THE LODGE HOSTED THE ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING ABLE WEEKEND ACTIVATOR

From June 2nd to 4th at The Lodge Coworking Space hosted the two-day entrepreneurial training for people aged between 19 and 35 years ABLE Weekend Activator. It was organized by ABLE (Association of Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs), together with the Municipality of Stara Zagora and our partners from eDynamix. 

Within 48 hours future entrepreneurs with ideas for social projects or their own business worked on different cases and ideas and with the help of experienced mentors they had the opportunity to improve them to a real working version. 

The 27 participants, divided into 5 teams, had to do their projects, which were presented at a closing ceremony in front of a jury at Zahariy Knyazheski Regional Library.The members of the jury were Rositsa Raykova – Head of the Municipal Investments  Department , Dora Radeva – Compliance Officer at Edynamix, Violeta Nadeva, Program Director for Business Entrepreneurship at the America for Bulgaria Foundation, Rositsa Petrova -Home of Wool Founder  and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Georgiev – Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Sofia University. 

After a tense and lively discussion the jury selected the winning team – Blacktrace Security. They presented a project aimed at combating cybercrime. 

The team will be supported with 5 consultations from professional experts to continue successfully developing the idea. 

 

We are glad that we were part of this entrepreneurial adventure and managed to support another wonderful initiative in our city!

OVER 70 PARTICIPANTS ON THE CHESS TOURNAMENT “THE LODGE”

On March 26, 2023, The Lodge Coworking Space turned into a real arena of clash of strategic thinking of chess players. For the first time, together with An Passan Chess Club, we held a Chess Tournament The Lodge. It was attended by over 70 participants from Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Kazanlak, Yambol, Sliven, Radnevo and other cities, who demonstrated enviable skills.

Participants were divided into two separate groups – adults and children born after 31.12.2010. The requirement for both Bulgarian and foreign chess players, was to have a maximum ELO for classical and rapid chess not greater than 2200.  There were clear rules and regulations for organizing the competition. 

The competition was really intense and provoked the thinking and skills of young and old. First place in the tournament for adults was for Martin Peev from Stara Zagora. There were cash prizes for him and the other seven best performing chess players from the prize fund of the tournament, provided by our partners from eDynamix. 

The best chess player among the children turned out to be 11-year-old Alexander Atanasov from Yambol. He won with maximum points and received a special cup and prize, which were handed out by another partner of the tournament – Rotary Club Stara Zagora. 

The first three prizewinners in each age category received medals and material prizes. All children who participated in the Chess Tournament The Lodge were presented with encouraging gifts, provided by eDynamix. 

We would like to thank all the participants who became part of this great event, filled with many positive emotions! We hope it will be the first of many more successful chess tournaments organized by us. If you are interested in chess or have friends who want to become part of the community – follow us on social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) and look forward to the upcoming events of the local chess community.

WORDPRESS MEETUP IN STARA ZAGORA

On February 16th, at The Lodge Coworking Space we took the first step towards creating the WordPress community of Stara Zagora! 

On a special evening dedicated to the most used content management system in the world, we managed to gather various WP enthusiasts not only from the city, but also from Sofia, Plovdiv, Kazanlak and Dimitrovgrad. 

The guest lecturer at the event was Nikolay Krastev, who is closely related to the platform – he supports the community with organizing events, translations of core, themes and extensions and more. 

The topic he presented was “Everything about WordPress – history, community, ecosystem, opportunities and ways to contribute”. He talked about the history of WordPress from the birth of the platform to the present day, as well as about the ecosystem behind it. Nicky also shared what the possibilities to contribute to the development of the open source platform are and at the same time outlined what is ahead of us in the future. 

After the lecture we had a discussion about specific projects and businesses. 

Our friends from SuperHosting.BG were partners of the event again and contributed a lot to the pleasant atmosphere after the meeting. 

It turned out to be a really great event, which we hope is just the beginning of many more upcoming Meetups. 

 

If you are interested in WordPress or have friends who want to become part of the community – follow us on social networks and stay tuned for upcoming events of the local WordPress community.

