Ukrainian Ethnic Entrepreneurship in Bulgaria

Author

Penchev Vladimir

PhD, professor, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the BAS, Comparative Folklore Studies Department

Matanova Tanya

PhD, assist. professor, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the BAS, Comparative Folklore Studies Department

Ukrainian Ethnic Entrepreneurship in Bulgaria

Abstract

The Bulgarian word for ‘entrepreneurship’ (predpriemachestvo) encompasses the process of executing an economic activity, the activity itself and the results from it. Opening their own ethnic restaurant, shop, beauty salons or other institutions, migrants become ethnic entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial migrants. Some of them develop their business on the basis of ethnic products and objects (food, souvenirs, art works, etc.) identified often as cultural heritage, whilst others serve the open market, addressing the general audience beyond their own ethnic community.

In this text, attention is paid to the Ukrainian migrants in Bulgaria and their entrepreneurial structures such as shops, restaurants, hotel management, real estate, beauty salons and other examples from the trade, production and service sectors. Moreover, the entrepreneurial spaces, on the one hand, open a possibility to preserve and popularize different elements of the traditional and contemporary Ukrainian culture. On the other hand, some of these structures function as consolidation centers in which social networks are built, strengthened and expanded.

The authors’ methodological set includes semi-structured interviews, online observations and content analysis of different types of digital publication – websites, Facebook pages, and YouTube videos.

Keywords

ethnic entrepreneurship, Ukrainian business in Bulgaria, Ukrainian community abroad, ethno-cultural heritage, consolidation of Ukrainians.

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