Photo: Photo: Nicolai & Evgeni
I arrived in Sofia on a September afternoon, very tired from the flight and relieved I did not have to go to a formal welcome dinner. It was great to see Monika, Josefina from CDC, and Konstantine. I did go with Konstantine to BG Plan and visited with Krasi. It felt comfortable to be back in Sofia, it did not feel so alien as in 1993. I soon found out from Krasi that certain key recommendations of mine made in 1993 were not done.
The overly generous 1st Plan was still being sold, even though 18 months earlier I had made it clear they had to make changes. Krasi had also modified the reserve factors that we developed, resulting in much too low reserves.
I was delighted to be working with Krasi and some of the new people. Ivo, the computer programmer seemed very competent. Evgeni, the new university graduate, was very promising as an actuary and spoke excellent English. It was also welcoming to see Sasha and the others. There were many new employees since 1993. The actuaries and Ivo were in the office space that previously was EKKO. Nikolai's office was in the back.
Photo: Evgeni, Sasha & Krasi
Monika was now a full time administrative assistant. I had hoped her opera career would take off, but I am sure an artist’s income was limited in Bulgaria. When I needed her to translate, it was such a relief to not have to depend on Albena.
The mood of the BG Plan employees had changed. In 1993 they were very upbeat and optimistic. Now I did not get that impression. Sales had decreased and inflation had increased greatly.
The one thing that had boosted their spirits, that we still talked about, was the 4th place finish of the under-rated Bulgarians in the summer World Cup football tournament. They defeated a strong German team to get to the semifinals. I watched the Bulgarians play a match in Chicago.
Photo: Slogan for company "A chicken that gives milk." Perhaps a metaphor for BG Plan,
trying to do things for which they are ill-equipped.
In one of our early meetings, Plamen told me he wanted me to look at the whole company and then make my recommendation. He pointed to the art hanging in his office and proudly told me how valuable it was.
After about a week, I was sorry I had come back. It was clear they had failed to follow through on my recommendations from 1993, and I was under the impression this assignment would not make any difference. I did not trust the brothers, Plamen and Nikolai. I really wondered why they wanted me to come back. I expressed all this to the CDC staff.