Bulgaria received the prize for “Most Promising Business Angel Network of South East Europe”
This year’s World Business Angels Investment Forum took place in Istanbul, Turkey on 21 – 23 February 2016, hosted by the Turkish Business Angels Association. The aim of the forum was to bring together the best SME, public and corporate early stage market players worldwide currently working in collaboration to ease the access to finance for SMEs and entrepreneurs. The last World Chambers Congress (which took place in 2015 in Torino) was also focused on access to finance for SMEs.
During the Forum in Istanbul, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between ICC WCF and the global network of Business Angel organizations.
Traditionally, a number of awards were also made and Bulgaria received the prize for “Most Promising Business Angel Network of South East Europe”.
During the Memorandum signing, WCF Director Anthony Parks said: "There are scatterings of chambers working with business angels in various parts of the world and it is hoped that through this MOU, further local collaborations can be established between our local chambers, their entrepreneurs and business angels. Increasing the awareness of the respective activities of both types of organizations to learn about policies and programmes available for entrepreneurs can only positively impact SME financing and local economic development."