Mentors

Our growing network currently consists of 50+ mentors with solid experience and proven track record in developing successful solutions in the FoodTech and AgTech. They represent different parts of the vertical across the value chain: from field to fork. Their combined expertise guarantees a holistic, uniquely fertile landscape for co-creation and innovation.

Meet our mentors

Krasimir Todorov

10+ years in FMCG sector in Bulgaria

Mariya Hristova

EIT food RIS Policy council, mentor at EWA women in agriculture program, expert strategies and innovations in the Ministry of agriculture in Bulgaria

Stefan Zhelyazkov

With over 12 years of experience and a BBA major in Marketing Strategy, hospitality and new ventures, Stefan has been part of the creation and running of several hospitality and startup projects in the Netherlands. Since his return to Bulgaria in 2019, he has been involved in business strategy and setting up 2 exciting businesses: Kitchen59 and the SaaS enabled Marketplace FoxCrop that connects farmers, producers, restaurants and other food service providers. His expertise lies in marketing strategy, product and leadership.

Petya Angelova

Petya is a Procurement, Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Expert with 8 years of experience in production environments. She is also a Lead ambassador for Food Hack Sofia. Petya is passionate about the high tech and tough engineering environment, and how it operates. She loves to connect to the entrepreneur community to exchange creative ideas, innovate and help them scale. She has MEng Industrial Engineering and Management, a diploma in Procurement and Supply Chain Management @ Oxford College of Procurement and Supply and a certificate in Production and Inventory Management @ Association for Supply Chain Management.

Sid Varma

Private market investor with interests in novel quality IP products, generating sales and providing impact. Helping startups navigate their go-to-market strategy and help with addressing market needs.

Olga Vassilevska

Olga is a majority owner and manager of MW LOGISTICA and a third generation freight forwarder. Focusing on developing its own grouping lines and warehouse logistics, today the company manages over 200 Bulgarian and international companies’ supply chains. Olga is part of Forbes "30 under 30" ranking. Her role of mother to Ekaterina (5 years old) and Borislav (3.5 years old) is the main reason for a complete change in outlook and attitude towards herself and the world.

Georgi Gavazov

Georgi Gavazov is a brand/communication strategist with over 20 years of experience in the field. After a successful career in some of the leading global advertising networks, in 2018 he founded Black Sea Catch – a company aiming to redefine Black Sea region culinary while making sustainable fishing practices the norm in the Black Sea. Georgi is a vocal advocate of brands taking a clear stand and active position on the major challenges society faces, and considers the brand a key element in the process of tackling them. He urges companies to consider brand equity just as important as technology and/or innovation.

Claudia Marcusson

Over 20 years of mentoring experience and board advisory to start-ups & scale-ups, SME's and large corporates in different industries and at all maturity levels in Singapore, Germany, Netherlands, UK, US, Uganda, Ghana, Nepal, India, Kenia, Vietnam - excellent understanding of finding the right product-market fit suiting customer needs and developing a go-to-market strategy as well as scaling for international expansion - Brought several ventures to life within Standard Chartered Bank as B2B and B2C model; expert in sharpening business models & value propositions, gaining customer insights in a cost-efficient way, customer validation & testing, localisation & go-to-market strategies and an open network connector - 22 years of work experience in investment management, banking, and insurance – having led innovation & digitalisation projects with global clients from several industries like Agriculture (built also an AgriTech Venture), Energy, Manufacturing, FMCG, etc. - worked in various leadership roles in Innovation, Business Development & Sales, Change Management, Legal & Risk, Market Data & Procurement with corporates like Standard Chartered Bank, ING, NN Group, ABN AMRO, and State Street Bank to name a few - University lecturer on sustainability/Green Technology, FinTech & digital transformation as well as corporate innovation & entrepreneurship at the National University of Singapore and trainer to corporates and C-suite executives - broad and diverse network in different industries in Europe and Asia - Investment committee member of Venture Capital funds in Singapore and Europe. Angel investor and LP in several growth VC funds - Masters in law and quantitative research as well as licensed instructor and expert in Human-Centred Design & Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, agile methods and a certified SCRUM Master - I love sharing my knowledge and network with startups and get energised by working closely with the founders & team to find creative solutions for ‘hairy problems’.

Yani Dragov

Yani Dragov founded Smart Organic in 2008, when he was 28 years old. Since then, he has been the company's executive director. Before starting his own business, he worked for 3 years in finance as a portfolio manager. Yani holds a bachelor's degree in financial mathematics from the Technical University of Munich and a master's degree in economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany and is skilled in management, finance and sales. Yani has been a vegetarian since the age of 18 and has a passion for healthy food and a holistic lifestyle. Yani has been practicing meditation and breathing exercises for more than 20 years. He is also a qualified instructor of meditation as well as the Happiness Program course of the international Art of Living foundation.

Zornitsa Mitkova

Zornitsa is a managing director of Teenovator. She has a strong background at PR and communications, with projects on the themes of technology, climate change, design, architecture and social causes.

Ivan Draganov

Ivan leads Growth at US-based LyRise, a platform that connects organizations with vetted AI talents to maximize their impact. He co-founded Unilease VC, a self-funded alternative investments firm investing in Indian early-stage startups where his focus lay in Foodtech and Agritech. He is marketing manager at AgroHub.bg, the Bulgarian digital innovation hub for agriculture. At Dealroom.co, Ivan led custom research projects for top-tier VC such as Atomico, Accel, Five Seasons Ventures and supra-national agencies such as the European Innovation Council. Ivan has been a speaker at Techsylvania, Deep Foodtech Conference, Edtech roundtable by LocalGlobe, Foodtech Invest Days, ICMA, EduData Summit, Icos Capital Innovation Summit, AgroCode, AgriFood 2021, and more. He has a background in econometrics and financial economics and helps founders strategize, grow and fundraise.

Mariya Konstantinova

Mariya is a FoodTech pioneer, supporting AgriTech, FoodScience, FoodService, Coaching, Delivery and Retail. Mariya supports startups developing new food products in answering transparency, health, and environmental concerns. During the last 10+ years, Mariya has gained solid experience in finance as a CFO for the Japanese and Chinese affiliates of AGRANA Group. Leading investment projects in Algeria, Russia, China and Japan equipped her with knowledge and skills that are invaluable to an investor in the food sector. Mariya moved to Shanghai in 2018, where she worked on creating Superhuman Studios - a venture studio investing in plant-based food products.