site.btaOSU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Executive Director Mundorff: Bulgaria Seems to Be Attractive Investment Destination

In an interview for BTA, Karl Mundorff, Executive Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director of Advantage Accelerator at Oregon State University, said that Bulgaria seems to be an attractive investment destination due to the research and development tax credits companies can utilize. There are also a wide number of EU and Bulgarian programmes to help companies develop and grow. The country is strategically located for market reach into the rest of Europe and Asia, he also told BTA. 

The interview was taken after an international business forum in Portland, Oregon, on December 8 organized by InvestBulgaria Agency as part of a one-week roadshow in the United States within a project on establishing Bulgaria as a successful investment destination. The project is funded under Operational Programme Innovation and Competitiveness (2014-2020).

The Advantage Accelerator Mundorff heads hosted InvestBulgaria Agency's conference in Portland at the Joseph R. Robertson Collaborative Life Science Building. Asked why he decided to help Bulgaria make its presentation, he said: "I believe innovation and entrepreneurship is something all economies should develop because it drives humankind forward. Helping Oregon SMEs discover the opportunities for doing work/business in Bulgaria helps our startups and should help Bulgaria, too."

Mundorff advised that when presenting Bulgaria as an investment destination, greater emphasis should be put on the breadth of high speed internet across the country. 

Asked why it was valuable for Bulgaria to present its investment opportunities to companies from Portland, he said a lot of companies in the US do not think about markets outside of the country, but 95% of markets are outside of the United States. "If our SMEs are not thinking globally, their competitors will," he added.

"From the little I know about Bulgaria's startup ecosystem, it would appear there is a need to develop something like the Advantage Accelerator in universities across the country. This would support the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and the innovation economy and create a base to support this culture change," Mundorff told BTA.

Oregon State University's Advantage Accelerator was created in 2013 to support the regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship ecosystem. Its unique three-programme approach is designed to assist startups in all stages of their growth with the goal to launch each venture with a robust and successful growth strategy. The Advantage Accelerator has worked with representatives of Greece and Romania but never of Bulgaria, Mundorff said.

Other Americans, too, shared their impressions of InvestBulgaria Agency's roadshow.

Ryan Fischer, CEO of boutique project management consulting company Hill City Global Sofia and former vice president of Bank of America at its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, described as excellent the development of the meetings of Bulgaria's representatives with the business community in the US. He was a leading lector at the forum in Portland as well as the previous one in Sunnyvale, California, on December 6. 

Kellie Holloway Jarman, Office Director of the US Commercial Service in Portland, described the Bulgarian delegation's visit as very successful, and said she expects many productive talks. She gave a high mark to the inclusion of Fischer in the delegation as a US business representative familiar with the situation in Bulgaria.

Steamchain Corp, a company from Portland that offers financial services for international payments across the globe, is already showing interest in Bulgaria. Steamchain Corp CEO Dan Biggs told BTA that after the conference in Portland, he sees Bulgaria as an appropriate destination for an expansion of his business. 

On the Bulgarian delegation to the US led by InvestBulgaria Agency Director Bogdan Bogdanov, were representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Startup Association, Sofia Deputy Mayor Doncho Barbalov, Plovdiv Deputy Mayor Stefan Stoyanov, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Bulgarian entrepreneurs, representatives of the startup ecosystem, and experts.