On 1 October 2024, the “Building Bridges” event took place, which marked the official launch of an initiative that aims to raise awareness of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI). To this end, a hub is being opened to share resources, best practices and open trainings in the field to be freely used by small and medium enterprises, NGOs and institutions in the country. The initiative is led by Shell Bulgaria EAD, Hewlett Packard Enterprises Bulgaria and Lidl Bulgaria, with the support of the Bulgarian Diversity Charter. The hub is located on the Charter’s website.
As hosts of the event, Mario Garbeshkov, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Bulgaria, opened and welcomed the numerous guests. Maria Stoyanova from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Diversity Charter, welcomed the guests and shared about the early steps and the inception of the initiative based on the idea of the three companies. Dimitar Markov, Director of the CSD Law Program, presented highlights from a research conducted among small and medium enterprises in Bulgaria on their knowledge and needs in the field of DEI.
The Building Bridges initiative responds to the needs for additional training and sharing of good practices in DEI identified through the survey. During the event, representatives of the three companies stressed that their goal is to work with like-minded companies to raise awareness of the benefits of diversity and inclusion policies and to assist companies in implementing such policies, which will contribute to an overall improvement of the environment in the country as well as to a more competitive economy.
In a panel discussion Kameliya Slaveykova, Shell Bulgaria, Raya Tsvetkova, Lidl Bulgaria and Maya Peycheva-Takeva, HPE Bulgaria discussed why they believe that building bridges by sharing knowledge through a common hub, which is already available on the Charter’s website, is beneficial for companies and society. Within the hub, the three companies provide their own materials on the topic and plan to enrich the section with more guides in October. In addition to the digital resources, the companies are committed to providing a variety of free trainings to be held in the coming months on topics such as “Inclusive Leadership,” “Adopting a Growth Mindset,” and “Uncovering Bias,” “Implementing a Company Diversity Policy,” and “Recruiting Without Prejudice.”
Learn more about the initiative and stay tuned for new resources and training announcements on the Building Bridges page and on the Diversity Charter social media.
