It was romance that led her to Italy, but it was belief in Bulgaria's successful future that led her back. Janette Giannopoulou moved to the Milano area, to Como, specifically, in 1997 because of a certain someone. She didn't know any Italian language when first arriving, so she studied it and became fluent.

Always having had an eye for fine quality embellishments, she soon developed an interest in Italian jewellery, particularly in that made of stainless steel, which was not available in Bulgaria at the time. She realised that such personal trimmings would also be attractive to Bulgarian women, who, she says, have just as much style as Italian women, only of a different sort: "Italian style is cleaner, not so embellished, so froufrou," she says.

The path to her current profession includes as many steps as there are intricate pieces to the jewellery she sells. Born in Plovdiv, her family moved to Sofia when she was eight years old. Janette has something of an analytical mind, for she was a student at a maths high school, where she specialised in car engines. After high school, where she had also studied French and Russian, she entered university and ultimately graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering. "And I thought it was interesting," she recalls, "but then it became very difficult, and I decided that it was not (a field) for a woman." So she took advantage of a new distance-learning course from the same institution, and soon obtained a master's in economy.

Then came Italy, and the eventual realisation that she could put her two interests - economics and finery - into one profitable package. While she liked living in Italy very much, she "decided that Italian bijou was missing in Bulgaria. I used to buy a lot (of Italian jewellery when living in Italy). I think Bulgarian women are very modern and very fashionable, and that's how I started this in Bulgaria," she says. She moved back to Bulgaria in 2001.

And it was not bad. In fact, she didn't mind moving back here, saying that "I prefer to be back in Bulgaria, because I love Bulgaria and I prefer to see the improvements. It's easier to stay in Italy and like your life, but I'm very happy to be back. Because I believed I could succeed, I wanted to live the changes."

Four years ago, she made this goal tangible, and began selling Zoppini and Makuti stainless steel jewellery wholesale to Bulgaria.

In the meantime, while in holiday in Greece one summer, she met a man, and this time he was a keeper. He, too, was in Greece on holiday, visiting family and friends in his native land after having immigrated to Australia 18 years prior. His name was Yannis, and when they married, they decided to take up residence in Greece. And because that's just how she is, Janette, who already spoke English, French, Italian and a bit of Russian, undertook the Greek language as well, and studied it for two years. Now she is fluent in language number five.

"It's not so difficult," she says. "If you know two languages, the third, the fourth is easy."

While in Greece, she started her business, selling Zoppini and Makuti to Bulgarian customers through a third person. But it was a bit too hard running a business from another country, and two years later, in 2004, they moved to Sofia.

The beginning was difficult. After two or three unsuccessful locations around Sofia - not enough human traffic, unstable rental rates - Janette found success in her spot in TZUM, the oldest and most established shopping centre in the country. She says that her first customers were Greek women, then other foreigners, because they were the ones, at the time, with greater financial resources. Now Bulgarians are falling for her products as well.

I ask her - why stainless steel? She lists the advantages - no need to polish, it's sturdier, you can wear it while bathing, in the swimming pool. Not to mention chic design.

Just when things were going well, with a frequented location and reliable shop assistance, malls started to open in Sofia. She has noticed a great drop-off in the number of people walking through the doors of what was once a communist-era consumer goods supply central. The hunt for a better location is on, again. Vitosha Boulevard has exorbitant rents for miniscule floor space, other parts of the city don't have enough foot traffic to justify their high costs, and yet other streets just don't attract the sort of customers that would buy what she sells. Janette is starting to think that having a place in a mall is the only way to go.

She has plans in the works, though, and is opening a shop in Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach) by this summer.

Maybe next summer, when things are more certain, more established, she and Yannis will set off on her first trip to Australia. She would like to go, but such a holiday would deserve at least two months… and at this point, she is just too dedicated to her profession to stay away.