Stanimir Draganov

“Openness is our common virtue. It is natural for all of us that we can communicate openly and directly with each other while listening to the other’s opinion. The management follows the principle of open doors and does not reject new ideas. Just the contrary, it encourages all of us to bring out the most of ourselves so as to create something new as a team that we can be proud of.”

Stanimir Dragonov

Managing Director, Bulgaria

stanimir.draganov##kukac##rabalux.com

I graduated in 1991 from University of Sofia with an MBA in Social and Economic Planning. For a few months I worked as a freelancer; I was selling books at the university campus in Sofia. To be honest, I really enjoyed this work, because in order to achieve success I highly depended on my customers and I had to get familiar with them and their needs. I also understood at that time that besides the product itself the way selling is carried out plays a very significant role, not to speak of the fact that the personality of a salesperson can make a huge impression on customers. My personal attitude and the way I treated them was greatly appreciated. Before joining the market leader IT distributor of Bulgaria, I worked as an accountant for smaller ventures. I was responsible for the development of the retail network of GTI in Bulgaria. We opened the first store in 1995, which was followed by seven more until 1998. It was also my task to manage the stores, to create the product range, to do the purchasing and to define the prices. I had to face the first really great professional challenge, when I joined Sony in 1998. I began to work there as a business coordinator and besides sales I was responsible for the marketing as well. The first significant test I had to pass was to build the sales channel, through which Sony FMCG products could be sold. In collaboration with my manager and my team we carried out a profound market research and defined the distribution strategy. The success we reached back then formed a firm foundation for my enthusiasm and future at Sony. I was responsible for sales and business development until 2007. I think the key to my success was that I thoroughly mapped the market and I wanted to understand how it worked. I was the member of the Bulgarian team of Sony up until 2012 when I carried out regional sales and marketing tasks. I was responsible for 13 countries covering Central Eastern Europe. After that I won the position of primary Key Account Manager of Sony Bulgaria. In 2012 I decided to break away from the world of business for a while and have a little rest. However, I soon realized that I must use this valuable time to organize the experience and knowledge I gained, therefore I decided to further educate myself. In 2012 and 2013 I took part in a business training organized by BEIED. In 2013 I successfully applied for the position of Senior Sales Manager at STRONG where I was responsible for five countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Macedonia. I continued my career at Panasonic in 2015 as a business development manager. After my fixed-term contract was over I gladly said yes to Rábalux Group and started working as an executive director. Besides actively taking part in working together with key partners it is also my responsibility to determine the sales strategy of the subsidiary. I was the values represented by Rábalux that I found the most attractive in the group: customer-oriented link building, product portfolio with a good price value ratio, professional management. As compared to other multinational companies, I think, Rábalux can be proud of its well-thought processes, which are free of any overregulation.