Andreas Niforou: Foggy vision

Andreas Niforou is an agricultural engineer who first visited Bulgaria in 1987 to study in Plovdiv before the fall of communism. “I had to choose between Italy and Bulgaria and my father told me, ‘Son, your cousin Ilias decided to study in Bulgaria, so you should go with him. If you go to Italy, you’ll never come back.’ After that, my great Bulgarian adventure began in earnest for me.”

His initial impressions were that he seemed to have entered a different world. “When we passed the Greek-Bulgarian borders with Ilias it was a big shock for me. I was in a communist country. Even the fog was different! Now, after 21 years, I feel part of this country. I have a wife who’s 100 per cent Bulgarian and a half-Bulgarian daughter. I have good friends here but deep down my heart dances to Syrtaki.”

Andreas feels that Bulgaria is still very much “virgin” territory for business. “Competition in Greece is much higher,” he says. He sees many cultural similarities between the two countries.

“But one salient difference is that Bulgarians don’t care about politics as much as Greeks. And I hate the fact that ‘Uncle Sam’ has so much influence here.” He forecasts great improvements for Bulgaria in the near future. “In terms of infrastructure everything will be fine in Bulgaria within five to 10 years,” he says.