“We have reached the point that Yenokavan is on the tourist map of Armenia,” Tigran Chibukhchyan, director and co-owner of the Future Projects company, presented the dynamics of business development started by his family since 2003.
In March of this year, the Armenian National Interests Fund- ANIF – joined the company as a partner. Within the framework of the joint investment program of the Fund and the Future Projects company, the new hotel complex will soon be put into operation, works continue in the new restaurant complex and Yell Extreme amusement park. New services will be available soon. A 2.5 km long zip line will be built in the amusement park, which will be a new platform for sports entertainment. It will be the longest zipline in the world, with a length of 2,680 meters and a height of 200-300 meters. The zipline flight will last 3-4 minutes, with the possibility of reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h. It will be commissioned at the end of 2022. The amusement park also offers paragliding, rope park, 4WD, and horseback riding.
The Entrepreneur + State Investment Manager CJSC, a subsidiary of ANIF, made a share investment equivalent to 1.6 million USD in the Future Projects company. Tigran Chibukhchyan considers this an example of effective cooperation between the public and private sectors. He also emphasizes the social component of the project, which is aimed at the development of the rural community and the improvement of community life. In a conversation with Aravot, Tigran Chibukhchyan also talked about the problems and their solutions.
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“There is a human resource problem, lack of specialists. For example, if we talk about the hospitality sector, there is a problem of chefs, skilled chefs.” The local resource is very scarce, there are now four large complexes operating in the Yenokavan community. The population of the community is about 900 people, including children. Hiring labor from outside is expensive for businessmen, which will affect the prices.
According to our interlocutor, the state should deal with the training of personnel, for example, improving the quality and level of the relevant educational institutions in Dilijan and Ijevan. Another solution is decentralization, which is constantly being talked about in the RA government that is changing things, but clear steps are still not visible or are insignificant. In cooperation with ANIF, our interlocutor hopes that there will be step-by-step progress in this direction as well.
Bella Manukyan, director of ANIF’s subsidiary Entrepreneur + State fund, generally considers investing in successful and profitable business projects to be one of the most effective ways of investing state funds. The fund now implements five projects with different investment sizes and in different sectors: tourism, agriculture, and they also invest in the financial market. Bella Manukyan considers the joint project with the Future Projects company to be one of the successful ones. She is sure that the investments made in the company will contribute to the development of business, the creation of additional jobs, as well as the development and modernization of the tourism sector, which is one of the main goals.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
