Our Resident Entrepreneurs

OUR Community

EU supported IRIS Business Incubator's winner residents of the 1st Call for Applications and their businesses.

Today we will introduce Mariam Gnelyan, the founder of Nrene Natural Cosmetics. The mission of Nrene is to guide people to the Armenian natural products, by helping them to solve problems with hair, skin, and nails.

“My endless love towards nature inspired me to create products that are completely natural and safe for health. I decided to focus on the care products that will help people to solve cosmetic problems. I have researched the market together with the IRIS Academy experts and as a pharmacist-chemist, I have decided to start my business confidently,” said Mariam.

Learning about the EU supported IRIS Business Incubator, she immediately applied to realize her dream. Due to her hard work, she has overcome many difficulties and obstacles, as a result of which Nrene’s shop and production area in Masis operates today, as well as online shops on Facebook and Instagram.

Mariam wants to make Nrene more easily accessible to everyone in Armenia, and export her products abroad.

Today we will tell about Davit Skhtoryan, one of the winning residents of the 1st Call of EU supported IRIS Business Incubator. The idea to grow Pearl Oyster Mushroom (also known as Oyster mushroom, winter Oyster mushroom, or grey Oyster mushroom) was given to David by his brother in 2017, when he was still a student of the Department of Botany and Mycology at the Faculty of Biology.

“I promised myself that if my first attempts at growing mushrooms succeed, I will definitely continue this work because it is mine,” said David.

David’s business mission is to provide his customers with high-yield suspension mushroom bags at an affordable price. He wants his business to become a motivation for the development of mushroom production in the Masis community.

At first, David’s biggest obstacle was the issue of business space to grow the mushrooms. However, it was solved thanks to the financial support of the IRIS business incubator, with which to build a 30 sq.m. basement area, which in turn ensured the stability of the business.

Finally, David added after 10 years he wants to increase his productivity to 4 tons per day.

We continue to present the successful residents of the 1st Call of the EU supported IRIS Business Incubator. In 2015 Maral Sheuhmelian moved from Syria to Armenia with her family members. To organize her free time properly, Maral started to participate in felting classes, which was her dream.

Learning about the possibility given by IRIS BI, an idea came to her mind to register a business and produce stylish and hand-made jewelry, clothes, and toys. Maral’s goal is to bring into new life the ancient crafts of her grandmother’s – embroidery and needle felting. According to Maral, a good entrepreneur must have professional skills, work hard, have an unbreakable will, and, of course, be resourceful.

“My participation in the IRIS Academy gave me knowledge about tax law of Armenia, business management, as well as sales skills, which helped me overcome all obstacles”, added Maral.

Salad is founded in 2019. It aims to support small and medium enterprise-farmers from the Armavir region who have difficulty selling their agricultural products; as well as to meet the needs of working people who want to eat healthy food during the busy day.

Naira Sardaryan, “Salad is” founder and one of thewinning residents of the EU supported IRIS Business Incubator told us: “We aim to buy agricultural products from the villagers themselves, prepare fresh and healthy food – lunches, salads, snacks, fruit-vegetable boxes, and offer it to our customers.”

Learning from her friends about the IRIS business incubator initiative, she applied immediately as soon as the applications were opened. “Salad is” has been created to solve one of the most important problems in Armavir and the surrounding communities. It is the modernization of agriculture, also the identification of the alternative markets for agricultural products, and generally to give a boost to agriculture.

According to Naira true entrepreneur should love the people with whom and for whom he/she works. This is the most important feature, especially in the field of the food industry. And she considers the freshness and quality of her products to be the advantage of her business.

Another winning resident of EU supported IRIS Business Incubator Nerses Adourian founded his Automotive Service in 2016.

“I returned to Armenia from Syria 8 years ago. At first, I worked as a car electrician in various auto electrical repair shops. Later, I have decided to turn my profession into my own business. I started with a 40 sq / m garage, now we have a 100 sq / m area, a team of 3 professionals and students who are eager to become good auto electrics”.

Overcoming all the barriers to enter the Armenian market, today Nerses serves all his customers with loyalty and confidence. He offers a complete and guaranteed car inspection to all his customers. And for loyal customers, he also organizes the transportation of the car with the help of a car porter.

