CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association, Inc. (CYSCA) recently announced the release of a second edition of a business guide titled “Easy Use Guidelines for Armenian Entrepreneurs.” This guidebook is written in simple everyday Armenian and English for use by entrepreneurs in Armenia to guide them through the steps to establish, finance, and run a business in Armenia.
The principal contributor and driving force for this guide was Mgrditch (Misha) Tadevosian, an executive of Anelik Bank, who had participated in a CYSCA-sponsored, U.S. government-funded “Community Connections” entrepreneurship training program in Cambridge in 2004. Following his return to Armenia, Tadevosian collaborated with other alumni of the CYSCA training program—Irina Belubecyan, Gegham Petrosyan, and Marine Ghaghramanyan—to produce a first of its kind and much-needed guidebook for inexperienced entrepreneurs in Armenia, sponsored and funded by CYSCA. This first guidebook was so popular that it was soon out of print and required an updated second edition. In 2009, Misha and his team updated and published a second edition, followed by an English translation, sponsored and funded by CYSCA.
CYSCA obtained the support of the U.S. Peace Corps English language experts in Armenia to assist in the editing of the English version, which resulted in the publishing of the updated version. During his visit to Armenia in September 2009, CYSCA board member Jack Medzorian accompanied Tadevosyan and former CYSCA board member Saro Khachikian to present 50 copies of the newly printed second edition to Ms. Lee Lacy, the country director of the U. S. Peace Corps, for use by Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV).
“We thank Misha, his co-authors, and CYSCA for producing the booklet, which will be an invaluable tool in helping our PCVs in Armenia assist entrepreneurs in the villages, where business knowledge and experience are frequently lacking,” Lacy said.
“This project helps us fulfill our ultimate goal in the training of professionals from Armenia,” Medzorian said, “which is to follow up and implement the knowledge and ideas gained through our ‘Community Connections’ training program.”
Tadevosian responded, “We are pleased that we were able to utilize the experience we gained during our CYSCA training program to produce this guidebook, which has proven to be very helpful to entrepreneurs in Armenia in running their businesses”.
CYSCA was formed in 1987 by a group of concerned citizens of Cambridge and the city of Yerevan who believed that a partnership with a Soviet city would promote peace. In the 22 years that followed, many activities have taken place, including citizens exchanges and training programs for professionals in the fields of education, economics, environment, music, arts, culture, medicine, public health, school aid, youth exchanges, tourism, theater, social work, museum management, and humanitarian aid.
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