On October 5 and 6, 2018, in Lovech, took place a Regional Public Forum "Lovech 2018 - Bridges for Socially Engaged Enterprises" that was organized by the Municipality of Lovech, with the support and assistance of the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Part of it was the two-day bazaar (located in Lovech city center - Hali Lovech) of products and services of Bulgarian social enterprises from Lovech and the country.

The major focus in the events during the weekend in Lovech was put on the Public Forum "Lovech - Regional Prospects for Development of Socially Engaged Entrepreneurs". The debate in the forum was conducted around four key themes for social entrepreneurs and their partners: "Access to Resources and Markets", "Digital Marketing", "Complementing” Employment" and "One For All" Decisions”. The participants took part in the various working groups led by Rayna Timcheva (Microfond - Sofia Foundation), Alexander Georgiev (Equinox Partners), Freddy Wolves (De Pasarel Bulgaria Foundation) and the professional coach Rossen Rashkov. The working groups identified three proposals for each of the following topics: 1. What do we need in order to convert the idea into a good practice; 2. What are the key partnerships that will help this idea grow and 3. What does the policy need to do, so that this good practice becomes a national policy.

Official guests on the second day of the Public Forum were the Minister of Labor and Social Policy Biser Petkov and the politicians Svetlana Angelova and Anna Alexandrova. In the "Gallery" format, the participants in the forum shared with the representatives of the state authorities and with the mayor of Lovech Cornelia Marinova and the regional governor of Lovech Georgi Terziiski, the results of the discussions in the working groups from the previous day. The participants gave their messages to Mr. Petkov, the politicians, Mrs. Marinova and Mr. Terziyski, concerning the urgent need for full and continuous cooperation by the side of the state and local authorities in the process of building a peaceful and sustainable environment for the development of social entrepreneurship in Bulgaria and, in particular, in the municipality of Lovech.

The BCNL team believes that the more discussions are taking place on the subject of social entrepreneurship and the measures by which it can be supported, the better decisions will be made to develop the legal framework and policies in this area.