Davos Analysts: Family Businesses are the Global Cure for the COVID Crisis

‘Investments by family businesses in scientific discoveries to combat COVID-19’ is the topic that the Bulgarian Family Business Association founded by the entrepreneur, philanthropist, and honorary consul of Uzbekistan, Petar Mandjoukov, will present within the framework of the 31^st FBN Global Summit in Budapest in October. The esteemed founder and chairman of FBN Bulgaria is making a large-scale investment in the unravelling of the COVID-19 genome, which ranks him among the top world business leaders directly involved in the fight against the pandemic.

‘In order to set an example for an effective model of corporate social responsibility, the Petar Mandjoukov Foundation that I represent has reached out to Bulgarian scientists and donated a state-of-the-art molecular biology laboratory to the most prestigious Bulgarian university ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’. I am proud that thanks to the decision we made, today our country is on the verge of a major scientific breakthrough. The goal of the scientists is to shed light on the subtle mechanisms of contamination and treatment’, were the optimistic words of the esteemed chairperson of the Family Business Network.

The Bulgarian experience in this area is universally unique because it is a working model of solidarity, foresight, and partnership between entrepreneurship, academia, and medicine, reported analysts studying the approaches employed by different countries in 2020.

‘This year’s edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos (25-29 January 2021) places family businesses among the key global solutions to overcoming the consequences of the pandemic because of its long-term vision, management, and strategy based on intransient moral values’, said the founder of FBN Bulgaria. According to him, across the Balkans and in particular in countries such as Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, family businesses are essential for the economy, and family values and traditions outweigh global trends. It is not by accident that the Balkan region is given as an example side by side the countries in the Far East.

Mandjoukov supports the opinion of the other participants in Davos who believe that the pandemic will be the reason for humankind to reconsider the role of the global economic concerns and the absolute focus on profits and consumerism, and try to redirect it toward a new, more efficient and ethical model of capitalism. ‘Today’s world needs synergy between the market economy and a socio-liberal model of distribution of public resources. I do not subscribe to the so-called American model promoting consumerism and profit as a core social value. The morals of family businesses raise questions about the vicious cycle of producing more and more goods of poorer quality and lifetime, which soon need to be replaced with new ones. There’s no end to this, no balance. The ascending spiral resembles a snake biting its own tail. The ‘advertising – production – consumption’ circle is disastrous for the environment. And fatal for the human spirit’ said the entrepreneur.

In the height of the pandemic in 2020, Mandjoukov donated to the Bulgarian Military Medical Academy high-tech ambulances, respirators, breathing ventilators and air filtering systems. The overall price of the donated equipment was approximately EUR 1 million, as reported by the Military Medical Academy. The highly esteemed Bulgarian benefactor said he hoped all wealthy people around the world would contribute to the global efforts and that family businesses would indeed become the global cure for the COVID-19 crisis.