With the assistance of the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, The Bulgarian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) is a co-organizer of the 8th European Forum for Social Entrepreneurship.

Through the initiative of the National Union of Labor Productive Cooperatives, over the years, the Forum has built traditions in the concentration of important events, signposts and important themes, illustrating the current European and regional trends in the development of social entrepreneurship.

The eighth edition of the European Social Entrepreneurship Forum will be held from 28 to 30 January 2019 at the International Fair Plovdiv.

In 2019 the organizing committee of the Forum has set as the theme of the event the "Ecosystem of Social Entrepreneurship". In its reasoning, the Committee stresses the need to adopt a holistic approach to addressing social entrepreneurship by addressing the current issues in the eight elements of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, seen at three levels - European, national and local.

With the support of the Ministry of Economy and Minister Emil Karanikolov, for the first time through the BSMEPA, the European Social Entrepreneurship Forum will expand its exhibition with representatives of Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises. This extension will provide an opportunity for immediate social entrepreneurs to contact their potential partners, both in the field of creating new markets and in the process of improving their supply of raw materials.

More than 100 social entrepreneurs from the country, more than 35 foreign participants, 10 large enterprises representing their corporate social responsibility and 30 micro, small and medium enterprises from Bulgaria are expected to participate in the Forum.

The participation of BSMEPA as a co-organizer of the European Social Entrepreneurship Forum comes after the end of 2018, during a working meeting between the Executive Director of BSMEPA Dr Boyko Takov and the Chair of the The National Union of Labor Productive Cooperatives Stiliyan Balasopulov, they have identified specific steps towards the development of the social economy and entrepreneurship. The two sides then discussed the problems in the social employment sector, relying on business models that can meet the goals of improving the working environment for people with disabilities and the development of the economy in the sphere.