Promotion and establishment of the drugstore specialist profession in Bulgaria The certified dm drugstore specialist is an expert in the field of drugstore goods. He is competent and he has knowledge about the herbs, chemical processes and the science of nutrition. Our aim is divided in two directions. The first one is connected to the education of students. Since 11.2019 this profession has been officially accepted in Bulgaria under the name Consultant for cosmetic, perfumery, organic products and household chemicals. The education course is for students from 8th to 12th grade in high schools. Our second goal relates to our one year drugstore specialist course for our employees, who become experts about our assortment with 16000 goods.

1. Students in the 7th grade, who have interest in chemistry, biology, botany, nutrition, cosmetics and economy, and who wants to apply for high school. 2. Employees with the same interests, who are loyal to dm and want to develop in the company. The course for them lasts one school year and includes full-day lectures in accordance with a certain schedule.

1. Students - from 8th to 12th grade in high schools – 5 years 2. Employees – intern qualification course for one year

Students: In order to have full classes with students, we are investing a large number of resources in advertising admission campaigns. For the second year in a row, we are planning such campaigns in social media and with local activities. Our goal is to help the schools with finding students and promoting the new profession. We are also participating in the education process with lectures, free schoolbooks, visits of the students in the company facilities and much more. We are hoping to have four new classes in the next school year in four cities in Bulgaria – Sofia, Varna, Pleven and Dimitrovgrad. Employees: We take care of the administrative organization of the project, the selection of the employees, and we help the schools with free schoolbooks and other useful materials. We provide the course for free to our employees. We also organize additional activities like modules in cosmetics, botany, herbal field days. Of course, a part of our activities is to evaluate the quality of the course and to improve it.

Students: From the school year 2019/2020 we have one class in PGHHVT „D. I. Mendeleev“, Varna. And from school year 2020/2021 one more class in PGHVT „Louis Pasteur“, Pleven. Employees: So far, there are 108 certified drugstore specialists that participated in the course and 20 more are currently being trained. The participants are mostly employees from the dm stores, but any other employee who has interest is welcome to join the course. After graduation, the certified dm drugstore specialists become a part of some internal product workshops, but now as trainers. Thus, they not only spread their knowledge, but also develop as trainers and gain more personal confidence. In dm, this is our way to "learn from each other", which is one of our basic principles.