DESTI
-
NATION
NUMBER
ONE
Georgi Kamov
translated by Mariya Kamova
“We are
effectively dealing
with a
Wild West
country”
EU official, responsible for Eastern Europe
Reuters, 8 May 2013 г.
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Contents
What matters now
Why are we here
Our story
How did we end up here
Some old facts about us
Are we interesting enough?
A vision without people
A vision like any other
The race has changed
The world has gone mad
The result that matters
What are we the best at
Chaos with a + sign
Bulgaria as number one
Why exactly us
Not present on the map
Exporting the model
How do we begin
People in the spotlight
Involvement
Personal social responsibility
Communities
Changing the social environment
Design thinking
Experiences
Horizontal factors
Education
Everyone has a role
The state
Businesses
Non-governmental organizations
Partners and investors
What comes next
The story
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What matters now
Why are we here
This text does not pretend to say something completely
new and unheard of. It doesn`t contain great secrets or
revolutionary suggestions. It wasn`t requested by someone
and it is not meant for everyone.
What this text claims is that it matters. Right now,
we don`t know where we are heading as a country,
why we are going there and what it is going to bring us.
This text is about the most important thing we need to
start doing right now so we can see the results of our
actions in the future.
What is it?
The answer will not come with a new strategy, written
in a recently renovated office with permanently lowered
blinds and a random three-digit number on the door,
announced at a public discussion of ten people and
published in an unknown website with a miserable
navigation, the authors aware that no one will read the
whole thing.
The answer will come the moment we start asking
ourselves truly challenging questions. Here`s one:
What could turn Bulgaria into a
number one destination
on a global scale?
And I don`t mean it as a tourist destination, I mean it as a
focal point for something we can be the best at.
Not just good. The best in the world.
We, Bulgarians, are not used of thinking of Bulgaria as a
leading destination in anything. As a center of gravity with a
leading role in something, which is useful and important
both for us and for the rest of the world equally.
We need to raise the bar. It will give us an idea where we
want to go, what to stop doing, what to keep doing and
what to change. It will help us find a niche where we feel
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comfortable enough to live well, and at the same time
uncomfortable enough so that we continue moving ahead.
Yes, we have many serious problems. But none of them is
actually stopping us from pushing further. What holds us
back are the missing answers to questions such as “What
can we be the best in the world at”. This is our major
obstacle and it makes us go round in circles, again and
again, until we find ourselves in an all too familiar situation.
This text is my answer. I hope it is as provocative as the
question itself.
Our story
We live in interesting times, that`s certain. But do we live
in an interesting place?
Today, Bulgaria doesn`t have a story to tell - not individual
events, facts, words or phrases, but a coherent narrative.
We currently combine the lowest income tax in Europe
with the reputation of a cheap tourist destination,
protests, poverty, corruption scandals, organized crime and
the occasional burst of national pride either from stray
sporting achievements or traditional cuisine and historical
events from the distant past.
Stories help us by providing meaning to our environment
(meant here not as “natural habitat”, but “societal
setting”), and making the people, things and events around
us meaningful. They help us remember, appreciate,
recognize and create occasions for shared emotions and
joy. What we need now is a story of that kind – realistic,
yet ambitious. Authentic, but also forward-looking.
Interesting, while still credible.
Some refer to such stories as having a brand. The closest
translation in Bulgarian would be a “product label”, but it
doesn`t capture the full meaning of the word. A brand is
the essence, the very nature of a product or service – the
thing that makes it different from everything else. It helps
becoming memorable, recognizable, worth talking about,
significant - irreplaceable, even.
Packaging can enhance the image of a brand, but a flashy
wrapping cannot compensate the lack of essence – at
least not until we open it and take a look inside. This was
most evident in our recent discussions about Bulgaria’s
logo, symbols and “branding”. The focus of the debate was
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