“We are not the only one in this market, but we do our best to work with the highest quality. With the IRIS Business Incubator’s support, I was able to give sustainability to my business”, says Nerses.

Today we will talk about Tatevik Ghazaryan, one of our successful residents of the 1st Call of applications at the EU IRIS Business Incubator. After years of working as an ergotherapist, Tatevik noticed that people with disabilities in Armenia have the chance to choose clothes according to their needs and preferences. And idea came to her to start producing clothes adapted for them. By founding “Easy Touch” LLC, Tatevik’s goal is to create multifunctional and fashionable clothes for people with disabilities, promoting their maximum independence and improving the quality of their life.

“As an ergotherapist, I have been working with people with disabilities for about 10 years. As a practicing specialist, I have seen how people with special needs have difficulty wearing clothes, and do not have the opportunity to choose clothes according to their needs and preferences. It became my dream to allow these people to combine comfort with beauty, to prove and finally break the stereotype that people with disabilities should always adapt to the existing conditions,” Tatevik noted. By having a dream in her mind, she has applied to EU IRIS BI and turned her business idea into concrete practical steps with the knowledge acquired at the IRIS Academy.

At the end, Tatevik mentioned: “I am taking my first steps as an entrepreneur but I am doing my best to master and learn the rules of the business world. And after 10 years, I am sure that I will invite you to our sewing factory, where you will see how multifunctional and fashionable clothes for people with disabilities are created with their own hands.”

Did you know that in the sunny city of Talin the first cafe “Political Cafe” was opened, which was founded by Narek Tutkhalyan, one of our successful residents of the 1st Call for Applications at the EU IRIS Business Incubator?

“The business idea came to my mind spontaneously. Once we had guests in Talin, and they offered to go for coffee. At that moment we understood that there was no such place in our community. After that, I started thinking about establishing a unique cafe-restaurant in Talin, which will become not only a favorite place for the residents of the city but also an innovative business plan of national significance, which later would spread to all regions and cities of Armenia,” told Narek.

Although Narek had no business experience before, after learning about the possibility of IRIS BI through social networks, he decided to apply because he wanted to implement his idea.

After finishing IRIS Academy Narek thinks that the most important skill for the entrepreneur is to have a business sense, that is, to think analytically, to understand the market needs, to be innovative, and surely, not to be afraid of trying new things.

“Today we already have recognition, loyal customers, flows from other cities to our community. This inspires me to imagine us as a restaurant chain, which will be represented in all regions of Armenia, and the capital after 10 years, “said Narek.

We would like to present the VitRoom brand, which was established in 2016 in the town of Noyemberyan, Tavush region, by Siranush Amiraghyan, EU IRIS Busines Incubator resident and Nune Azizyan. Vitrum produces handmade, illustrated lampshades, household items, souvenirs, brooches, stained glass chandeliers, candlesticks. In 2019, the opportunity of IRIS BI brought a new breath to the brand.

Purposefulness, faith in the realization of their ideas, and the desire to constantly move forward inspire Siranush and Nune to give a new life to the glass. “We thought of opening a small production in Noyemberyan; a production that would incorporate creative thinking and production potential, attract tourists, unite young people, and be a shining example of the creation of an own business in our community,” said Siranush and Nune.

The mission of the business is to emphasize the uniqueness of each customer by turning their ideas into a unique product. And the vision of the business is to become a leading organization in the field of stained glass in Armenia and abroad.

By overcoming many obstacles, Nune and Siranush advise women entrepreneurs to be brave, to believe in their creative ideas, and most importantly, to always have the desire to grow their products, and move forward.

Harotioun Takhtajian is one of the successful residents of the EU supported IRIS Business Incubator. He is from Syria, but since 2014 he and his family live in Gyumri.

At the age of 8, Haroutiun helped his craftsman uncle in Aleppo, at the age of 12 he became the craftsman’s main assistant, and at the age of 18, he established his own small manufactory and started working independently as an independent turner. After settling in Gyumri, he continued working as a turner, engraver, miller, locksmith, and implementing from simple to difficult tasks, from creating crafts that seemed impossible for others to make, but unique and easy for him.

