International investors share experience in Yerevan

Armenia-Turkey Investor Day kicked off today in Yerevan. The event is aimed at promoting the idea of creating sustainable angel investing ecosystem in Armenia and Turkey, introducing various formats of investor networks and best international practices.

The organizers of the event are the Public Journalism Club (PJC) and the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), in cooperation with Silicon Valley-based Angel Labs investor accelerator.

Director of Angel Labs Tugce Ergul told Itel.am that similar events might become the most effective way of starting a dialogue between the two countries.  

“This is a great way of starting a dialogue between the two cultures, as VC and entrepreneurship is truly a global language, which anyone from Silicon Valley to Berlin can speak; that is why our delegation is so international. This is a way of filling the lack of business angles in Armenia. You have a number of successful entrepreneurs, but VC and angel investor side is really missing. I think Armenia can profit from being a small country, which helps entrepreneurs think at least regionally if not globally. Definitely you need to build traction globally or regionally instead of creating a product for local market and to your advantage. You need to think bigger and make sure you focus on traction, not investment, because money will find you once you have traction,” Tugce Ergul said.

Ambassador of France to the Republic of Armenia Jean-Francois Charpentier remarked that unregulated relations between Armenia and Turkey made it harder for the development of the Armenian economy, while similar events were necessary for starting a dialogue between the two countries.
 
According to Head of Cooperation Section of EU Delegation Hoa-Binh Adjemian, “only de-facto solidarity can bring to normalization and peace, which will lay ground for successful future in the region.”

“The objective of our initiative is to support those who are willing to further develop Armenia's start-up and investment ecosystem by forming angel investor network. Such networks do successfully exist worldwide, and our aim is to introduce this concept in Armenia and Turkey, as well as promote cooperation between angels from these countries for implementation of joint projects,” Head of the PJC Seda Muradyan remarked.

As part of the event, the representatives of the ICT sector in Armenia and Turkey will hold a discussion on the prospects of investment in the ICT and start-up ecosystems in their countries. The main event will be followed by meeting with ICT Startups.

The initiative is implemented by Public Journalism Club (PJC) and the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) as a component of Exchange of Entrepreneurs program within the frames of the second stage of Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalization Process program, financed by the European Union.