CEO Today Magazine - October 2021

www.ceotodaymagazine.com through our mentoring programme to the National Trade and Banking High School, we add value to the knowledge and skills of students. We have always strived to engage young people and to support them with our expertise so that they can quickly and easily enter real business practices. We are happy to be able to contribute to the strong connection between education and business with this partnership. You joined Postbank in 2003 and since then, have climbed all the way up to becoming its CEO. How have you managed to achieve this? I am grateful to have been an active participant and to have contributed to the writing of the bank’s history, especially in years characterised by complex internal and international situations, but also years that have been marked by significant achievements. In these three decades, Postbankhas proved itself as one of the most successful banks in Bulgaria, a good partner, employer and a socially responsible company. We have established ourselves as an institution that customers trust and that offers them solutions for their future. The result of this shared trust is that we are third in terms of loan portfolio and the fourth largest bank in Bulgaria in terms of assets and size of deposits, with a market share of more than 10%, with around 200 branches across the country and more than 100 awards won for our digital innovation and products, services and social responsibility policy. This would not be possible without the efforts of our entire team. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my colleagues, our customers, shareholders and the strong international group we are a part of. It is again the entire team of the bank that stands behind the digital achievements I mentioned. We are proud that they were highly esteemed by the prestigious World Finance Digital Banking Awards of the trusted World Finance Magazine. The awards are in the 2020 Best Consumer Digital Banks, Bulgaria and Best Mobile Banking Apps, Bulgaria categories. And for the fourth year in a row, Postbank won the Best Retail Bank 2021, Bulgaria award in the same prestigious competition. In 2021, the wreath of these achievements came with the award in the Efficiency category of the Annual Awards of the Bank of the Year Association. It is extremely important to us as efficiency is one of the most significant and leading factors in the banking sector and business as a whole. This recognition will motivate us to continue ahead reaching new highs. Have there been some challenges along the way, particularly connected to your gender? How have you overcome these? What defines a person’s development is their personal motivation, determination and capability; the direction they grow in as an expert and a person, regardless of their gender. Considering the intense work-life people who work in the banking sector lead, bringing some female qualities like positive emotionality, empathy and strong intuition could only be beneficial for the general atmosphere in the workplace. What is your advice to other women in finance who strive to become CEOs? I wish they have the professional freedom I am blessed with at Postbank so that they can develop their creativity, inventive spirit and diversity and be able to give way to their brave ideas. These are among the most important things I rely on as a manager and believe they work unfailingly. Because everything depends on us and, as George Sand said: “Happiness depends solely on ourselves and we often only need to reach out to catch it”. What further goals are you working towards with Postbank? Other than working on innovative digital products and services, we at Postbank continue focusing our efforts and funds in support of projects with real added value for society and we believe that one of the great effects will be building self-awareness which will change our life for the better. For the third year in a row, we are participating in the Dare to Scale project – a four-month growth programme, aimed at entrepreneurs and businesses that are already past the initial phase of development and growing their activity. The programme is organised by the Bulgarian office of the global entrepreneurship network Endeavor with Postbank as the main partner. It is extremely important to us to be part of this process, to support the ambitions of companies seeking to upscale their businesses and thus change the entire ecosystem. I am positive that this is the attitude that leads us forward. The times we live in provide numerous challenges, but they will also positively impact our resilience and capacity to learn and grow. We, at Postbank, will share our high experience and expertise with entrepreneurs in order to support them in the most important stage of their businesses’ development and become part of their growth. We will seek the potential of successful partnerships which will allow us to innovate and improve opportunities in the ecosystem. To us, this is an investment in the future and a chance to be part of the change moving us ahead. THE CEO INTERVIEW