Mark J Rubin Enterprises, Inc. News Stories
Our founder, Mark J Rubin gets recruited by FSVC for a special one week project in Sofia,
Bulgaria
Sunday, January 14, 2007 (Copied from an email I sent to friends and family)
During a visit to Florida to visit friends and family and attend a wedding in Jacksonville, I got an intriguing email from my friend John. A mutual friend of ours, Brenda, was trying to help a volunteer organization called the Financial Services Volunteer Corps (http://www.fsvc.org) find a geek to travel to Bulgaria for a one week special project. Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) is a not-for-profit, private-public partnership whose mission is to help build sound banking and financial systems in transition and developing countries. They are extremely well respected and it is an honor to work with them. Brenda forwarded my resume to them and a few days later we had a phone interview. The project was to build a website to help Bulgarian small business owners learn about ways to fund their businesses (through loans, investors, angels and government grants). A small business owner would go to this website, enter some basic information about their type of business and get a list of offerings/products that they qualify for. When I got to Bulgaria I learned that only 9% of them ever even attempt go to go a bank for a small business loan. The rest invest their life savings or get a loan from family members or "other" sources. It sounded like an interesting project and a chance to actually be able to do some good in the world.
Sunday, January 14, 2007 (Copied from an email I sent to friends and family)
During a visit to Florida to visit friends and family and attend a wedding in Jacksonville, I got an intriguing email from my friend John. A mutual friend of ours, Brenda, was trying to help a volunteer organization called the Financial Services Volunteer Corps (http://www.fsvc.org) find a geek to travel to Bulgaria for a one week special project. Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) is a not-for-profit, private-public partnership whose mission is to help build sound banking and financial systems in transition and developing countries. They are extremely well respected and it is an honor to work with them. Brenda forwarded my resume to them and a few days later we had a phone interview. The project was to build a website to help Bulgarian small business owners learn about ways to fund their businesses (through loans, investors, angels and government grants). A small business owner would go to this website, enter some basic information about their type of business and get a list of offerings/products that they qualify for. When I got to Bulgaria I learned that only 9% of them ever even attempt go to go a bank for a small business loan. The rest invest their life savings or get a loan from family members or "other" sources. It sounded like an interesting project and a chance to actually be able to do some good in the world.
In early December, my plans were finalized and we
started having preliminary phone conferences with all of the parties involved.
It's confusing to outline who was involved but I think it goes like this. BC
Serdon, a Bulgarian based company had created a small database of loans,
investors and grants and was emailing the database to people about once a month.
They had a relationship with USAID (http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/).
USAID works in agriculture, democracy & governance, economic growth, the
environment, education, health, global partnerships, and humanitarian assistance
in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all and is run by the
State Department. USAID agreed to sponsor BC Serdon in the development of this
website and approached a non-profit called VEGA to assist in the planning and
development of the website. VEGA is an umbrella organization for fifteen
volunteer corps group, FSVC being one of them. My job would be to work with
another American to assess the feasibility of the website, help plan this
website and to make sure BC Serdon was capable of handling the project (and not
just taking the money and running).
My American partner was a really neat man from
Pittsburg named Steve. Steve has spent twenty years with the Small Business
Administration and was the perfect person for his half of the project. He got to Bulgaria a week before I did to gauge
interest from the small businesses, banks and investors. He met with more than
thirty people that week and was formulating how the website would work when I
got there. My job was to extract the details from him and come up with a plan of
action for the website. I had to describe the current problem, and propose all
of the workings of the website in a non-technical manner. That document is going
to be used to be used by BC Serdon to help find a local software company to
build the website. I was given a chance to bid on the project but they are
expecting to pay Bulgarian market rates and it wouldn't be worth my
time.
Most of the week had me working at BC
Serdon's office all day and then spending a few hours eating dinner each night.
I didn't get to see much of the town during the daytime but that's OK. The
employees at BC Serdon were almost all fluent in English and had received
graduate degrees. They are all pretty sharp and the owner is lucky to be able to
keep them there. Bulgaria is joining the EU next month and most of the staff
could find a job anywhere else in the EU in a heartbeat, but they won't leave
because they want to succeed there and want Bulgaria to succeed as
well.
On Wednesday, Steve and I had a meeting with USAID
officials at the US Embassy. Security was very tight and I wasn't allowed to
take any pictures, but I can assure you the inside is gorgeous and I wouldn't
mind working there at all. The USAID officials wanted us to report on the
progress of the project and wanted to know if they should continue sponsoring
the project. We told them the project should definitely be sponsored as it could
be a valuable website. USAID is pulling out of Bulgaria sometime next year
because with Bulgaria joining the EU, Bulgaria will be eligible for many, many
more humanitarian assistance dollars. USAID had mandated that the website
couldn't take in any money while USAID was a sponsor of the website. That
sponsorship will end sometime next year just as the site is launching. The
restriction of being able to generate any money would likely kill the website
because the sponsorship is a good amount but the website will need a lot of
promotion and that's expensive. I successfully negotiated that the website would
be allowed to take in money while USAID was sponsoring them, as long as the
money went right back into the website (better code, more advertising, etc).
This was a very big deal and the staff at BC Serdon were very happy when I
delivered that news.
At the end of the work day on Wednesday, BC Serdon had a little
in office Christmas party and gave Steve and I a few presents. They gave us both
books on Bulgarian cooking, a bottle of Rakia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakia ),
a fruit brandy traditional served with the appetizer during a meal. We had it
several times with a Shopska salad, the traditional salad of the people of
Sofia. It is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion, and a type of brined
cheese which is very similar to feta cheese and is called sirene in Bulgarian
and we must have had one every day. They also presented us with a bottle of
Bulgarian fine wine. Bulgarians are known for their snow skiing, yogurt, rose
oil (used in perfumes) and their wines. They have five wine regions and we
sampled wine from many of them. The bottle of wine they gave me caught my
eye. It is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and RUBIN grapes.
Apparently there is a grape called a Rubin that is made in southern Bulgaria
that's a crossing of Nebbiolo and Syrah and was established in the 1960s in
Pleven is grown exclusively in this region. I made it a quest from then on to
try to find Rubin wines.
The next day was spent furiously trying to finalize the document. That
night after dinner I stayed up very late working on my document and was 95% done
by the time we got to the office on Friday. We met with VEGA officials to go
over both of our documents and they were very impressed. I'd written about
thirty pages of business speak in about four days and was pretty proud of
myself. They asked if I'd be available for consulting on the project if the
software developers have questions and mentioned the possibility of a return
trip in the spring.
I am very glad I went on this trip and am now on
their mailing list for future projects, although they normally want people with
Banking, Insurance, Finance and Project Management experience they occasionally
need geeks like me.
Given just a week, I met with many officials and helped come up with a plan to help the small business owners of an entire country. Just think what you and I can do in an afternoon brainstorm session! Contact us today and see how we can help your small business.
Home - About Us - Services - Support - Portfolio - Contact Us Copyright Mark J Rubin Enterprises Inc 2005-2007 |
