What is better for children is better for a business!
On March 24, 2025, at the Balkan Palace Hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria. The award ceremony of the most prestigious national competition for corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and diversity – the Annual Responsible Business Awards 2024 of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF) was held on the 24th of March, in Sofia.
We are proud to announce that Ciela Bookstores, one of the key partners of the campaign “A Child Waits for Magic. Become a magician – give him/her a book!”, organized by the National Network for Children (NNC), was awarded third place in the “Best SME Social Policy” category at the 22nd edition of the Annual Responsible Business Awards. The initiative stood out among 100 nominations submitted by 61 companies that are changing the living environment in our country for the better.
The campaign “A child is waiting for magic. Become a magician – give him a book!” has been implemented for five consecutive years. For the last two years, part of which is Ciela, we have managed to give away nearly 8,000 books, which is twice as many as all three previous editions. The impressive results were helped by the discount codes the bookstore provided to all participants. In both years, Ciela provided us with one of its most visited physical locations free of charge to organize the inaugural event, which brings together parents, children, children’s authors, experts, and donors annually. In both editions, nearly 100 employees from all 18 bookstore locations across the country were engaged to make sure the promo code was used correctly and to promote the initiative on social media and to employees and customers many of them joined in and became magicians.
Thank you to Ciela Bookshops and all their employees across the country who contributed to the success of the cause! Your support is key to continuing to spread the campaign’s magic and making sure it reaches all children who don’t have access to age-appropriate books!
We are delighted that during the awards ceremony, both members of the NMA and our other partners with whom we actively work in various causes were honored. Among them are For Our Children Foundation, Siemens Bulgaria, Lidl Bulgaria, and Kaufland Bulgaria.
Congratulations to all the winners! Keep promoting good ESG practices and promote the corporate programs with a huge impact!
The Annual Responsible Business Awards is a landmark and long-standing project of the Bulgarian Business Forum of Leaders. For 22 years it has provided a prestigious platform for responsible companies and their successful campaigns for the benefit of employees, society, and the environment, implemented in the previous year. Thus, the Forum seeks to highlight and encourage best practices of engagement with public causes by the private sector to promote corporate initiatives with a huge impact.
The 100 nominations submitted by 61 companies that are reshaping for better the living environment in our country, were evaluated by an expert, objective, and independent jury of respected experts from institutions, business, the civil sector, academia, and the media.
The winners and finalists ranked second and third in honor, received prizes from the Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Nikolay Pavlov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Academy. Nikolay Vitanov, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Lazar Lazarov, Deputy Mayor of Sofia Nikola Barbutov, British Ambassador Nathaniel Copsey and President of the BFBL Levon Hampartzumian. The event was attended by members of the Board of Directors of the organization, as well as business leaders, members of the jury, partners from the public and civil sectors, media.
