Archive for category: News

On May 17, BSC Business Support Centre has celebrated business supporting, managing, consulting and business teaching activity’s 25^th anniversary. The company’s founding director Samvel Gevorgyan has presented the 25 year history of BSC, present projects, also the trends and perspectives of business in Armenia.

“We aim to create dynamic business platform without stereotypes, inspired by innovative and endless entrepreneurial spirit”, said Samvel Gevorgyan.

He has mentioned that since the foundation (1994), BSC has done mobile activity by giving business management consultancy to the beginning entrepreneurs and existing small, medium and large enterprises in all regions of Armenia.

“BSC has concentrated on areal development as well, which includes tourism, innovative technologies, agriculture, renewable energy, food processing, light industry and other key sectors for Armenia” has added Samvel Gevorgyan.

BSC founding director has informed that experts of the centre has been in more than 880 communities on business trips in the scope of economic activity promotional programmes crossing 500,000 km.

During 25 years the experts of the company has developed 1,100 business plans, more than 1,000 investment projects, has implemented 120 sector researches, has published business planning, organising, managing and developing 15 books. More than 18,000 beginner and accomplished entrepreneurs have participated in BSC business training courses.

In the event dedicated to BSC 25^th anniversary the executive director of ACBA Leasing Arsen Bazikyan was present. He stressed the activity of BSC in involving investments for private businesses developing in Armenia.

The executive director of “AREGAK” UNIVERSAL CREDIT ORGANIZATION Mariam Yesayan is a long-term partner, who had started working with BSC since 1999, has mentioned that BSC is a sustainable qualified service provider centre in terms of resolving specific enterprise issues.

BSC is a member of 9 different unions, one of which is “Republican Union of Employers of Armenia”. The president of RUEA Gagik Makaryan has emphasized that BSC is a continuous positive change making company in private sector in Armenia.

“BSC continues to support the leading companies of Armenia, SME’s, suggests solutions for innovative technologies, promoting by its activity the ongoing development of all regions and spheres in Armenia, as well as implementing and strengthening the business management culture.

BSC passes to a global status aiming to raise the competitiveness of Armenian businesses in worldwide platforms.

“BSC stepping into upcoming 25 years activity becomes the solver of all issues of businesses, the creator of big opportunities for businesses and the generator of the future of every business in Armenia” has summed up Samvel Gevorgyan.

 

 

Bonds allocation started on February 20 and was completed on March 14, before the planned date. Bonds with nominal values of $ 5 million have been placed. The maturity of 2019 first issue of bonds is 2 years and 6 months, and annual coupon interest rate is 5.25%, which will be paid quarterly.

Deputy Chairman of IDBank Board/Financial Director Ruben Melikyan noted that more and more clients are choosing IDBank bonds as a saving instrument, and the experience of years shows that demand always exceeds the offer. Especially since IDBank is always ready to provide loans with bonds pledges to customers purchasing its bonds, with only a 1 percentage point higher interest rate.
“IDBank will continue to maintain its leading positions in the market and will offer its customers new tranches this year. This issue of bonds will be listed on the Armenian Stock Exchange”, – said Ruben Melikyan.

IDBank issued its first tranche of bonds in 2016, after which it issued another six tranches of nominal coupon USD and AMD bonds, bringing the total amount to 30 million USD and 1 billion AMD.

Originally posted via IDBank’s website on March 15, 2019.

On March 12 Armenia Securities Exchange-AMX and Central Depository of Armenia rang the opening bell for UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 – Gender Equality, alongside 80 stock exchanges worldwide.

In partnership with the Federation of European and Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS), Armenia Securities Exchange and Central Depository of Armenia joined the Ring the Bell for Gender Equality initiative to promote gender equality and help businesses, especially banks and investment companies understand their pivotal role in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 5.

“The stock exchange is the champion and the role model for private sector companies to promote gender equality and women empowerment principles. Gender equality is good not only for sustainable development but also for economic growth,” said Mehjabeen Alarakhia, Programme Specialist, UN Women.

The initiative, now in its fifth consecutive year, is a partnership between the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, UN Women, the World Federation of Exchanges and Women in ETFs, to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment and the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.

Dmitry Mariyasin, Resident Representative, UNDP expressed hope to see more male CEOs joining the initiative next year. He ended his speech saying, “Let’s make every day a day for gender equality”.

Hayk Yeganyan, CEO, Armenia Securities Exchange, welcomed the guests and said: “Women make up to 52% of our employees. Women make 54% of traders working with the stock exchange. Nowadays they hold over 38% of tech jobs in Armenia and no wonder that the IT and financial sectors are recognized as most stable and relatively more developed ones within the Armenian economy. This shows how important women’s participation is.”

Luiza Igraryan, CEO, Global Credit UCO, said: “Having managed Global Credit UCO for over 10 years, I may state that the gender inequality stereotype in Armenia was broken a long time ago, and people are more open-minded and nowadays women leaders have comparatively more opportunities.”

