Kiril Vatev's business card reveals just his name and company logo. Nothing in his e-mail address suggests that he is one of the owners and the manager of Tandem-V, producer of one of the best-known Bulgarian brands of meat products. Vatev's card reflects the development of his company from a small business exercise started by two brothers to today's full-scale production unit represented in most shops around the country.

"To be honest, I knew nothing about meat processing when we started the business in 1993. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into," Vatev says.

In 1993 Vatev and his brother Todor hired the premises of a recently closed plant. Most of Vatev's professional experience before that had been as coach to professional wrestlers, quite a contrast to the meat processing business.

"I'm not the kind of a person who starts doing something only when everything is transparent, secure and guaranteed. For me, insecurity makes life interesting. So one of my rules has always been to acquire knowledge along the way, learn from mistakes and not repeat them. This helps me deal with all kinds of situations, no matter how challenging and surprising they may be."

It sounds simple today, when Tandem has developed as a reputable meat processing firm. But back then - with little money and no experience - things were rather different.

The first business plan
Unlike other entrepreneurs, Vatev has no qualms about discussing the humble financial beginnings of his business. Tandem's first plan in those days was to repay a loan the brothers had taken out to cover the mortgage on their parents' house.

"What mattered back than was to work in a way that would allow us to repay the loan so that we didn't leave our parents on the street. This was our first business plan. We started with a loan. So it was vital to have a viable business plan because we knew the risk we were taking and the one we had exposed our parents to." Naturally, with hindsight, Vatev sees this first business plan as their most stressful venture to date because of "our lack of experience and lack of information". This "clean" start, he believes, accounted for the rigorous scrutiny from the authorities over the years.

"We have always been subjected to serious investigations by all state institutions. We've been checked for all kinds of reasons without warning. Back in 1995/96, whenever the media speculated about us, inspectors would be at our door the next morning. We weren't a leading company at that time so I think the best explanation is that our company had a transparent start. In those days supervisory bodies were carefully `steered' towards checking certain companies at regular intervals," he says.

Vatev cites Tandem's case as evidence of the strict control in the Bulgarian food industry back in the 1990s. This runs contrary to the general perception of chaos that followed the fall of communism. "It's not entirely true. From the point of view of our business, all institutions involved in controlling meat processing were there, checking us constantly. At some point we underwent simultaneous checks from the tax, sanitary and health authorities," he says.

Today, this gives Vatev enough reason to answer "the first million" question without a problem. "Frankly, I find this question ridiculous because, in the past 15 years, we've been exposed to so many people as a company that I think this should be addressed to those who have checked us in recent years."

Doing business in the 1990s
"The years that immediately followed 1993 were difficult. The main thing I can say about our progress so far is that we have no reason to feel ashamed - quite the contrary. We have always tried to work in a sustainable way. All our mistakes helped us develop further."

Vatev mentions the galloping inflation in 1996/97 as the company's most troubled period. At that time Tandem had to build its meat processing plant in Sofia's Iliyantsi neighbourhood. He also mentions the combined checks the company was subjected to following public speeches he gave in his capacity as head of the Association of Meat Producers. "I can't omit the time when we refused an offer by a certain economic grouping with a three-letter name to buy meat from them. Suddenly we started "losing" motor vehicles. We've certainly been through some hard times over the years. But this has only made us stronger because I think it's normal for a business environment to be difficult."

Nothing is easy
Some Bulgarians often say that they were unlucky in the first years after the fall of communism. "We can find thousands of reasons not to do something or not to make something work. But there is always at least one way to be successful at what you do. So, on one hand, we might have been lucky but, on the other hand, luck involves a combination of being ready to face certain challenges and take advantage of them," he says.

Vatev believes that obstacles are there to be overcome. "Nothing is easy in life. There is no easy business and there is no easy way of life. So, for me, the biggest satisfaction is to surmount difficulties and not somehow go around them. If you do the latter you'll always feel that life is hard. And this will make you a miserable person."

Vatev nails another widespread myth in Bulgaria that doing business abroad is much easier. "It's not true. In the European Union, for example, the market is extremely saturated. The difference is that everything is very clearly regulated abroad and rules are enforced at the highest level. We don't enforce these here in Bulgaria. This results in having players who have a different attitude towards following rules."

We are all small
"In Bulgaria we can't really talk of big producers because we're all small. There's a good reason for that. It is the market that makes a producer big and the Bulgarian market is too small to generate large producers. There are producers that are bigger than others, of course, but we consider ourselves to be among the middle-sized producers."

Vatev again highlights Tandem's low profile. This is visible in the company's advertising strategy. In the past several years Bulgarian TV channels have been flooded with adverts by meat producers. But Tandem was not one of them.

"It's just not our way. TV commercials are costly and depend on the scale of the company and its advertising budget. There is a big risk of investing money and getting little in return. But the fact that there are so many producers advertising means that there is a good competition on the market."

New challenges
With a limited domestic market Tandem naturally exploits the possibility of going abroad. The newly opened plant in the town of Gabrovo fits in this plan. Once again Vatev is cautious.

"It's too early to say where we would like to go to but we're looking for possibilities. We think that products made in Gabrovo have the highest export potential because they are traditional Bulgarian products that have unique qualities compared to the wide diversity of foreign markets. And, most of all, because they have sufficiently long expiry periods."

On a global scale, exports more or less follow migration patterns, Vatev says. "In our case this means that the chance for a Bulgarian producer to export products depends on the presence of Bulgarian emigrants. "We can target all emigrants from the Balkans because we have similar taste and traditions."

Snapshot

The manager: Kiril Vatev
The company: Tandem-V
The job: Co-owner and manager
In brief: In 1993 Kiril Vatev, together with his brother Todor Vatev, started the meat processing company
Tandem-V with a mortgage loan. That loan is now history, as Tandem has become one of the most popular
brands of meat products in Bulgaria with two processing plants - in Sofia and Gabrovo - and a
slaughterhouse in the village of Popovo. The latter is run by Todor Vatev, while the Sofia-based
operation is run by Kiril Vatev and his son Damyan Vatev. Started as a small family operation in 1993,
by 2007 Tandem-V had 180 employees and a turnover of 21.264 million leva. With its recent 1.5 million
leva investment in the Gabrovo plant, the company is now exploring export opportunities.