Theme: COUNTDOWN 5

COUNTDOWN is a global initiative by TED and Leaders' Quest, launched in 2020, to promote and invest in the bold solutions and ideas that bring us closer to a zero-carbon world - a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for all. COUNTDOWN covers five interconnected areas that help to plan for a cleaner future - transport, food, materials, energy and nature. TEDxVitosha is part of this world-wide program from the very beginning, and we are staging the event for a 5-th year now.

For the fifth year in a row we will be together at this inspiring environmental event. And once again we will provide free exhibition space in the expo in front of the main hall to 12 of the most prominent "green" Bulgarian startups. Last year we introduced you to the impressive teams, products and services of Sensato Networking, Coliving Semkovo, MobiWash, Rematrak, EcoHunt, Mellifera, Vodoraslo, FoodObox, Saint Martén, Svetna Foundation, Green Human Being, Entree Food, Rosey's Mark and Green Gold International. Who will be the 2024 exhibitors? Come and find out.

Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia
89 B, Vitosha Blvd
Sofia, Sofia-Grad, 1463
Bulgaria

Barbara Bendandi

Wildlife Conservationist

Professional theater actress from Naples. A polyglot. Born in Italy to a Romanian mother. Lived in 8 countries around the world: Italy, Mozambique, Morocco, France, Belgium, Germany, USA and now - in Romania. This is Barbara Bendandi – the Conservation Director of WWF Romania. Her theater career included a role in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and even the main role in the play After Juliet. How did she become an environmentalist? By participating in climate negotiations with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Climate change became a major theme in her life and work. She joined the United Nations to work on the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Later, Barabara decided to see the perspective of NGOs, and joined WWF in Romania. Her work took Barbara back to her roots. Today, she leads the program for the reintroduction of bisons to Europe.

Blagoy, Stoyan & Stanimir

Eco Marathon Participants

Hydrogen mobility has reached Bulgaria, thanks to Dr. Blagoy Burdin. He helped install the first hydrogen station and now he drives a hydrogen car! Blagoy is an associate professor at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He works on batteries and fuel cells. He lead the team of Sofia Technical University in an Eco-Marathon, where they built and competed in an energy-saving car, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. So did Stoyan & Stanimir. They are still at school in the mountain town of Chepelare. For 10 years, the school has participated in the Eco-Marathon, too. Stanimir is the pilot and Stoyan is the mechanic. The boys are at the workshop every day after classes, to check on the 'trolley'. The preparation is a serious business - in 2024, at the competition in France, they finished 3rd out of 29 participants in the category.

Hristo Hristov

Waste Collector

“Waste is not garbage but a resource”. Hristo Hristov crosses daily all of Sofia and its surroundings. He collects our waste - and he does it professionally. For the last 4 years he had been driving a bus. First - a small one, and now a bigger bus. Before diving into the world of recycling he transported fruits & vegetables. In his youth, Hristo was a football player. He even played two official matches for FC Levski Sofia – against Belasitsa (Petrich) and Marek (Dupnitsa). Nowadays Hristo attends an evangelical church in his neighbourhood and sometimes talks at the church gatherings. He works hard to secure the future of his two daughters - aged 4 and 8.

Ivo Ninov

Rock Climber & Adventurer

He is an adventurer - one of the most recognizable and colorful personalities on the global extreme scene. Rock climbing, paragliding, base-jumping, wingsuit flying, kite surfing, motorbiking - all over the world! He has 11 world records (many of which stand still) for fast ascents on some of the most famous climbing routes in Yosemite Park, USA. He climbed El Captain 76 times! He was on 2 covers of the Climbing magazine. A Five Ten shoe model was named after him – Ivo Knivo. In 2011, alongside his friend Dean Potter, Ivo set a world record for the longest wingsuit jump from the north face of Mount Eiger in Switzerland. Ivo discovered adventure climbing at a very young age. He crossed the Bulgarian mountains, looking for the most difficult lines and the northernmost walls. Then he left for the USA and spent 10 years between the granite of Yosemite and the waves of Hawaii. He has been everywhere - from the jungle through the desert, to the highest peaks on the planet.