“The business idea was created at the moment when I saw that the demand for my profession in Gyumri is really big. I think that every person should be engaged in the business which he/she knows and does in the best way. It is very important to work with quality. I mean, you should provide your clients with high-quality products. When you hand the final product to your client, you should look at his/her eyes, not at the feet,” said Harotioun.

It was not so easy for Harotioun to enter the Armenian market. Despite the difficulties, Harotioun’s 40 years of experience and the EU IRIS BI team supported him to turn his profession into a private business and open a lathe manufactory in Gyumri.

Harotioun ended his story by wishing all the entrepreneurs who do their first steps in business to be patient because only with patience and quality work one can succeed.

Today’s heroine is the founder of MEG Production Talar Manukian. “In 2018, when my daughters were 4 and 6 years old, they had a great desire to have videos posted on YouTube. My desire to fulfill their wish to make a professional video made me study new skills and take relevant courses,” said Talar.

During that time, Talar began to receive offers from various companies to make advertising videos. Thanks to the offers, she came up with the idea of starting her own business and began to study the market more seriously. Wishing to promote the prosperity of domestic companies, Talar applied to the EU IRIS Business Incubator application call.

Today, she is among the EU IRIS BI Syrian-Armenian residents and successful businesswomen. “Succeeding in business requires a long and hard-working process, patience, and determination. To create a stable, successful company, it is necessary to calculate all your steps and to have a clear vision, and surely the possibility of having a reliable and smart team,” said Talar.

“The increased number of women holding leadership positions in recent years speaks of the fact that women in Armenia are also the driving force of our society. Being a woman has never been a problem for me to start a business. Regardless of the stage of the business, there will always be obstacles and difficulties. It is important to believe in your own strength and always move forward.

Today in Talin we have a production of eco, woolen socks which can be worn barefoot without feeling uncomfortable. The name of this brand is ԼԻԼԻԿ / LILIK. It was founded by Grigoryan, a successful resident of the EU IRIS business incubator who has acquired her unique method of processing wool and knows very well all the nuances of processing and dyeing wool.

“My sister’s child often got sick, and my mother made woolen socks for her, insisting that if the child’s feet were warm, she would not get sick anymore. That’s what happened and we renamed our woolen socks “Grandma’s magic socks”. At the same time, I have noticed that in our community farmers were dumping the wool in the valleys like garbage or were just burning it by polluting the environment. That’s how my business idea was born.” said Lilit.

With the dream of starting her own business, Lilit participated in various courses to find financing for her business and learn business management skills. During one of these courses in 2019, she met Narine Terzyan, the Executive Director of IRIS BI, and got acquainted with the possibility of the program. Overcoming all the stages of the project and obstacles on her way, Lilit made her dream come true by helping women in her community to find a job at her woolen production, increasing the profitability of farmers by buying wool from them, and, of course, keeping the environment clean in the community.

“I would like to wish women entrepreneurs not to get discouraged when starting a business, to be confident in their strength in advance and to move forward day by day,” mentioned Lilit.

In the Armenian wine market today you can find the high-quality Galar Vines 2019 reserve wine made from Victory grape, which is aged for 7 months in wooden barrels. Galar wine is rich with spice, the raspberry silky taste was created by Hagop Kazanjian, a successful resident of the EU IRIS business incubator.

“In 2019, I participated in a course on winemaking, after which I got the opportunity to participate in wine incubation production, as well as in May 2020 to found my own wine brand, Galar Vazer LLC. During the training, by getting acquainted with the wine production process, my interest increased and I decided to establish a vineyard next to the wine production, ”said Hagop.

Hagop returned to Armenia from Syria in 2006, shortly after graduating from school. Prior to founding “Galar”, he held various positions in various IT companies. The difficulties in this regard have been less integration as a repatriate but more the lack of familiarity with the nuances of the business environment and legislation in RA. However, the idea of having his own business and his zeal for wine production helped Hagop to overcome all difficulties. According to Hagop, “Galar” is one of the unique examples of merging modern science and winemaking traditions.

Thanks to the EU IRIS business incubator, Hagop has established a 1-hectare vineyard on his 1.29-hectare land, where he has already planted the Armenian Victory and Voskehat grapes and is looking forward to the first harvest of his hand-grown wine. The company aims to become a producer of high-quality wines, a boutique wine company, increasing wine production to 12-14000 bottles over the upcoming 10 years.

