Mito Petrov Orozov was born in Vratsa in 1859 in the family of elderly parents and at the age of 17 he was orphaned. He studied at the Ascension School in the city, but left it and in 1876 became an apprentice with Hadji Angel Yotsov. In his hardware workshop he learned to make kyumbeta, but he was also initiated into committee affairs by his mentor, who was the treasurer of the Secret Revolutionary Committee in Vratsa.
After the Liberation, Mito Orozov began to work alone. At that time, there were 6 cart workshops in the town, and 34 carriage drivers served the city and the surrounding villages. Since 1883, he has been working in partnership with the carpenter Isaiah Toshev, with whom they make trucks and horse carts with iron axles and hardware.
Mito Orozov completed a one-year course in Romania in locksmithing and turning, and became simultaneously a designer, technician, contractor and photographer who advertised his production. In 1887 he bought out the share of Isaiah Toshev and started working with several workers, two of whom were foreigners – masters in their field. The Serb Jovan was a trained carpenter, to whom Orozov paid an incredible salary of 5 gold levs for his time, and the Hungarian Eduard was a painter and upholsterer. Mito Orozov used imported materials of the highest quality. Paints provide both durability of wooden parts exposed to all weather influences and beauty of the car. In the first years, the workshop produced 10 models of carts, convertibles and carriages, and in the following years – another 15 models of two-wheelers, sleds and hearses.
Financially supported by Ivancho Mladenov, Orozov built his own building, adapted to the needs of production. For this purpose, he bought a municipal place on the outskirts of the town in 1893. It had 4 departments: ironwork, carpentry, upholstery and painting. Later he built a warehouse for finished cars and a warehouse for materials. If at first the workshop served customers of local and municipal scale, then gradually Orozov's vehicles became more and more famous. In the first decade of the 20th century, the factory produced from 80 to 100 modern bristles, convertibles and carriages per year. The main customers are wealthier farmers, wholesalers, wealthy urban households, city and government offices.
Orozov's carriages are of the generally accepted European type in the shape of a boat, but they are superior to them with a more stable construction, better upholstery and patent axles. The wheels, made only of dry autumn material, are ordinary (with iron rails) or "rubber" (with a profile rail and a tire mounted to it). Thanks to the material, they are lighter, more rounded and more suitable for the bad roads in the country, and allow the use of smaller horses. The most delicate part of convertibles and haitons is the front pivot (the wheelset). The details are entirely forged from iron according to the model of Mito Orozov.
In the conditions of a market economy, Mito Orozov appreciated the role of advertising. He was a co-organizer of the First Bulgarian Exhibition in Plovdiv in 1892, where he received a gold, silver medal and a diploma, and a briche and a convertible were purchased for the Palace.
Again, for the purpose of advertising, Orozov made modern business cards and catalogs for his time, according to which he fulfilled the orders of his customers. The catalogs were accompanied by price lists with precisely defined prices, which for its time was an expression of great self-confidence. Each new model was photographed, 20-25 photos formed a board, which in a smaller form together with the price list was sent to customers. Later, special catalogs were printed with a detailed description of each model. The historical development of vehicles from the beginning of human activity to the present is also figuratively shown.
The self-taught artisan refuses to use other people's capital in production, taking into account its scale and the expensive interest rates on loans, through which the owner would receive a significant share of the total profit without labor.
In order to improve the efficiency of labor, in 1907 Mito Orozov introduced a 9-hour working day, with the usual 10-12 hours. This angered the craftsmen in the city, but he did not give in, but motivated himself in the following way: "With full workload and organization, a conscientious worker in 9 hours can produce as much as under other conditions in 10-12 hours. From an overworked worker, the benefit is small!"
Orozov also takes care of his workers in terms of their education. He has barely finished the second grade and constantly educates himself in his little free time. At the same time, he sends his workers to the library of the Community Center "Razvitie" to receive and read books recommended by him.
Together with his friend Vasil Kanchov they were among the founders of the Vratsa Community Center "Success", which existed in the period 1879-1882. In 1884, when the new Learning Society "Razvitie" was established, Orozov was its treasurer and one of the initiators for the construction of the first community center building in 1893. 135 volumes of books, his personal correspondence with Vasil Kanchov and a fund was established in his name for cultural purposes.
Mito Orozov's public activity manifested itself in various aspects: he was a co-founder of the Savings Company "Mravka", restructured into the Mutual Auxiliary Company "Uspeh"; permanent chairman of the examination committees in various crafts; a long-time member of the Sofia Chamber of Commerce and Industry; founder and first chairman of the Vratsa Popular Bank (1909) and the Vratsa branch of the Industrial Union; one of the founders of the Joint Stock Bank "Veslets" (1920); deputy in the V Grand National Assembly in 1911.
During the wars of 1912-1918, Mito Orozov's factory almost stopped its activities due to lack of personnel, reduced imports of raw materials and lack of customers. On September 30, 1923, Vratsa was struck by a great tragedy – explosions of ammunition caused a fire and destroyed a large part of the city. Mito Orozov's factory was completely destroyed, and he died under its rubble. His sons continued their father's work and restored the factory, equipped it with mechanically driven modern woodworking and metalworking machines. For the needs of this production, in 1925 in Vratsa was opened the first in the country Secondary Cart School, which bears the name of Mito Orozov.
About the work of Mito Orozov, in 1897 Aleko Konstantinov exclaimed: "Take off your hat, my friend, bow to Mr. Orozov and wish more such workers to be born in Bulgaria."
