/ world today news/ A great man and a Bulgarian left us. At the age of 94, the genius business manager, the creator of one of the wonders of Bulgaria, the long-time director of “Bulgartabac” Dimitar Yadkov/pictured right/ has passed away. For twenty years, Yadkov has been at the head of the enterprise – years of prosperity, the likes of which hardly existed before him and the like of which we probably will never have. During his time, “Bulgartabac” traded with over 130 companies around the world, and our country shared with the USA the first place in the production and export of cigarettes and tobacco.
In the eight months of 1991, about 60,000 tons of cigarettes were produced, of which 48,000 tons were for export and 12,000 tons for the domestic market, Yadkov reported in his report for the year in which he retired. 25,000 tons of tobacco were exported, and foreign exchange earnings exceeded 320 million dollars and 60 million rubles. Every month after April 1991, more than 60 million dollars came into the treasury only from the export of cigarettes and tobacco… As of that date, the union had not a single lev of external or internal obligations, says Dimitar Yadkov in his memoirs. And more: “Against the absurd demand to “condemn the Soviet Union”, we exported 54,000 tons of cigarettes to Russia. Could anyone then understand and appreciate that we were doing it for the first time with the direct credit of 75 million dollars given by the Soviet government! Will anyone ever be prosecuted for ignoring this huge market that Western companies have been eagerly waiting to open up?”
Dimitar Yadkov
Today it is difficult to imagine the office of the general director of the American concern “Philip Morris”, where a world map hangs on the wall and on it is written “BULGARTABAK” on the countries from East Germany to Vladivostok. This is the Bulgarian tobacco empire.
It was. During the time of Dimitar Yadkov in that dirty socialist Bulgaria, which was declared criminal by law by people who contributed only to the ruin!
He was born on October 28, 1927 in the skirts of Rila, in the village of Gorno Draglishte, Razlozhko. Convinced anti-fascist, RMS activist, member of the BKP and BSP with nearly 75 years of experience. He graduated in agricultural economics, worked in Razlog and the village of Banya. He heads the “Agriculture” Department at the State National Statistics Office – Blagoevgrad, the District Cooperative Union in the Pirin region. His name is inextricably linked with the development of the tobacco giant, which in his time was transformed into a structure-determining enterprise for the Bulgarian industry with multimillion-dollar markets in Turkey, European countries, the USA, the USSR, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Benin, etc. . He was elected secretary of the Central Committee of the BKP in Blagoevgrad and first deputy minister of agriculture. He is the recipient of the title “Hero of Socialist Labor” and a number of state awards. Dimitar Yadkov was also vice president of the International Organization in the Tobacco Industry KORESTA.
Under his leadership, which Yadkov assumed since 1972, with a lot of effort and frantic work, in less than 10 years, “Bulgartabac” completely changed its appearance and began to set the tone in the world tobacco policy – the largest production of tobacco and cigarettes per capita, the absolute world record holder in cigarette exports, the highest rate of development in the world. Science, production, advertising and trade – everything is subordinated to one goal: development. Branchists around the world are starting to talk about the Bulgarian phenomenon. The doors of all the leading tobacco concerns in the world are open to Dimitar Yadkov. They greet him with respect and admire him. Bulgartabac competes with and beats the powerful US tobacco holdings in the sale of cigarettes. But they do not give him blows below the waist, but help him in everything to develop, with one single goal not hidden from them – through him to enter the vast Soviet market, which our cousins have provided us in a truly brotherly way and in which we have been monopolists .
To get an idea of how it all started, here is an excerpt from Dimitar Yadkov’s book of memories “Bulgartabak”, published in 2003:
„It was October 15th. Something unexpected happened at my new job. The secretary informed me that the commercial director of Macedonia Tabak Dancho Shaturkov wants to speak with me from Skopje. After introducing himself, he said that they had a delegation responsible for tobacco from the United States. At the last moment they decided, if possible, tomorrow – for one day – to visit us. “They want to get acquainted with Bulgartabak and your tobaccos, but they do not have entry visas. Comrade Yadkov, such a meeting will be useful for Bulgartabak and it is worth doing everything possible…” I said that in an hour I would call.
