“Creative people required in all the economic spheres”
On June 9 ‘Creative Armenia’ forum was launched in Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan. Tim Williams, the team leader of EU Eastern Partnership “Culture and Creativity” project mentioned that this was an era when mechanization had its impact on all the spheres and according to the research done by University of Oxford, computers will be in charge of most jobs by 2035. Hence the future, as Mr. Williams puts it, requires innovation. “We do need creative people and culture needs to be integrated into modern economy. Creative people are required in all the economic spheres and Armenia prides itself on a great number of creative people and talents.” he says. Gregory Tsouris, Deputy Head of Co-operation Section of EU Delegation to Armenia, notes the interest in this field in Armenia and highlights the important role of creative industries in the context of future developments. He also says that that it has been a few years since the member countries of the European Neighborhood Policy could afford the opportunity to share their expertise.
The deputy head of co-operation section of EU Delegation to Armenia notes that that there is a potential for growth in rural areas in Armenia and believes that the challenges inherent in creative fields are similar to those faced in other fields. Among those challenges, he mentions legal issues, mechanisms, the discrepancy between supply and demand, a problem, which also pertains to the educational system.
Emil Tarasyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments notes there has been a decrease from 5% to 2-2,5 %-in the global growth in the economy, followed by a decline in productivity. He believes that the Armenian economy should rely on the creative potential, especially given the number of opportunities we can afford. The deputy minister argues that at present it is the state sector that is least associated with creativity, whereas it is important that people following their dreams should feel confident.
Lusine Karamyan, who is the head of international relations department at the RA Ministry of Culture, notes the work the ministry is doing to develop cultural creativity. She also happily refers to Sisian as the winner of the “Creative Town and Regions” initiative hosted by EU Eastern Partnership “Culture and Creativity” programme. Overall, the project involved 14 towns and regions.
“Creative Town and Regions” initiative has been planned to help small and medium-sized towns and regions to enhance their creative potential.
Lusine also says that Armenia is on its way of being a part of Creative Europe and they are planning to work with the countries of Eastern Partnership.
Cristina Farinha, (Portugal), who is an expert in the development of creative industries within “Culture and Creativity” project in the Eastern Partnership countries shares the key findings and recommendations of the study addressing creative industries in Armenia.
The forum was attended by government officials, businesspeople, stakeholders and policymakers who are engage.ed in the creative sector and came together to discuss the perspectives of creative development in Armenia.
Through discussions and exchange of ideas, the forum participants identified the potential for growth in the field, and ways of addressing the challenges inherent in the sector.
“The forum featured the results of the research into creative industries in Armenia, the European expertise and shared the success stories registered in Armenia. This will give us an overall picture of the development opportunities in the creative sector.”, says Norayr Yerznkyan, national coordinator of the programme.
Isolation the greatest foe faced by creative people
Cultural and creative consultant, Partner at the Cordy Wills Partnership, former CEO of Creative Industries Development Agency Anamaria Wills (UK) says that 20 years ago politicians and business analysts wouldn’t even pay attention to people engaged in the creative sector, whereas now they will always seek their opinion. The example she adduced was that of Singapore, where “there were buckets of money poured into the creativity sector.” Anamaria Wills highlights the importance of the creative sector, as it pertains to all the spheres. In her words, isolation is the greatest foe creative people can face and investments in creativity should be made at an initial stage to feed their creative instinct.
Marie Lou Papazian, the Director of Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, shares her expertise and highlights the importance of creating a special atmosphere for the kids noting that every child is unique.
Yrjö Ojasaar (Estonia) who is a mentor and advisor in Startup Wise Guys and GameFounders and a managing partner at Solon Partners Ltd., argues that game industry earns more profits in cultural sector than Hollywood films and publishing together. He also believes that by 2020, people will have started purchasing the customer’s expertise and one should consider attractive packaging to be able to sell it.
Araksya Martirosyan, the co-founder of IAB international business academy and the coordinator of Creative Armenia forum, mentions that quite often qualified specialist have to leave the country in quest of employment, hence there is a demand for organisations that would support their new projects and creative startups.
Vahe Baloulian , the CEO of BetConstruct and the co-founder of DiVine Group believes the lack of required knowledge and skills for the proper presentation of ideas to be one of the burning issues in Armenia. Aram Pakhchanyan, the vice-president of ABBYY software house and the Director of “Ayb” School states that there’s a need for creative people in today’s society. The general consensus is that creative hubs need to be established and creative communities should receive a boost.
Business challenge and creative fireworks in “Ayb” School
“Creative Armenia Business Challenge” forum continued its work between 10 and 11 June in “Ayb” School. The forum was attended by 53 teams, 20 mentors and seven members of the jury.
Creative Armenia Business Challenge sought to promote creativity and culture, develop entrepreneurship in Armenia and provide resources and mentorship support for most innovative startups. The main objective of the programme was to provide the teams’ quick entry into the market. The program extended the structural support required to develop an effective business model. The challenge helped the teams identify their best team players and encouraged them to invest their talent in startups and test their ability to make the business model work.
At the start of the challenge, Norayr Yerznkyan promised 48 hours of excitement over two days and Araksya Martirosyan, the co-founder of IAB international business academy and the forum coordinator said, “With 53 teams attending the forum, we expect to see creativity, hard work, dynamic and active participants, who will find the resources and make wise use of support offered by their mentors.”
