We pick the campaign by vote — and then we show up in person

Hi, my name is Nikolay Bashev and I work at Primo Plus Real Estate.

Not just business — every person individually should take part in different initiatives. For a business there's something more: if you want to build a good company long term, you have to surround yourself with good, positive people who do good things. It's win-win — when you have good employees who do good, they're better at their jobs too, the company generates better revenue, and part of it goes back into society.

There are quite a few of us taking part in the campaigns. We pick three or four that are current, and — however funny it sounds — we vote on which one to join.

You can be socially responsible in all sorts of ways. You can not drop cigarette butts on the ground, you can collect bottle caps, you can be politically active. The change comes in two ways. One is the initiatives themselves and the places the foundation's people visit — and sometimes we go with them. You see how, with a little money and a bit more time, you can improve the daily life of a large group of people.

The other is the atmosphere inside the organisation, and there the change has been clearly positive. Over the year everyone gives some amount on their own to one campaign or another, but when you do it as a team, deliberately, and above all when you can contribute time and effort on the spot to improving someone's life, it's very motivating. A lot of people decide to join afterwards. And of course I'd encourage other companies to do it too.