“One of the important preconditions is that political topics are banned within the union. It helps a lot, because politics is, in fact, divisive. If the task is to unite people, then politics is forbidden in our country,” said Vahram Mirakyan, the Mantashov Entrepreneurs Union’s founder and chair, on January 26, presenting the goal of establishing the Mantashov Entrepreneurs Union and the work that has taken place over the past three years. According to him, the union started with 10 business friends, now it has about 140 members in Armenia, 30 members in Los Angeles, about 20 members in Moscow and as many in Krasnodar.
“We, Armenians, are a global nation; 25-30% of Armenians live in Armenia, but being a global nation, we have very few global structures and no economic structures. Our union assumes that role to become a global Armenian economic structure,” said Vahram Mirakyan. “We plan to expand to six more cities this year. It will show that the Armenian business owner works more efficiently in the world,” Vahram Mirakyan said.
In response to Aravot’s question about how Diaspora business owners seem to be disappointed due to the situation in the country, which is evidenced by the lack of investments, so how will they be persuaded to invest in Armenia, Vahram Mirakyan answered, “There is disappointment in any Armenian structure in the Diaspora, be it a state, church, charity, or political organization. People feel cheated and there was a kind of aversion to Armenian topics. Which is very bad. We always have a consumerist attitude towards our Diaspora and we always want something from the Diaspora, which is very bad. We want money from the Diaspora to build a church, we want money to build a road in Artsakh, we want money to build a water line in Ashtarak, we blame the Diaspora if they have opinions about the country on different topics, and so on.”
According to Vahram Mirakyan, there shouldn’t be a consumerist approach towards the Diaspora, but a partner one. “We should not consider the Diaspora as a bag of money that should constantly give us money for our needs. And that way, cooperation will be more effective. We must focus on what we give to our Diaspora, and we must do such projects. What do we, as a state, give? Maybe we will give, then we want it to be easier that way. Even parents will get tired one day if their adult child only wants and wants. The parent will say go and live on your own. The same applies to these issues.”
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