Yrjö Ojasaar, the managing partner at Solon Partners Ltd. and the mentor and advisor in Startup Wise Guys and GameFounders, says that he will be happy to spend his time at Creative Business Challenge in Armenia. “It’s unbelievable that one can meet so many smart people in one place.”
Here’s one of the tips Yrjö gave, “It’s impossible to reach success on your own. A good team is a must both in sports and business. You should be able to convey your message to another person. A good team is not the only prerequisite. One also needs a good strategy, as in sports. Bear in mind that even if you don’t grow to be a millionaire, this doesn’t speak of your failure, as when you like what you’re doing and when you serve your country, then there is no space for failures.”
Harnessing your fears helps you reach success
Michael McCarthy, a mentor and professor at Harvard Extension School, recommends facing challenges and welcoming changes. “I keep telling my students to listen twice as much as we speak. You should harness your fears to be successful and there should be some risk involved in your daily activities for you to be able to face great risks afterwards.”
Michael McCarthy recommends picking one’s team members carefully and making the selection based on the qualities they share with you, punctuality, integrity, etc.
He shared the story of his first business which he started by spending only 125 dollars and which earned him 250 million dollars of profit after ten years. “If you don’t have the budget, you can do a lot of things for free but never give away even the smallest part of your shares.”
Artist and designer Arev Petrosyan has also joined the business challenge.
She says the challenge presents a great opportunity to generate ideas, write business proposals and inspire new startups. .’I welcome this initiative and harbour the hope that it will be continuous, as I have seen great participants and much enthusiasm. These two days have somehow been the start of a unique course on how to turn ideas into a complete business project and even though not every project won, all the involved parties found the challenge quite exciting. I think that such people need to visit Armenia more often. I myself, as a painter could consider conceiving and implementing ideas not related to art.” she said.
The winners and the best 7 start-ups of “Creative Armenia”
The Challenge sought to support the development of creativity and culture as a tool to improve the standard of living in Armenia, encourage entrepreneurial mentality and equip specialists of the creative sector with the techniques of developing new projects and startups.
Teams with the best 53 projects out of the 111 creative ideas submitted for participation in the Challenge. They developed their proposals with the support of mentors who helped them design competitive startup business models.
During the two-day event, the board selected seven teams for pitching their ideas to the jury, made up of business people and cultural operators. Out of these teams, top three winners were selected.
‘Tonir” (Tandoor) Wedding Village wins the first prize, 500 000 AMD from Ayb School
The project had been initiated by a young couple, who wanted to wed in a traditional Armenian style but could not find any organisation that would cater to their wish. So, the young people decided to establish a wedding village in Syunik Marz, where the guests could spend some days and enjoy the spectacular landscape of the region, Armenian traditional games, cuisine, songs and dances, as well as tour the local places of interest. The initiators believe that the project will not only help provide a unique service to the interested parties, but will also boost the life and economy in the community.
‘Ail Kerp” board games win the second prize, a three-month acceleration project by Biz Nest Entrepreneurial Centre
“Ail Kerp” suggests communication with your family and friends, not relying on Internet penetration or battery life. The board games designed by the company seek to improve the Armenian language and promote face-to-face interaction. Over the past two years, “Ail Kerp” has sold about 8000 games. Now the startup is ready to enter the Georgian market.
Busticks gets the third prize
The prize granted them an opportunity to have a free co-working space in “The Buro” co-office for a month.
Busticks administers bus tours to places of interest in Armenia, Georgia and Turkey. The orders are made by a mobile application. The user submits a request and receives a tour offer at the best prices.
Ololo is an interactive touring puppet theatre that targets children from kindergarten age through middle school. The whole team consists of three actors and the founder. According to the idea of the team, the children can approach the stage and change the course of the fairy tale and stage decorations. They can also interact with the characters. The project is expected to maximize its social impact educational materials and engaging children from vulnerable groups.
Motion stories team plans to tell stories using images, which is why they propose to create a platform where everyone can download their pictures/images in any order and “animate” them through the app, i.e. to enrich the image by animated elements. Besides, the platform has been designed to have a system of links, which categorize the stories according to the theme or word and enable navigation through logically connected stories.
Own and Share automated bicycle rental service differs from similar services, as it enables the users to register their bicycles in the system. Due to the mobile app, every single person will have an opportunity to find a bicycle parked nearby, use it, and leave it wherever convenient. The major component of the project is the special electronic lock regulated by the same app which prevents the user’s bicycle from being stolen.
GoToConcert is an online events management platform, which enables concert promoters, musicians and concertgoers to create their own concert experience via a voting system, encouraging the audience to vote for their favourite artist or band. The platform will also have an option of online presales.
During the challenge, apart from mentors’ support, 25 semi-finalist teams were given an opportunity to join the master class by a leading specialist in the field, Michael McCarthy, the author of Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Public Speaking courses, who taught the participants how to pitch their ideas to “angel” investors.
Even though the Challenge did not imply any networking with investors during the event, some startups attracted the attention of the jury and received offers to discuss their proposal. Some participants also discovered future cooperation opportunities by listening to the ideas voiced by their peers in their presentations.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