Today we will talk about Artush Khachatryan, a successful resident of the EU IRIS business incubator, who brought a new and innovative approach to Armenian agriculture. Artush has been cultivating, distributing, and selling new, non-traditional, and high-value crops for 3 years already. They are mostly cabbage crops, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, fennel, artichoke, blueberries, physalis, etc., which give a wonderful harvest in the Gegharkunik region, but are mainly imported from different countries and sold at quite high prices in the Armenian market.
“I started studying the origin of new and expensive crops sold in Armenian supermarkets, the appropriate climatic conditions for their cultivation, the soil structure where they grow, the specific features which are needed to cultivate them and were wondering if it is possible to grow them in Armenia,” said Artush.

At first, Artush started growing these crops on his own, overcoming all the difficulties. Then, founding the “Sareri Bariq” Social Enterprise, he started helping the farmers of his community to grow them as well, providing them with appropriate seedlings.

Learning from friends about the possibility of EU IRIS BI, Artush decided to establish “Khogi Barik” LLC, to acquire appropriate equipment and machinery for his own greenhouse, to be engaged in large-scale production of seedlings, as they are in great demand not only in his region now but also in other parts of Armenia. “Every year I provide free seedlings, medicines for plants, counselling to 10 families in my community, helping them to cultivate and sow the seedlings, and finally, I store the entire crop along with the crop, I grew by selling them to supermarkets, from where I get my income.

“Artush thinks that a good entrepreneur in Armenia should be fully integrated into his/her business, be very comprehensive and participate in the development of all branches of his/her business (marketing, sales, accounting, etc.), and of course, love whatever he/she does. In the future, his goal is to export the crops.

Do you like delicious and healthy sweets? Then you will certainly like Arpi natural dried fruits made from the delicious fruits of the successful resident of EU IRIS business incubator Anna Asatryan. “By creating the production of Arpi natural dried fruits, I wanted to solve two big issues in our community. Besides, soon I aimed that my company would remain in the minds and hearts of my customers as the best Armenian natural dried fruit producer,” said Anna.

The production of Arpi natural dried fruits was founded in 2017 in the Zangakatun community of the Ararat region. Anna’s goal was to create an alternative way of selling the farmer’s crop. Besides, Anna, who leads a healthy lifestyle, studied the market and realized that there was a demand for natural products in the market as well Anna learned about the EU IRIS Business Incubator from the social networks, applied, graduated with honors from the IRIS academy, and received the funding to build a refrigeration facility.

“Studying the existing Armenian and Russian markets, I realized that my customers will be people who like exclusively natural and ecologically clean products. I have started to use different tools such as social media ads, participation in festivals, presenting our price offer to various exporting companies, to find my target consumers, who mainly would become my main and loyal customers,” noted Anna.

Overcoming a number of production and marketing problems due to her diligence and purposefulness, Anna has been producing exclusively natural, sugar-free dried fruits for 3 years as a woman entrepreneur and is expanding her business year by year.

Today, the richness of the biodiversity of the mountains of Jermuk has become a source of income for the residents of the community. Vazgen Galstyan, one of the successful residents of the EU IRIS Business Incubator, found the motivation to start his own business in his community in Jermuk, as he wanted to create a stable source of income for wildlife families. “Besides, for many years my family’s main source of income was selling our homemade products in Jermuk, which is rich in tourist flows. Homemade jams, tea plants, fodder plants collected from the mountains, we collected, processed and sold all this in Jermuk”, said Vazgen.

This is how the most unique Burastan/Բուրաստան was created, from where you can buy the most delicious pine cone jam as well as the most healthy rosehip jams in Armenia, and not only that. EU IRIS Business Incubator made me think about turning all these ideas into a sustainable, customer-centric business. And the IRIS Academy gave comprehensive knowledge and skills and confidence that we will succeed in the market”, Vazgen mentioned.

Lack of knowledge related to running and developing a business were the main obstacles that Vazgen and his family overcame to enter the Armenian market. “It’s not easy to enter a market when you just start your business. I would like to wish those who are going to start businesses to have various discussions with experts in the field, constantly develop and test their ideas and not give up. And my advice to entrepreneurs living in the regions of Armenia is to learn to surround yourself with people who believe in your ideas.”

