"Sofia Up" at "Central Hali": entrepreneurship, mission, and true wealth according to Max Baklayan

The sixth edition of the Sofia Municipality's initiative "Sofia Up - meetings for entrepreneurs" is taking place today on the stage of "Central Hali" in Sofia. The event is dedicated to entrepreneurship, building sustainable business models, and the successful development of long-term projects, bringing together young and established entrepreneurs, investors, and people interested in startups.

The guest speaker at this year's edition is the founder and CEO of Tavex, Max Baklayan, who shared his personal journey in business and the lessons he believes lie behind sustainable success. He emphasized that for him, entrepreneurship starts not with profit, but with the value you are prepared to give.

According to him, the greatest entrepreneur is one who is not afraid to give first and then receive. "The greatest entrepreneur is the one who is ready to provide value before asking for money in return. The more you are ready to give in advance, the greater the chance that at some point you will be very successful," commented Baklayan.

He also described the common trait he believes connects all entrepreneurs – an inner "hunger." According to Baklayan, everyone at some point in their life has experienced a hunger for different things – knowledge, independence, recognition, or change. "You must constantly look for where there is value and how you can provide it," he noted, emphasizing that entrepreneurial thinking is a continuous process of searching and creating.

For him, the mission behind a business plays a key role. "The greatest entrepreneur is the one who has the greatest mission," stated Baklayan. According to him, people who lead their businesses from the position of a clearly formulated mission not only have a better chance of being financially successful but are also the "most satisfied" because they see meaning in what they do.

Max Baklayan also drew attention to the role of mentors in career and business development. According to him, one of the most important factors for success is finding the right person to learn from. "For career development, the most important thing is the right mentor," he said, adding that it is equally important to change the way we perceive difficulties – they never disappear, but "difficulties never end, but they build us."

In his lecture, Baklayan also criticized some widely held attitudes in Bulgaria. According to him, one of the biggest mistakes in our country is the focus on quick profit. He pointed out that "people are focused on what they will make and want to get rich quickly," describing Bulgarian society as "at best second-tier capitalists" who are still poor compared to Western societies.

Baklayan emphasized that many of us look first at "what they will gain from the transaction, and not what they will put into it." He also drew attention to the ostentatious attitude toward money: according to him, in Bulgaria, we often want to show how much money we have, while true wealth usually remains invisible. "Wealth is that which is not seen. What is visible is already spent wealth," he noted.

In the context of investments, Baklayan gave his definition: "The definition of an investment is to understand what you are investing in." He emphasized that the foundation of financial literacy is understanding the system in which we live. "First and foremost, you must know what kind of financial system you live in. You must know the rules of the game in order to win it," declared the entrepreneur.

Max Baklayan also focused on the importance of communication skills. As the "most important human quality," he pointed to social psychology – the ability to communicate effectively with the people around us. According to him, it is key "to be able to communicate with other people, to successfully convey our message to the other person, so that they want to hear us, understand what we are saying, and want to act as closely as possible to our ideas."

The sixth edition of "Sofia Up - meetings for entrepreneurs" reinforces the Sofia Municipality's commitment to supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sofia through meetings where successful business leaders share experience, and young entrepreneurs receive knowledge, inspiration, and real contacts for the development of their projects.