From January 29 to February 27 eight leading Armenian start-up teams, finalists of the Armenia StartUp, participated in a rigorous program of entrepreneurship development led by the experts of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED) through the USAID Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC) Project.

The teams presented their business plans on February 27 at the certificate ceremony, attended by experienced Armenian entrepreneurs, development experts, and the international community.

During the past month these young entrepreneurs took the business model ideas, which they developed as a result of Armenia Startup Cup, and turned them into viable and competitive business plans with financial projections, market research, and marketing strategy, along with other elements.

The Program consisted of three components – training, teamwork, and consulting. Based on CEFE (Competencybased Economies through Formation of Enterprise) methodology, training sessions improved participants’ knowledge of marketing, management, and finances. CEFE is a comprehensive set of training instruments using an action-oriented approach and experiential learning methods to develop and enhance the business management and personal competencies of entrepreneurs.

TECTVM (“tectum”), which won the first place at Armenia StartUp Cup, further developed the financial and marketing aspects of their goat cheese production technology idea. As a result of the program, TECTVM established a clear model of doing business, which they will use in the future to contract goat cheese producing companies and enabling income.

ArmAudioBooks team, who won the second place at Armenia Startup Cup with an idea of a complete voice talent recording studio, perfected their marketing strategy to tailor it for the Diaspora market as well as revised the cost price and other financial calculations. The team also used the training to solidify another business idea, which will offer massage services by visually impaired people, thus promoting employment and income for people with special needs.

Innovative Greenhouse team, who won the third place with a business idea to convert lost energy from natural gas stations into heating for greenhouses, worked on marketing aspects and related details.

Other teams, such as Looker, used the training to put together the business plan to promote their idea of installing paid video-monitoring systems at private day-care centers with 24-hour archiving; while Bio-humus team worked on the business plan to produce bio-humus using Californian red worms, which are safe for the crops and improve the quality of the soil.