I knew that I was not yet ready for such a meeting, but at the same time I had a strong feeling that this was a chance that should not be missed. I gathered management and some experts and asked for their opinion. Everyone believed that such a meeting was necessary, but the time to organize it was very short… Deputy for production Ivan Tsonev… suggested that the meeting be held in Stanke Dimitrov (now Dupnitsa). “Besides being the closest to the border, in this enterprise there are good conditions to show our tobaccos. If some of them still don’t have it, we will arrange for them to be delivered”.
… We called “Macedonia Tabak” that tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. our representative will be waiting for the delegation at the border… The next day, Petar Staykov, deputy commercial director, with good English, and we went directly to Stanke Dimitrov.
The delegation arrived on time – 6 people with two luxury cars of “Macedonia Tabak”. From the usual introduction it became clear that two of them were presidents. The oldest, Mr. Jack Widener, slightly stooped, with sharp blue moving eyes, was president of Glenn Tobacco, a specialty tobacco company of the Reynolds concern. The other, significantly younger… was Harold Wertheimer – president of Socotab – a company specializing in the supply of oriental tobaccos to the United States…
It immediately struck me that the head of the delegation himself – the president of “Glenn Tubecow”, Mr. Widener, sat in the central chair where the main experts sat and began to examine the bales. At one time, taking a bundle of tobacco from the bal origin “Jebel Basma” first class, stuck his nose in it and feeling the mysterious aroma, unique and unique, tears flashed in his eyes. Gently stroking the leaves with his hands, he excitedly said, “… Well, my old friend, after almost 30 years of separation, we lived to see each other again.” We all felt that we were witnessing a touching “meeting”. This can only happen to people dedicated to this profession, deeply connected to this specific commodity called tobacco, which, when you really connect with it, is for life.ivoetc.
Then, during lunch, we found out that Mr. Widener before the war was a representative of Reynolds in the town of Kavala and bought Bulgarian tobacco. Since then he has known “Jebela”, an oriental tobacco unique in taste, aroma and combustibility.
At this meeting, the first quantities of Bulgarian tobacco from the new harvest were also ordered, to prepare for the next visit of our American guests in February 1973. This is how a useful cooperation and the export of our tobacco to the USA began.”
In addition to being a genius leader, Dimitar Yadkov has always been an uncompromising fighter against the bureaucracy in Bulgaria, he did not keep silent about the problems before the powerful of the day. After 1991, he tried to offer his views on the development of “Bulgartabac” and on preserving its markets in the new conditions. He wrote in his memoirs: “After all the meetings, I had the feeling that abroad they evaluate the place of “Bulgartabak” more realistically than at home.”
Dimitar Yadkov witnessed the destruction of his work and, like many other talented builders of Bulgaria, experienced all the suffering to see how the meaning of his life was destroyed. “Bulgartabac” was ruthlessly destroyed according to the familiar scheme of the transition: siphoning off – mafia privatization – selling off – liquidation. The company’s famous plants have been closed, the famous Bulgarian cigarette brands have been sold abroad, the cultivation of Bulgarian tobacco, which is desired all over the world, has been reduced to nothing. There is no one to blame…
But Bulgaria will have it as long as the memory of the great Bulgarians and patriots who devoted themselves to the development of the homeland lives on. Because if the memory is alive, the case can be revived.
Tribute to the life and work of Dimitar Yadkov!
The funeral will take place on August 27, Saturday, at 11 a.m. in his native village of Gorno Draglishte, Razlozhko
When you see the “fake news” sign, it means that this article is recommended reading!!!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel/top right/:
.
#genius #economic #manager #socialist #Bulgaria
