In the spirit of collaboration between education and industry, AmCham Hackathon 2025 has become a shining example of how business and academia can work together to create practical solutions and develop young talent. As a key partner, Paysafe supported the Hackathon’s mission – to inspire and develop the next generation of professionals.
Over the course of three weeks, teams of students from the Technical University of Sofia, the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and the Faculty of Physics and Technology of Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski” worked on real business cases provided by companies – members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham). The unique format of the Hackathon encourage innovative thinking and application of academic knowledge in a real business environment.
Paysafe was pleased to support the hackathon for the first year
Mentors from the company were Anita Yanudova, Manager Consumer Duty Product Governance and Dimitar Ivanov, Senior Product Manager, Consumer Risk.
“This was an opportunity to get out of the routine, meet young talent and check our watch by meeting young and creative people who are an “incubator” for new ideas, and at the same time contribute our experience and knowledge,”
they said.
“As mentors, we wanted to create a sense of teamwork where everyone has something to contribute. We encouraged the students to share their strengths and take on the tasks best suited to them, guiding them through the stages of case development.”
New skills and challenges
For the participants, the Hackathon turned out to be much more than a competition – with the support of Paysafe mentors, they met real business challenges, learned about methodologies such as design thinking and lean startup – tools for innovation and rapid adaptation in a real business environment, and learned to make decisions quickly, flexibly and customer-oriented.
“I learned to apply new methodologies to solve problems. This will be of great benefit to me in future projects and innovation processes. Technically, I had the opportunity to learn about new tools for rapid prototyping and collaboration, as well as to upgrade my knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence and automation – areas that are increasingly relevant and necessary in modern business,”
said Alexander Hristov, a student in Telecommunications at TU-Sofia.
The team was faced with a challenging task – to work towards promoting sustainable consumption through FinTech solutions – a complex topic, but one with huge social potential. They created an idea for an app that integrates with payment systems, identifies sustainable, ethical and socially responsible merchants and rewards consumers for their choices.
“We conducted in-depth research to understand how people perceive ethical and sustainable products and what would make them prefer them. Based on this, we created an open access app that FinTech companies can integrate – it identifies sustainable merchants and rewards consumers with points for every purchase with them.”
“One of the biggest challenges was figuring out when we had enough information to move forward. Each answer led to three more questions. In such moments Anita and Dimitar, our mentors and with years of experience in the fintech company, were extremely important – they guided us and helped us make the right decisions when we felt lost,”
adds Isabel, a third-year student of Computer Engineering at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.
Participants discovered not only new knowledge but also new confidence.
“They should never stop asking their mentors for information and never give up, because if they even once think of giving up, they are doomed to failure,”
advised Ivan Damyanov, a student of Telecommunications at TU-Sofia.
Ina Petrova, a first-year student in Cyber Security at TU-Sofia, sums up the motivation for participating in the competition of many:
“The desire to learn something new and get to know the work process up close motivated me to participate in the competition.”
What inspires young students?
Although all are highly engaged in their academic projects, students also have a variety of personal interests. Ivan enjoys Airsoft and Paintball competitions, solving puzzles, video games and collecting coins from around the world. Isabel has a passion for solving complex problems and analyzing data, always looking to better understand the world around her. Alexander combines his technical interests with his creative passions for drawing and music, valuing teamwork and quick decision making. And Ina is determined to grow in the IT field, striving for constant improvement and adaptation in a rapidly changing technological world.
By supporting initiatives like AmCham Hackathon 2025, Paysafe is not only investing in the future of innovation – it is empowering the very people who will shape it. This partnership is further proof that when industry, education and motivation meet, the results are creative solutions that move the world forward.
The material and images are provided by Paysafe