THE LODGE WILL HOST BASE ACADEMY STARA ZAGORA

There are people who have amazing ideas for their own business and a vision of how they can contribute to the development of their environment. They are brave, daring and often succeed in achieving their goals, regardless of the difficulties on their way. We at The Lodge Coworking Space believe that there are many such people in Stara Zagora and we are ready to help them to realize their entrepreneurial ideas.

That is the reason why we are extremely happy to announce that we will host the BASE Business Academy for Startup Entrepreneurs, which will hold its first edition in Stara Zagora in March 2023!

The program is free and aims to encourage future entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas and turn them into successful ventures. Both teenagers and adults can join. It is important to have an interesting idea for creating their own business or have their own company, but also to want to improve their knowledge in the individual spheres of entrepreneurship.

BASE is held in partnership with “America for Bulgaria” Foundation and the Association of Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), and so far a total of 32 editions have been realized in various places in Bulgaria. In Stara Zagora, BASE is organized by “IT Stara Zagora” – an association focused on the development of the digital and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city and the region.

The program will start in March and for 12 weeks the participants will meet with experienced entrepreneurs who will share their knowledge and practical experience. Thanks to them, those wishing to start their own business will gain theoretical knowledge and practical skills in areas such as finance, sales, marketing, human resources, legal norms, presentation skills.

The main goal of BASE is that at the end of the training the future entrepreneurs should prepare and present a business plan for their project. A special jury will choose the three outstanding projects and the winners will receive a financial incentive from the intended prize fund.

Anyone wishing to become part of BASE in Stara Zagora can apply for participation by filling in the form HERE until February 21, 2023.

On February 2, 2023, on a special WEBINAR, the organizers will provide more information about the first edition of BASE Stara Zagora. The event will also include entrepreneurs who have already gone through the program and successfully started their own business.

Additional information can be found on the website of the Business Academy for start-up entrepreneurs – www.baseprogram.bg.

HOW CAN WE MAKE AN ONLINE STORE BY OURSELVES?

E-commerce has seen a real boom in recent years. A huge number of businesses have offered online shopping opportunities. As a result of the COVID crisis the majority of companies prefer to trade entirely on Internet nowadays. 

On December 1, the marketing specialist at SuperHosting.BG and founder of stilka.com Borislav Bozhidarov will tell how we can make an online store ourselves and develop it without having a programmer or be technically literate.

During the event “How to make an online store yourself?” he will give information about what the basic principles of E-commerce are, how to test an online store for free, and to upload photos and description of the products, and how to design a successful guided selling experience. Borislav will also present the basic tools with which reports can be tracked and bills of lading for shipments can created. He will also present the main marketing strategies for attracting visitors to the store and increasing the chance of purchase.

The founder of stilka.com has been actively practising Internet methods of sales, advertising and content distribution for 7 years. He has worked for SuperHosting.BG Marketing department for almost 5 years. On a daily basis,  he tries to help Bulgarian businesses go online with the most suitable service for them.

Borislav’s personal mission is to make more and more people in Bulgaria digitally literate. The online store he owns makes orders on a daily basis. His business portfolio can be found both on the website and @stilka.home on social networks.

During the event he will also share the path that a business needs to take until it starts selling online successfully with the site.

At the end of the presentation, each participant will also receive a BONUS – a free domain for registration from SuperHosting.BG.

The event is free with advance registration at: https://forms.gle/TmzcAdztMHAm8dZb7.

MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES WILL DEVELOP DYNAMICALLY IN THE FUTURE

On November 17, an intriguing event was held at The Lodge with guest speaker Vladimir Radkov. We talked about mobile applications, their place in our lives and the possibilities for the development of mobile technologies and software solutions that will soon be the “new normal”.

In front of the participants of the event, Vladi reviewed the development of mobile devices and technologies from their creation and launch to the present moment. He talked in detail about the further development of processors, batteries, cameras and network connectivity. He also talked about all aspects of their future development – new and interesting projects that will make the devices of the future much better.

Special attention was also paid to the current topic of IoT (Internet of Things) and to what extent people will be dependent on it in the future. The idea of smart cities and homes and alternative implementations of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that are already part of our daily lives were explored. Great interest was caused by the presentation of future designs of devices that will surround us in the future. An example of this is wireless charging with IR/RF and devices such as smart rings and glasses that will be the “new normal” in an alternate universe called the Metaverse.

