Over the past two weeks, we’ve been chasing government bodies for a response, sending the Lafetki packages you’ve ordered, and considering our next steps.
After numerous calls to unanswered phones, we managed to get in touch with the Labour Office to ask how to hire someone under the employment promotion scheme. The employment agency told us, “Ask the Labour Office; we just announce that the budget has been allocated.” The Labour Office said: “No, there’s no money – what programme?” It turns out that the employment promotion programme allocates funding on a municipal basis, and for Sofia, funding is allocated for just one or two positions, and the budget runs out within a week or two. We also learnt that this programme does not support remote working – probably because it is more difficult to monitor. This would pose a problem for us, as our foundation does not have an office; we work from home and would expect the same from future employees. We are awaiting the vote on the budget for the Human Resources Development Programme, where the European Union provides the funding and there should be sufficient funds allocated to Sofia Municipality.
We have not yet received a response from the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) regarding the requirements for the inks used to print on napkins. We suspect that the requirements and regulations will turn out to be minimal, if not non-existent. This presents us with a dilemma – whether to use digital printing with printer-grade ink, which has not been dermatologically tested, but is probably fine by law, or to look for a healthier option, even if this isn’t required by law? Whilst we were pondering this, we came across a scientific entrepreneurship project with a social element, and we said to ourselves, ‘Hang on, can’t we make our own ink that can be used in digital printing and is also safe for contact with skin and food?’ So we rang up two departments at the Technical University of Varna until we found the right one – the Department of Printing Technology. Next week we’ve arranged to meet and discuss whether we can apply together. They’ll handle the patents; we’ll focus on the ink, which will help streamline the printing process and allow us to start producing it ourselves.
We had a meeting with a young man who has left the Centre for Social and Family Support, and we’ll try to help him find accommodation and opportunities. We’ll tell you more soon.
Thank you for your support and trust, and have a lovely Friday 🌊☀️