Rossen Tzvetkov: Interview with LSE 07’ Scholar and 22' Benefactor

Could you tell us more about yourself and your career path to date?

Currently I work in e-commerce but back in the day I studied Finance and wanted to be a banker. I pursued a Bachelor of International Economic Relations at the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria and then Finance at Lund University. However, things took a different route and I started my job in Media, where I worked for ten years, switching to e-commerce four years ago.

What was your experience at the LSE Summer School 15 years ago and how did it help you on your journey?

I was recipient of the Aleksander Foundation scholarship in 2007. My course was called "Forecasting Financial Markets" and it was fully based on Econometrics – something I had never studied before. So, in 3 weeks I had to learn the whole of Econometrics which took me about 12-13 hours of study time a day. This helped me immensely in my subsequent Master’s in Finance which was also heavily focused on Econometrics. Having pursued that the previous summer, it was very easy for me.

How did your experience at the LSE Summer School help shape you succeed in your career?

During my time at LSE I met many new interesting people. Although the course was only 3 weeks long and this was 15 years ago, I am still friends and keep in contact with some of them.

How did you decide to donate such a large sum to the Foundation this  year?

During the years many people had helped me on my path – not only financially but also through mentorship by giving me their valuable time. I had always known that one day I will do the same for the younger generation when I have the opportunity – I think that a person should never be in debt and always give more than he receives. My donation to the Foundation was just a step in that direction – it was not a big decision on my part, something that I had thought a lot about. What I was most impressed with was that Alek continues to do this after so many years.

What advice would you give to the young scholars and all young people from your experience?

What I have become certain about from many years of professional and life experience is that connections truly are the most important thing when it comes to success. I would advise everyone who is just starting their career or life in general to look for contacts with people, to look for experiences. Education is very important, but the human factor and contact should not be neglected and I would advise youngsters to rather prioritise making contacts, than spend all their time in the library as I did. You must communicate with the people around you and that is why university tuition fees are so expensive these days – not so much because of the education, but because of the community it gives you. I have studied at both a more prestigious university and a more average one and I don’t think that the knowledge you acquire is much different – but the environment is what gives that x-factor.

I would like to thank Alek that he gave me this scholarship 15 years ago and that he continues to do this to this day.