon graduation?
It means a lot to me that the jury and board of Tuk-Tam decided to pick me as one of the few people to receive a scholarship to fund their studies abroad. I truly appreciate the “investment” in my personal development and the belief that I could, in some way, contribute to Bulgaria upon returning. Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, I would return to Bulgaria and have the chance to influence others like me to pursue their interests and continue developing in the areas they are most interested in. My goal after an eventual, hopefully successful, graduation, would be to continue the development of our small startup – CreativX, by growing our team and allowing local creatives the opportunity to practice and put the things they do and love to actual work.
You will be studying Entertainment Communications at the University of Amsterdam. Why did you choose this specific graduate program and university?
I chose this particular program because it seemed most fitting to help me achieve what I’ve set out for myself in the near future – namely to continue the development of our company and to continue helping businesses and online creators, to produce better content, and communicate more effectively with their audiences. As for Amsterdam, I have always been fascinated by the free spirit of the city and country as a whole, and it was a great coincidence and opportunity that their university had a program that was fitting for what I wanted.
What is the story behind establishing your company CreativX? How did you first get interested in entrepreneurship?
The story of how we started our company goes way back, but the short version is that none of us [the founders] could find a proper creative job or internship in Bulgaria no matter the field (video, motion, graphic design), despite all our efforts throughout our university years. So, when the time came to graduate, locked up in our homes amidst the global pandemic, we decided to put to good use all that free time and just start something for ourselves. Having a business degree and a passion for video editing and design in general just naturally led to the creation and establishment of a creative agency and I can say I couldn’t be happier that things turned out the way they did.
I guess the interest in entrepreneurship just came naturally since I wanted to somehow apply and combine my background in business with my passion for creating digital content.
In what ways has your AUBG experience – both with academics and extracurricular activities — helped you in your personal and professional development?
AUBG definitely helped shape me not only as an academically prepared graduate, but it changed the ways I view and interact with others and the way I go about solving problems on a daily basis. Aside from the academia and the knowledge I got in my Business classes, which come into use when setting up and developing a company, the aspect I value most from AUBG was the connections and networking made around the community and clubs. It helped me not only to develop personally in terms of communication and problem-solving, but it also gave me a platform to share my first pieces of content, to practically develop my knowledge, and also to learn and built my creative skills, which come very much into use these days.
What are your career plans for after completing your Master’s degree?
As I mentioned, I plan to continue the development of our company. My plans remain the same even during the period of the Master’s program. I do not have any intentions of stopping or pausing what we are doing now, no matter if it will be from Sofia, Amsterdam, or any other location. I am still very much motivated to grow our startup, connect with more clients and just continue to do what I love and create content.