Jose Pires

Innovation & Excellence Consultant

From the bustling streets of Rio de Janeiro to the pinnacle of global business, Jose Pires is a living testament to the power of determination and hard work. He is a man who once dreamed big while facing life's harshest realities. His father was a flowerist in Brazil, who passed away young due to the exposure to agricultural chemicals. Jose supported his mother to raise the family, he worked and studied hard. He made his way to a US University, which changed his life. Today, Jose is a strategic advisor to half of the Fortune 50 companies, and the guiding force behind the prestigious Global Excellence, Innovation & Transformation Awards.

Manuela Nikolova

Mountain Biking Guide & a Mother of 4 daughters

Menti Sana in Corpus Sana. Have you met a person who is ready to listen and follow her heart without any doubt? Manuela Nikolova embarked on a journey that has led her on the paths less travelled, always close to nature. At the age of 19, Manu went to Germany. There, she started building a German-style orderly life. She studied Print and Media in Munich. She printed banknotes (the real stuff). In the meantime, she discovered mountain biking, which introduced her to her husband. After another 19 years, they returned to her roots on the Balkans. The couple created a sanctuary of their own with a small, eco-friendly home, surrounded by a large vegetable garden and meadows for their 4 children to run freely (girls at 7, 5 and twins at 2). Manuela reads, researches, experiments, trusts. She learns from the original source - the Earth. She always says: "If I can't do it myself, I can do it with the Earth."

Markus Rach

Marketing Professor

Dr Markus Rach got into his professional field by chance. When working for an oil & gas company in Switzerland 20 years ago, he was tasked to align marketing with business strategy. He realized that, in the industry at the time, marketing was an under-used and unexplored world. This is how Markus became a marketeer. He grew to Senior Vice President roles in charge of Europe, Middle East and Africa. And he had a curious mind. He wanted to see how people live around the world. So he took off to Melbourne, Australia for his MBA - to be as far away from home as possible, literally. In 2021, after many years in the marketing field, an opportunity to teach in China appeared. Markus spent 2 years in Asia. And he received a Chinese prize for a scientific article. The he came back to Europe to teach at the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland. His purpose: to pass the practical skills that the industry needs.

Michail Petrov

CEO in the Tech Sector

If he could choose today, Michail Petrov would pick a profession in which human potential will not be replaced by artificial intelligence – a chef, an actor, a psychologist or... a priest. But he is a finance guy, and he currently leads a multinational company in information technology, with a team of over 500 people in Sofia. Well, software and finance are not the same thing. ‘True, but even in tech companies, you need someone to read the balance sheet’, he says. Michail Petrov has held several executive positions in the corporate world. He believes in leading by example, but also in leading the change. And what would he change in his own life? Nothing. He would upgrade and add to it. He has managed several successful companies; he has a wonderful family. He continues to conspire how to change the world for the better.

Radoslava Bekova

Marine Biologist

She has always been fascinated by water and the endlessness of the sea horizon. Dr. Radoslava Bekova is a hydrobiologist, an ichthyologist and an avid diver. Two things have determined her path. Firstly, the movies about Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research that she watched as a child. And secondly, the first look through a microscope, in her biology class. She was amazed: how come a tiny drop of water could contain so much life? For the last 15 years, Radoslava has devoted herself to studying the Black sea. She researches fish and cetaceans, she participates in expeditions. She dives. She sails and works on board of the "Academic" - the only research vessel in the Black Sea. Radoslava has received the award "For Women in Science", the Award from the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria for scientific achievements in the field of dissertations, the "Professor Marin Drinov" award for a young scientist in the field of "Climate Change, Risks and Natural Resources".

Tsvetan Parov

Speleologist

Dr Tsvetan Parov is a devoted speleologist who has been in the deepest caves in the world. In Iran he searched for water in the desert, and he found it - at a depth of 300 m. In Kyrgyzstan and Tunisia he taught cave rescue. In China he explored a cave full of plastic to find a way to clean it up. In Laos he descended deep underground. He explored Gouffre Berger in France – one of the deepest caves in the world. Not a bad achievement for an… engineer and physicist! More precisely, a Master in Aerospace Engineering and a Doctoral Student at the Institute for Space Research and Technology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. As a scientist, Tsvetan took part in the 32nd Bulgarian Expedition to the Antarctica. He Investigated huge ice crevasses in the Livingston Glacier, and collected data on how glaciers behave under climate change.