On July 21, 2020, RAM Central Stara Planina organised the 3rd local stakeholder meeting via Zoom. The purpose of the meeting was to present and share with the local stakeholders the lessons learned from the First Interregional Thematic Seminar. The two-day public event, held in May 2020, was focused on the topic “How to improve innovation applied to business models and process” and promoted good practices* from Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Finland and Hungary.
Mariela Petrova – Executive Director of RAM Central Stara Planina, presented to the participants in the meeting inspiring examples of successful crafts gathering, synergy between cultural heritage, crafts and tourism, mentorship from inside out and female entrepreneurship.
She revealed in her presentation different stories from each partner in CRAFTS CODE: about a beautiful pink attic home studio, where a hobby grew to a full-fledged business with a recognisable brand nationwide in Hungary; about crafts and nouvelle Spanish cuisine and the dialogue between them; about an idyllic old fishing shack with a shop inside selling craft products, local bread and canned lamb, that become a point of reference also for tourists in Finland and a programme that helps Irish design and craft enterprises to develop and implement a digital strategy, enabling them to scale and grow their business.
A good practice from Bulgaria was also shared – a business model of an artisan, who has organised a completely independent business cycle by doing everything himself: from the source material to the finished product and its realisation on the market.
The participants in the virtual meeting had the opportunity to discuss the requirements for Good Practice on the second topic of the project: “How to access new markets and targets” and to share information about initiatives that can be presented to the European partners as a good practices from Bulgaria.
* According to the CRAFTS CODE standards, a business model could be recognized as a good practice only if it functions as a forerunner in its field, can be translated to other fields and situations, has a specific goal, reaches positive results and mentions possible matters of problems solving.
