Commercial Entrepreneurship during the Bulgarian National Revival Period: the Case of Pulievi Brothers (1839–1868)

In the first part of my paper, I am going to deal with the concepts of entrepreneurship and particularly with commercial entrepreneurship. In the light of all existing theories, I use the paradigm of Israel Kirzner and Mark Casson adopted by some Greek historians such as Maria-Christina Chatziioannou. According to them, the entrepreneur is an agent who earns a profit, buying cheap commodities and selling them at dear prices. In the second part, I deal with the entrepreneurial activity of brothers Hristo, Nikola and Ivan Todorovi Pulievi. They established commercial enterprise with their relative Evlogi Georgiev (1839). A few years later his brother – Hristo Georgiev was also enrolled in the work of the trade house “Pulievi-Georgievi”. From the early 1840s onwards Hristo and Nikola T. Pulievi expanded their network in Ottoman Bulgaria. After the Crimean War (1853-1856) Nikola T. Puliev restricted his activities. Much more intriguing is the case with Ivan Todorov Puliev who lived and worked part-time in Galati and Braila. It is also interesting to note Ivan’s mercantile acumen in terms of his idea about the expansion of Pulievi’s network in Serres. Moreover, he wanted to settle down permanently in this town in order to present the mercantile house “Pulievi-Georgievi” in this region. This idea failed but still it is worth noting because it gives us inquisitive clues about Ivan’s business behavior. In many respects, Pulievi dealt as their Greek colleagues. Of course, there are some important differences. All these things should be discussed because this is the only way of broadening our overall knowledge on the entrepreneurship’s nature.