Ayda Santourian Degirmenjian is a teacher by profession, but after coming to Armenia from Syria in 2013, she changed her profession and started embroidering. She told us that initially, she was embroidering at home as her hobby, but the desire to spread the art of Armenian embroidery, made her start developing her own business.

“Although I was a teacher by profession, I moved to Yerevan inheriting my grandmother’s skills and mission. I was embroidering at home in Aleppo, but after settling down permanently in Yerevan, I realized that I had to start my own business.”

According to the Syrian-Armenian businesswoman, she was initially encouraged by relatives, helped and inspired by them to participate in various exhibitions, and organized her ones. This helped her to find her place in the market and sell her exquisite works. This is how the Arika Armenian Embroidery brand was founded by her. The name of her brand is the name of Aita’s grandmother.

By applying to the EU IRIS Business Incubator and receiving funding, Ayda’s goal was to develop the ARIKA Armenian brand and gain widespread recognition in various countries, as she thinks that Armenian embroidery and culture should be preserved and disseminated throughout the world.

Arthur Meliksetyan, one of the successful residents of the EU IRIS Business Incubator, has started production of lemon verbena in the Berd community of Lori region, wishing to start production of an innovative crop in Armenia. Arthur, a chemist, biologist, agronomist by profession, decided to enter a new world for himself with clear steps and without any hesitation.

“Since there is no Verbena herb producer in Armenia, my vision is to become the organic Verbena tea producer supporting small farms in Armenia, as well as to become one of those organizations that have their loyal buyers/customers”, Arthur said.

His goal is to maintain the health of the buyer by utilizing a fragrant bunch of aromatic flavours, increasing the efficiency of the consumer. Arthur wants to allow the buyer to contribute to the development of rural communities.

Before applying to IRIS BI, Arthur and his team mastered the technology of growing and drying the herb for two years, organizing its successful pilot sale in small quantities. Having completed the pilot period with success, Arthur decided to apply to IRIS BI to receive the appropriate funding to fully organize his production activities and ensure the planned sales volumes.

“It was a late evening, and I was working on some projects. Suddenly I wanted to eat mandarins. At that moment I started complaining to my sister about why we did not have a delivery service in our community. And an idea came to my mind to start a business which would become a delivery service for the residents of our city Goris. Then COVID-19 started, and I understood that the importance of such a service in Goris was clearly emphasized”.

This is how Tamara Vanyan, a successful resident of EU IRIS Business Incubator, set up the first food, household goods, medicine, car spare parts, flowers, and other goods delivery service in Goris which is entitled as Oozum.am. Tamara’s goal was to make life easier for pupils, students, employees of organizations, housewives, the elderly and tourists in the city of Goris by taking a step forward in the field of modern services.

During the same period, learning about the possibility of EU IRIS BI from social networks, Tamara filled in the application form without any hesitation and due to her determination, she became one of the successful residents who received funding.

“The lack of experience caused many difficulties, but thanks to EU IRIS academy I overcame all the challenges without any complications. And I am sure that these obstacles have already been overcome and very soon my business will actively function and will become a delivery service that is an integral part of people’s lives in Goris”, said Tamara.

Rafi Mikaelian is a successful resident of the EU IRIS business incubator, who started his business in Aleppo 30 years ago. “I am a professional in my field. I was engaged in car interior repair and complete dry cleaning for many years. My business was very popular and famous in Aleppo. Usually, I serviced an average of 2 to 3 cars a day”, Rafi said.

In 2016, due to the war in Syria, Rafi and his family moved to Armenia. He started working for a well-known upholstered furniture repair company. He wanted to develop his upholstery repair skills and get acquainted with the specifics of the local market.

After working for about 3 years, in January 2020, Rafi decided to start his own business here in Armenia. And today, with the funding support from the EU IRIS business incubator, Rafin opened his company where he repairs car interiors and does dry-cleaning in the Erebuni district. He also expanded his business and started repairing upholstered furniture.

“My vision is to become the best service company for furniture repair, as well as car interior upholstery and dry cleaning for my clients, where they can implement all their ideas and get high-quality service,” Rafi noted.

