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Don't Touch the State Property!

In his weekly column "Max's Column" for TBmagazine, Maxim Behar talks about the difficulties and changes in the Bulgarian economy and business and the only force that counts - experience.

I was just starting my business a long (but not that long) time ago, and I had only a small Trabant car, my last purchase from the Socialism times after a long and careful saving. I was slowly gaining momentum in the PR business, and I invited an elderly former colleague of mine from "Standard" newspaper - Uncle Kolyo, very lively, dynamic and productive... During the day he drove my small car around the city, printed brochures, delivered souvenirs and business cards, carried courier packages. These companies did not exist back then.

And one day, looking out the window of the small one-room apartment – the very first office of M3 Communications Group, Inc., I saw him bumping the car, trying to get it up on a high curb.  As soon as he got into the office, I made a stern remark to him.

“Hey Maxo, why do you care, it's a state property...”

I remained speechless with my mouth wide opened. State property! My only – then – private property! No matter how much I talked to him afterwards, he never understood that private is not state property if it doesn't belong to him.

And now I'm looking at the thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of private companies trying to win government contracts. They give commissions and try to charm officials with exotic excursions, then leave behind roads with gaping holes in a week, software products that can't even be launched or construction sites that fall apart while they are still being built...

This cannot be business. Someone somewhere may profit from this, but real business should stay away from the state. As far as it can and when it can. At least while the state can’t cooperate properly.

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