Vladi told more about the work of the company Neuralink and the topic “The future of brain machine interface”. Augmented Virtual Reality, LIDAR (Light detection and ranging), NFTs and Web3.0 were presented and it was discussed how they will be the basis on which the future of Metaverse will be built. The participants were introduced to the current version of the universe and the future plans for the development to the point of being an unchangeable and natural part of people’s daily life. Work, study, entertainment, recreation, social aspect, fitness, gaming and much more in the Metaverse will be an integral part of the man of the future. When asked “Can we imagine the future of the Metaverse?”, Vladimir replied: “It’s like at the moment of creating the first HTML site in the world, we can imagine the Internet as it is today.”

Vladimir told more about himself and the company (and our partner) eDynamix, where he works as the manager of the Mobile Apps Department. He shared with us his causes and his willingness to pass on his knowledge as a programmer to anyone who wants to develop in the field.

If you want to be part of future events at The Lodge and be the first to learn about all the news – do not miss to follow us on social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) or subscribe to our newsletter.

DATA DEMOCRATIZATION – WHY IT MATTERS TO EVERYONE IN DATA ANALYTICS?

At a special event on November 3rd, two of our members presented  the topic of Data Analytics. Plamen and Stanislav, software engineers at VMware, discussed SuperCollider – Data Analytics platform for data democratization and told more about what possibilities it offers.

During the event, they reminded about the importance of the data that surrounds us, about the concept of what a Data Analytics Platform looks like, what technologies and what architecture they chose for VMware’s Data Analytics Platform, as well as demonstrated the standard BI flow of a Data Engineer Live. More about the platform itself: https://octo.vmware.com/a-best-in-class-data-analytics-platform-built-on-a-vmware-private-cloud/

Of course, there was also time for questions to the speakers. It is a great joy for us that such events are happening more and more often and above all – that we have the honor and pleasure of hosting and helping to build the IT community in Stara Zagora.

If you don`t want to miss the next events at The Lodge Coworking Space, follow us on social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) or sign up for our newsletter below.

Workshop: Digital Art and Art through Artificial Intelligence

How can our passion for digital art become a profession? Can we create beautiful painted images using artificial intelligence? This is what Elena Nedeleva, Simeon Dukov and Nedko Boyanov will tell us on October 22 at The Lodge Coworking Space.

From 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 as part of the Digital Art from Passion to Profession Event, Elena will share with you what it is like to create beautiful images digitally and what you need to develop your talent.

From 13:00 to 14:30 Simeon and Nedko will hold a workshop demonstrating how art can be made with the help of artificial intelligence.

The event is organized by the Creative Team “On the Street” – a community aiming at the development of a network of art locations and creative industries in Stara Zagora.

Entry is free. We look forward to meeting you!

Data Science from the Valley of Roses with Mladen Zhelev

Did you know that in the Valley of Roses, along with the variety of fragrant plants, there are also programmers? It turns out that in Kazanlak there is a newly established and very successfully developing IT company that designs interesting projects for various organizations around the world – ITBP.

Mladen Zhelev is its founder and manager. He leads a team of specialists who design, develop and implement individual software business solutions.

On October 12, Mladen will be our guest at the Data Science from the Valley of Roses event. He will tell us more about one of their most interesting projects in the field that is becoming more and more popular among IT professionals – Data Science.

We will find out what it is like to run an IT company in Kazanlak, what the main challenges are and what his vision of the future development of the sector in the region is.

Free entry. Advance booking at: https://forms.gle/fq2DWf1YDet2RUss5.

Starting: 18:30

We look forward to meeting you!

Stara Zagora Expats Meetup

On July 27th we invite all Expats in Stara Zagora region and our temporary guests to join us for our first get together party at The Lodge! 

We do have a special occasion – we are saying Goodbye to our Erasmus+ students Eugenio Sanchez and Ignacio Hoyos who are heading back to their homeland after spending two months with us in Stara Zagora.

Come and join us to check our cozy space, meet fellow expats, talk to local enthusiasts and have a fun evening at The Lodge! 

Link to the Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/2DTkHPqYU