Armenuhi Hovakimyan, FEAS Deputy Secretary General said: “It is the first time the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges joins the initiative and the first time we will ring the bell for Gender Equality in Armenia. Raising awareness for the importance of gender equality which is the fifth of Global Goals, we are doing step forward to encourage girls and women to be educated, confident and brave. The theme of the 5th Ring the Bell for Gender Equality is “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. I can’t agree more. Early childhood development and learning should start and be based on the strong statements of equality in all forms and spheres.”

YEREVAN, Armenia ‒ On February 22, 2019, the Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) hosted schoolgirls that are participants of the Technovation Armenia program. The event aimed at providing them with the opportunity to meet and network with female entrepreneurs of EPIC startups. These schoolgirls came from the margins of Armenia.

Technovation, a flagship program of the non-profit organization Iridescent, is the world’s largest global tech entrepreneurship competition for girls. The program offers young girls around the world the opportunity to learn the skills necessary for becoming tech entrepreneurs and leaders. Every year, Technovation challenges 10 to 18 year-old girls to build business plans and mobile apps that solve problems in their respective communities.

Technovation Armenia is the national contest of Technovation, organized around the world. Technovation Armenia was initiated in Armenia in 2017 by the National Institute of Education of Armenia and Women and Information Society NGO.

In 2018, Technovation Armenia was organized within the frames of the Bridge4CSOs project, implemented by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) in partnership with Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) and funded by the European Union. Technovation Armenia 2018 competition is supported by the Union of Employers of Information and Communication Technologies, the UN Armenian Office, Synopsys Armenia, Unicomp, AUA, Enterprise Incubator Foundation, and Zigzag LLC.

“The Technovation Armenia community is getting bigger and the number of participants has doubled. This year we expanded our geography to include participants from all 11 provinces of Armenia; we already have more than 80 registered teams from different villages and cities of Armenia,” explains Narine Abazian (ME IESM ’96), President of Women and Information Society NGO, who is also the Regional Ambassador of Technovation Armenia program, as was mentioned in the opening remarks of the event.

AUA President Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian attended the event and gave the welcoming remarks, “AUA is committed to supporting female students interested in pursuing science and engineering fields. Indeed, that is the goal of our “Yes, Armenian Women Can!” campaign. We are very proud of our alumna Narine Abazyan, who started the Technovation program in Armenia, and the successes that her groups of young girls have achieved.”

The American University of Armenia was one of the first organizations to identity the significance of the IT field for the development of Armenia and for its female populations to stimulate their intellect and apply analytical acumen in order to make significant contributions in their respective workplaces.

With the launch of this new visionary initiative, “Yes, Armenian Women Can!” hundreds of women will be able to study computer science and engineering through the establishment of a $2.5 million endowed scholarship fund.

Throughout the afternoon, female entrepreneurs from EPIC startups made presentations sharing their personal experiences, challenges, and learning paths with the schoolgirls, and answered all the questions they raised.

Alisa Chalakhyan, the co-founder of She(FF), an EPIC startup, was one of the presenters at the event. Commenting on the event later, she states: “Standing there and talking to the youngsters that had similar or even bigger dreams than I once had while sitting in the same auditorium years ago made me wonder how I can be of help to them on their way of realizing their dreams. It is crucially important to ensure that girls are reminded of their abilities and skills from the very young age. That is why my friend [and co-founder] Anahit and I have decided to start conducting workshops to boost female entrepreneurship.”

She(FF) is an online network connecting women with diverse talents and crafts with people who value the art of homemade and handmade unique products. She(FF) is a platform created by women for women.

Technovation Armenia 2018 judges Gayane Stepanyan, Director of Digital banks in Ararat Bank, and Ani Manukyan, Project Manager of Women and Information Society NGO, shared their impressions of Technovation Armenia 2018 competition with the participants and made recommendations for 2019 teams on how to make their applications more functional and applicable locally and globally.

The wrap up of the event was dedicated to the success stories of Technovation program schoolgirls. Among the speakers were the 2017 international winner team mentor Vardanush Hovhannisyan and Regional winner team mentor Ani Sirekanyan.

Another presenter, Tereza Tumanyan (age 15, Ashtarak), who is also a student ambassador of the Technovation Armenia program, presented the success story of her team Codice Peullis that was one of the semi finalists and was nominated as a winner in the Sevan Startup Summit 2018 and received $3,000 to further develop the app 1 Of U created for children with autism. The team also was a European Youth Award finalist with its app.

The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) is a platform for promoting entrepreneurial education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and startup venture incubation. EPIC provides an ecosystem for the American University of Armenia’s (AUA) emerging entrepreneurs consisting of first-class facilities and collaborative workspace, programs and events, and a network of mentors, advisors and investors. EPIC fosters the understanding and application of entrepreneurship with students and faculty at AUA to craft high-impact multidisciplinary ventures.

 

Originally posted via the AUA on March 4, 2019.