Armenia StartUp Cup Award Ceremony to be held during Global Entrepreneurship Week
On Monday, November 12, the names of the Armenia StartUp Cup Business Model Competition winners will be announced at the American University of Armenia (AUA) during the award ceremony which will kick off the first Global Entrepreneurship Week in Armenia.
Since August, the participants were developing and improving their business models. In September, the participants attended an intensive Build-A-Business workshop at AUA, led by the founders of the StartUp Cup from the United States.
“The entrepreneurs of Armenia have inspired us,” says Sean Griffin, CEO and Founder of StartUp Cup. “We look forward to seeing the winners of the 2012 Armenia StartUp Cup impact the economy, grow jobs, and inspire a new generation of Armenia entrepreneurs to follow their dreams by starting their own company.”
Following intensive work with coaches and judges, seven teams have advanced to the Final round. These teams will be pitching their business models to the judges one last time this week, and the winners will be announced on Monday, during the Global Entrepreneurship Week Armenia kick-off event. The top 3 winners will receive monetary prizes from the USAID funded Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC) Project to assist them in starting and expanding their businesses.
“EDMC support is aimed at developing a competitive process that educates entrepreneurs to design a viable business model, develop relations with potential customers, and accelerate their start-up into the marketplace through a comprehensive competing and coaching process; thus transforming business-models into viable businesses and creating jobs,” says Gayane Dallakyan, EDMC’s Acting Chief of Party.
Armenia StartUp Cup is co-organized by the Association of Technology Startups, USAID/EDMC Project, and the American University of Armenia, and is supported by Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF), UITE, Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED), DoIt!Lab, Deem Communications, and the School for Young Leaders.
CEED will provide a customized training program to the finalists of the competition to enhance their ability to implement their ideas and successfully launch the proposed products and services. The teams will strengthen their skills in marketing, finance, and other business disciplines and will work on their business plans. The program will use elements of CEFE methodology (Competency-based Economies through the Formation of Enterprise) and will leverage CEED’s network of mentors to provide further guidance as the participants embark on the entrepreneurial journey.
“This is the first year of Armenia StartUp Cup, but the results are already impressive. It is a great honor and huge responsibility for us to be working with such partners and becoming official hosts of the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Armenia,” says Hayk Asriyants, the organizer of Armenia StartUp Cup.
Besides the Armenia StartUp Cup Award Ceremony, the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Armenia, will also feature numerous events involving different stakeholders all aiming at the development and promotion of the entrepreneurship.
