Social enterprises solve some of the most significant problems of our society. Starting and growing a business with a cause is very inspiring, but also difficult. For the past 4 years, Accenture Bulgaria has been supporting the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) in training and sustainable development programs for social entrepreneurs. During this period we have trained more than 80 organizations to develop their ideas, finding solutions to problems such as employment of vulnerable people, nature protection, education, culture, etc. Our partnership has created an entirely new tool for the ecosystem-the platform www.darpazar.bg. Through an online store for the products produced by social entrepreneurs, it tells their stories. Every purchase is of great support to their causes.

The platform supports social enterprises for brand positioning, communicating their causes, increasing sales and reaching new customers, including corporate ones. DarPazar brings together over 30 social enterprises from all over Bulgaria, with over 70% of them providing direct employment to disadvantaged people and the rest supporting socially relevant causes. Through DarPazar, the causes of social enterprises have reached over 700,000 people.

Accenture's power is to facilitate a transformation of business and society. This is the reason the company stands behind social entrepreneurship - it believes that the complex challenges we face are more quickly and easily solved through human ingenuity and the willingness to change. DarPazar is 3 years old and we've built on the online store with: workshops with a cause for company employees, corporate catalogs, and bazaars at company offices (2 in Accenture in 2022).

1. Supporting the development and launch of social enterprises in the LET'S GO program: this is not "just business" 2. Creating and developing the online platform DarPazar - www.darpazar.bg 3. Development and growth of the community of social enterprises (34 at the moment) that offer their products in the online shop with a cause 4. Organisation of workshops for employees of companies - over 100 workshops 5. Creating catalogs for corporate orders and attracting business companies as customers of social enterprises 6. Conducting trainings for the DarPazar community to help increase the capacity of social enterprises. In 2022. Accenture also supported the expansion of the idea of a physical space for social enterprises - a shop area, a hub for capacity-building, and a space for workshops with a cause for employees of companies and the general public. The venue has already hosted 1 Christmas Bazaar with over 300 visitors at the end of December '22 and over 10 workshops with employees from business companies. In 2022, DarPazar visited Accenture with bazaars for their employees.

DarPazar is a new type of collaboration that develops the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Bulgaria - bringing together social enterprises and developing them both individually and as a community. Thanks to DarPazar, all members of the community have increased their sales revenue, making them more sustainable and supporting their causes, allowing them to develop more products and reach out to a larger part of society. Accenture employees have an increased interest in supporting a variety of causes and are familiar with the work of more civic organizations. The DarPazar team has also increased its capacity as a result of its collaboration with Accenture.