As part of the Marketing course for third-year undergraduate students in the Business Administration programs at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, students attended an inspiring guest lecture by Mr. Dobrin Studenkov – an entrepreneur, visionary, and creator of numerous innovative ventures.

From the very beginning, Mr. Studenkov captivated the audience with the story of his humble start: “I came from Pleven to Sofia with an ironing board and a suit”. This vivid metaphor for determination and readiness to begin from scratch set the tone for the entire meeting. As he noted with a smile, there is much truth in the old Bulgarian saying: “They greet you by your clothes, but they send you off by your mind”.

His first entrepreneurial endeavor began while still a student, when he identified a specific market need and transformed it into a viable business opportunity. This led to the creation of three copy centers, one of which specialized in technical documentation and engineering drawings. Rather than settling for success, he pursued a new challenge – realizing his childhood dream of establishing a veterinary clinic dedicated to helping animals.

Throughout his talk, Mr. Studenkov emphasized the importance of location as a strategic factor for business success. Building trust and loyalty among clients, he explained, has been his guiding principle – an approach that mirrors a fundamental concept in modern marketing management.

From this experience emerged his next innovation – the first specialized animal ambulance in Bulgaria. Initially met with skepticism, the idea evolved through numerous transformations before becoming a practical and pioneering solution to a real-world problem. The students immediately recognized the connection with the “Blue Ocean Strategy” – the creation of new market spaces, as exemplified by Cirque du Soleil, Netflix, and Marvel.

The inspiring journey did not end there. Mr. Studenkov presented his latest project – a sustainable animal farm, which has gradually developed into a full entrepreneurial ecosystem, encompassing a dairy, a mobile slaughterhouse, a windmill, and a sawmill. As he eloquently put it, “Entrepreneurship is not a single act, but a process of continuous adaptation, observation, and action”.

Smiling, he also joked that although some students expected him to arrive on horseback, he had found no suitable place to “park” the animal in front of the FEBA. This humorous moment sparked a nostalgic reminder that, in earlier decades, the square in front of Sofia University’s main building was known as “the horse yard” – a symbolic link between tradition and modern visions of sustainability.

The lecture passed almost unnoticed in time, filled with vivid examples, humor, and inspiration. For the students, it was far more than an academic session – it was a living lesson in entrepreneurship, where the theories of Joseph Schumpeter came to life through the personal experience of a contemporary innovator.