You can also start or grow your own business like Rafi. The 3rd Call for Applications of IRIS BI is now open: http://bit.ly/3rd_CALL4APPLICATIONS

Meet Carlo Kasbarian, EU-supported IRIS Business Incubator’s successful residents. Carlo is the founder of “Silky LLC”, the first Aesthetic Medicine Devices Manufacturing company in Armenia. After coming back from Syria due to the war, Carlo has started organizing the production of aesthetic equipment in Armenia․

With the EU-supported IRIS Business Incubator’s funding from the “Increased Resilience of Syrian Armenian and Host Population” (IRIS) Programme, he expanded his business and aspires to be the leading supplier of certified and high-quality aesthetic medical equipment in the field of aesthetic medicine in our region.

“I have more than 12 years of professional experience in the field of pharmaceutical, aesthetic medicine services, and related fields,” told Carlo. “That was the reason that when I returned to Armenia, I decided to establish this company, which mission is to equip the aesthetic medicine specialists of Armenia with professional, quality, and affordable equipment.

You can also start or grow your own business as Carlo has done. Then hurry up to apply to the 3rd Call for Applications of IRIS Business Incubator: http://bit.ly/3rd_CALL4APPLICATIONS

We continue the series of success stories about EU IRIS business incubator’s residents. While attending one of the training courses organized by the European Union, Syune Ghazaryan learned about the possibility of IRIS BI. And since there was a great desire to develop the culture of keeping pets in Armenia by founding the Dog’s Place hotel in Yerevan, she decided to apply.

“It simply came to our notice then. We have a big family, including the number of our pets at that time, which was 5. When it came to vacationing or leaving the country, it was impossible not to think about our dogs: what should they do, where should stay, and so on. As a result, the business chose us itself,” said Syune.

According to Syune, a good entrepreneur must be endowed with various qualities, such as flexibility, the ability to master and integrate into new things, he/she should have perseverance, patience, and romanticism because it is dreams that become real goals. “There is a lot of love in our business, play, activity, care, and life,” highlighted Syune. At @dogsplacearm, they treat their “guests” the way they would treat their own pets.

As a start-up women entrepreneur, she faced difficulties. But she is sure that no one else could overcome those difficulties the way she did when starting her business, because no one would love her business idea as much as she did.

To the question, what obstacles did Syune overcome while founding her business, she answered: “Each of us has a mission in life when we realize it, no obstacle will seem impossible. My wish to those who start their business is to be energetic, to spare no effort to create, to work, and not to be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are very important, even more, important than achievements. I especially want women to be brave, to do what they love, and to do it by investing their whole being in their business.”

Today we will introduce Manvel Nersesyan, one of the successful residents of the EU IRIS business incubator. In the Tavush region, he has established the production of highly digestible fodder for livestock with a simple digestive system.

The vision of his business is to become the leading producer of highly digestible fodder in our region. Carrying out relevant studies and research, Manvel noted that in the case of feeding these fodder, the digestibility of livestock is 90%, and in the case of traditional fodder – up to 47%.

“We aim to eliminate fodder poisoning of the livestock, after which we will have ecologically clean meat for the market,” said Manvel. “Traditional or additive-fortified fodder uses boiled water, which is an additional expense for the farmers.”

These products will be sold near the Yerevan-Tbilisi interstate highway, the location of which is favorable for more than 900 livestock farms in the surrounding communities of Tavush and Lori marzes (Archis, Ayrum, Haghtanak, Lchkadzor, Shnogh, Chochkan, and Karkop).

Our Resident Entrepreneurs

EU supported IRIS Business Incubator's winner residents of the 1st Call for Applications and their businesses.

Mariam Gnelyan

Davit Skhtoryan

Maral Sheuhmelian

Naira Sardaryan

Nerses Adourian

Tatevik Ghazaryan

Narek Tutkhalyan

Siranush Amiraghyan

Harotioun Takhtajian

Talar Manukian

Lilit Grigoryan

Hagob Kazanjian

Artush Khachatryan

Anna Asatryan

Vazgen Galstyan

Ayda Santourian

Arthur Meliksetyan

Tamara Vanyan

Rafi Mikaelian

Carlo Kasbarian

Syune Ghazaryan

Manvel Nersesyan

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