BOYAN Benev was born in October 1984 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He moved to the UK with his parents in 1991. A 20-year-old economics student at University College London, he has already amassed over six years of entrepreneurial experience.

His first move into business in the UK came at the age of 13 when he set up Victoria Antiques. He combined a fascination with antiquity with regular visits to Bulgaria to set up this small business which supplied antique dealers and enthusiasts with the specific items they were looking for.

Experience gained from Victoria antiques lead to the set up Empcore International Limited at the age of 16. He used the skills he had learnt trading antiques to run small import jobs of rose oil to the UK.

Almost simultaneously, Boyan launched Critica Marketing Limited as a company which would handle national business projects while Empcore would be left with the international. Critica's initial venture was the creation of personalised wine bottles for birthdays and weddings.

Later, Boyan began touring with the charity program Blue Skies, promoting entrepreneurship to schoolchildren across the country.

In 2003, he launched the Condomium project. This was a reaction to Boyan's shock at the conservative attitudes in the UK towards contraception. The structure of the project consisted of franchises which were continually advised how to sell their condoms in a more open and easy way. These included the use of lollipop-swirl style vending machines in public places. The project received a positive public reception and ran its duration smoothly.

In early 2005, Boyan embarked on a new project aimed at challenging the diluted market for mobile wallpapers by bringing together a group of 16 artists from around the country to create a set of 20 phone wallpapers. The wallpapers are currently available in over 20 countries.

Boyan is incredibly ambitious and sees these ventures as just the beginning. Bulgaria is very important to Boyan, he is keen to develop himself there and believes that he can help the country make the transition into a free market democracy.

Commentary by BOYAN BENEV

WHEN in Bulgaria I always try to talk to people as much as possible - if for nothing else to keep my ever-deteriorating Bulgarian on a par. Throughout my whole three weeks there I did not meet a single person who was positive about the present state of the country, the direction in which it was heading or their future. The glitzy shops, cleaner streets and abundance of restaurants and bars hide a depressed and suppressed populous. People have no self-belief and esteem. I'm not talking about the wealthy in the country - their ignorant attitude hides them from the precarious nature of their existence. In question is the common Bulgarian who works long hours for a pittance and has to feed a family on it. Even the newly emerging middle class is also never far from these financial and social troubles.

The country itself has made great advances, touring a lot of the country this time, it was very impressive to see a greatly improved infrastructure. One had to go to a very beatnik road to remember the old stories about our roads. In other sectors too there are substantial leaps forward: the diversification of money with the new availabilities of credit and insurance are very noticeable. On a political level too it can be seen that there are more and more initiatives to at least attempt to create those institutions we associate with the West.

Yet all this falls on deaf ears, and why? Because the people don't want to listen, they're tired of the same old stories of their lives improving and the country advancing. Too many times has this story been spun and to them this is no different. From the side we can see that the country has advanced but we also notice what the residents see - the sharp increase in prices. The country is still multiples cheaper than the UK but there is a noticeable price increase which is affecting the low income groups, pensioners (i.e. key voters) being a prime example. What then does it matter to them that the roads or better or that there are small business initiatives if they cannot afford their bread and heating?

To make matters worse the international reputation of the country is suffering. The approach for EU accession is turning a lot of Western media against us, aiming to pick obvious holes in the country's make-up. This would be less of a problem if we had a respected leadership but currently we see no one of distinction, no one to stand out and make the case for our country to the world's media. Its like shooting at the goal without a goalkeeper and its doing us damage.

In the near future, decisive action needs to be taken to select a leadership which can be presented to the world. More importantly, a leadership which can be presented to the people. Something to make them lift their heads and be proud to say they're Bulgarian. It's a difficult thing to ask but in order for the country to truly move forward the bulk of the population needs to have self confidence, the confidence to take them through the tough times and see that things are getting better.

A lot of work will need to be done to change the naturally pessimistic nature of our typical citizen - its true, studies have been made to show that Bulgarians are the most pessimistic in Europe. After decades of repression the mass of people need to learn to think and act for themselves. The few that pulled themselves out of this standpoint have gone on to build this new elite and middle class, its down to the rest to follow.

This is all very easy to say but for example we have a family house in the village of Svezen and this place has not changed in centuries. It's a remote mountain village with a small, aging population. What do we say to these people? Its easy to explain the needs for optimism to someone in the cities seeing the dynamic change going on but for someone who has done the same thing all their lives and rarely, if ever, left their village its not such an easy task. What you can do is open their eyes. Don't let them rely on what their neighbours say, but improve media provisions and let them see, hear and read what's going on more easily.

It's clear that some see where the country needs to go but they cannot drive it alone. It needs the support of the whole population in order to pull Bulgaria back into the transition race. We need an effective and respected leadership both within and without our borders and an active effort to make every citizen realise what's going on in the process and what their role in it is.