2020 Mentor Awards
Mentors are at the heart of Endeavor. Most often the calls they receive from us are requests for their time, energy and advice. Even in a year as tough as 2020, they showed up whenever our entrepreneurs or our team needed them. While we cannot celebrate Endeavor Bulgaria’s mentors through a cocktail event at this time, we still want to honor their dedication.
Here’s the 5 mentors who are recipients of the 2020 Mentor Awards:
Top New Mentor
Hans van Houwelingen
Director of Telelink Investments and Founder & Managing Partner of Urban Impact Ventures
Hans Van Houwelingen is the recipient of Endeavor Bulgaria’s Top NewzMentor Award for 2020. It was exactly a year ago that we met Hans and we grasped the opportunity to put his vast scope of expertise to use. Hans has been helping Endeavor Entrepreneurs and Dare to Scalers on sustainability, business planning and strategy through individual mentorships as well as group workshops. In 2020, Hans also took part in Endeavor’s selection process as an interviewer of candidate companies. His ability to quickly pinpoint important issues and maintain an open mind make him a versatile mentor that is highly regarded by his mentees. Hans – thank you for consistently and thoughtfully preparing and executing each engagement with our entrepreneurs. Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Most Endeavorized Mentor
Ruslan Papazyan
Executive Director at Telelink Infra Services Bulgaria
The Most Endeavorized Mentor Award of 2020 goes to Ruslan Papazyan! Ruslan is among Endeavor Bulgaria’s most engaged mentors who always takes up whatever challenge we call him with. He is highly engaged with interviewing and mentoring especially our Dare to Scale entrepreneurs. With his positive attitude and problem-solving mindset, Ruslan embodies the spirit of Endeavor. Ruslan – thank you for your commitment to helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses and thrive as leaders!
Give-back Mindset
Sabina Gyosheva
Co-founder and CEO of BY FAR
Give-back Mindset Award of 2020 goes to our Endeavor Entrepreneur Sabina Gyosheva. Sabina personifies our organization’s values of sharing one’s success and knowledge with others. Ever since we started working with her in 2017, Sabina has been mentoring and encouraging fellow entrepreneurs both in Bulgaria and the global Endeavor network. In 2020, she was especially engaged with the organization through sharing her lessons learned as a CEO of a dynamically growing company. Thank you, Sabina, for always urging others to think BIG without ignoring the humane part of doing business. Congratulations on your award!
Exceptional Commitment Award
Vassil Terziev
Managing Partner at Eleven Ventures
Vassil Terziev is the recipient of the Exceptional Commitment Award of 2020. Among all mentors at Endeavor Bulgaria, Vassil has donated the most time to mentoring entrepreneurs in 2020. Vassil is also a valued panelist at Endeavor’s international selection events, where he is regularly invited as an interviewer at the final step of selecting candidates from around the world. When it comes to the topic of capital raising, Vassil is invaluable to Endeavor Bulgaria’s members with his experience and advice on the various stages of the process. A mentor, panelist, workshop lecturer, or just a fellow entrepreneur who is there to listen, five years after his initial commitment to Endeavor, Vassil’s pledge to Endeavor’s mission stands strong. Thank you, Vassil!
Mentor of the Year
Bojidar Neytchev
Partner at PwC, Deals Leader SEE
Bojidar Neytchev is the recipient of Endeavor Bulgaria’s Mentor of the Year Award. In 2020, Bojidar’s wide array of expertise was deployed in mentorships and interviews with scale-ups ranging from retail to food and beverage to technology verticals. What entrepreneurs love most about Bojidar is his penchant to garnish his constructive advice with humor. Our team has learned that if you are in a Bojidar-led meeting, you need to sharpen your ears so as not to miss any key messages amused by his signature witty demeanor. Bojidar’s mentorships are always content-packed with experience that he himself went through or witnessed in his extensive consulting career. Most importantly, Bojidar cares – he cares not only for Endeavor Entrepreneurs, but he cares for Bulgaria’s entrepreneurial spirit and future.
Boijdar – thank you for all your energy and dedication to the community and congratulations!