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AFTER SEEING THE "TUMO" CENTER IN ARMENIA, THEY ARE TRYING TO SET UP SIMILAR CENTERS IN TURKEY
March 5 2015
One of the outcomes of the "Exchange of Entrepreneurs" program: the
Turkish professor is now seeking funding to set up centers similar
to Tumo. And what practical benefit did the Armenian entrepreneurs
receive from the visit to Turkey? The news is the purple cow In
the last days of stay in Turkey, on February 27-28, the Armenian
Information and Communication Technology Delegation attended the
Startup Turkey event in Antalya. Recall that the visit took place
under the "Exchange of Entrepreneurs'" project implemented by the
Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and the Public
Journalism Club (PJC) within the framework of the "Support to the
Armenia-Turkey Normalization Process" program funded by the European
Union. This year, one of the speakers of the Startup Turkey was Mike
Butcher, the Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch, one of the leading news
source about technologies. He has worked for such periodicals, such
as The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph,
etc., and is considered to be one of the most influential persons in
the industry of new media and technologies. Herewith, having such a
considerable experience, he was giving advice to the Startup Turkey
attendees on how to gain the media attention. Let's single out a few
of his advice, they might be useful to our new entrepreneurs too. "The
news is the purple cow. The news is that the person has bit the dog.
Just the fact that you are a startup venture is not news. Or the
fact that you exist is not news," says he and hints how one can be
a part of the news. "Conversations are better than press reports,"
in addition, he listed what facts should be composed to raise interest.
In addition to informing that you have elaborated a new attachment,
you should also convey why it is better than the existing ones,
and promise that it would be the exclusive of the mass media, and
provide links for additional information. You can see the full list
illustrated by TechCrunch editor in the photo. Armenians in Startup
Turkey To the point, TechCrunch has not yet referred to the Apps of
Shadowmatic puzzle created by the Armenian Triada Studio Games. And
the Armenian delegation member Arpine Grigoryan immediately seizes
this opportunity to show the game to Mike Butcher. He liked the
Shadowmatic. It is remarkable how Pavel Snkhchyan, Vice President of
Sourcio IT Consulting Company, was presenting their program on checking
the eye sight and maintaining the eye health. He was approaching
the ones who were wearing optical glasses and suggesting them to
test it by presenting what kind of project is this and what problems
it solves. To the question of "Aravot" of what were the reactions,
Pavel Snkhchyan replied, "There were very positive reactions from
all sides." As Startup Turkey also creates an opportunity to set
up business relationships with the investors, we were interested
to know whether it was possible to achieve some agreements with the
investors in the meantime, Pavel Snkhchyan replied that they did not
pursue the problem of "catching" especially investors. "Simply, we
wanted to spread more information about our program. And it actually
will automatically lead to the investors, because only the good
name is worth much, and it would be easier for us to negotiate with
this-or-that investor in the future." To the question of whether this
meeting enabled to set up new contacts, he replied, "Absolutely. It
can be said without exaggeration that I acquired more than 10 good
contacts with whom we plan to work in the future and see what kind
of partnership ways we will have."
Eliminating the borders between the two countries The award ceremony
for Startup Turkey winners was conducted by Professor of the Istanbul
MEF University Erhan Erkut, whom "Aravot" interviewed separately
below. - In your opinion, do Armenia-Turkey relations in the Startup
industry have prospective or future? - I think so. I think that
entrepreneurship, in particular, and economics, in general, do not
recognize any boundaries. Consequently, we can certainly benefit from
collaboration, as by collaborating to will improve the welfare of
all countries in this region. - But do you think any Turkish investor
may invest in a newly established enterprise in Armenia under these
conditions that there are no diplomatic relations between our two
countries? - Absolutely. The Turkish investors are not limited
by the government or by the diplomacy. They are in the business
of making money. They will go wherever they think they can make
money. And as far as I know there are no restrictions on investing
in any country in the world. - What do you think, can the absence of
relations between Armenia and Turkey effect on the IT industry too? -
I think that this actually is the best place to improve the relations,
because the entrepreneurs, scientists and investors are not bound by
what politicians or governments think. They do what they think is the
best for themselves and for the community and for the humanity. So,
I think there is great potential for collaboration. There are problems
of access, for example, travelling between our countries is difficult.
But I think we need to work together to get over this problems. Maybe
we would send some Turkish entrepreneurs to Armenia and bring some
Armenian entrepreneurs to Turkey. Really, I mean we send some of our
best entrepreneurs to Europe, US and so on. This is really a cross
boundary business and I think it has therefore a great potential to
help improve relations, because it's a natural place to start. -
If I'm not mistaken, you visited Armenia last year, was there any
project that you were interested in and do you see any potential for
that project? - I was actually very impressed with the Armenian IT
ecosystem. I was expecting to see a less developed ecosystem, but
I was impressed to find out that 3.5% of all Armenian exports are
IT-based, while this number in Turkey is less than 1%. I was really
impressed with Tumo center. In fact, I will give you a secret. I am
trying to build something like Tumo center in Turkey now. I want to
improve if possible... maybe I wouldn't say improve, but to built
something like Tumo center in certain ways, but more like incubation
and techno park oriented than Tumo center. So, currently I'm actually
looking for funding to establish series of 15 Tumo centers across
Turkey. I will call them entrepreneurship factories or entrepreneurship
schools. I was also very impressed with the Hachathon at Gyumri. I
couldn't believe that there were 270 high school students hacking,
programming. And when we went over to them to talk, they said that
they were able to speak to us in English. This cannot be expected in
Turkey. Most high school students don't speak English well enough to
converse in English with a foreigner. So, I think we have something
to learn from Armenia and I would say there complementary benefits.
What I realized while I was there is that Turkish markets sizes are
very attractive for Armenian investors, and the access of the US
Armenian investors and the Armenian Diaspora is very attractive
to Turkish entrepreneurs. So, this is a clear potential for
collaboration. I would like to see more partnerships between Armenia
and Turkey entrepreneurs. So when a Turk and an Armenian collaborate
on a new business, would you call it a Turkish business or an Armenian
business? It's neither. It's a business. Okay. I think this is how we
can actually work on taking down the mental barriers and boundaries
between the countries. - For you, is it possible for the Armenian
delegation to be able to attend the next Startup Turkey and present
its programs? - I am not wanna be the organizer of Startup events
but my advice to the organizers is to include as many countries as
possible. And when you come to for example a startup in Istanbul, you
realize that it's not a national event. There were 900 participants
last year and about 400 to 500 of them were from abroad. There
were really no national panels. The panels were all mixed: Indians,
Americans, Russians, all sorts of nationalities were mixed. I would
like to see Armenians in that group as well. I did see some people
from Iran, some people from Greece, Romania and Russia. I would like
to see Armenians as well. I would like to see more Arabs. I would like
to see more people from the entire region coming together, because
entrepreneurship doesn't have this nationalistic boundaries. What will
be in the next stage? We asked the Head of Public Journalism Club Seda
Muradyan about what comes next after the "Exchange of Entrepreneurs"
project. "This is the first time that such kind of exchange program is
conducted between these sectors. We already hope for a response visit,
which will enable to further strengthen the ties that were established
in Yerevan. We the organizers, do not perceive this as a short-term
project, because her we have already agreed on our long-term plans."
There are already new ideas, it remains to raise funds. First, you
want the Armenian entrepreneurs to have the opportunity for the next
Startup Turkey to present their projects to investors and generally,
the potential of the IT industry in Armenia. "In general, we consider
this event first of all as obtaining contacts and the ability to
communicate directly with the investors. Secondly, currently, after
the first visit, we have started a long-term program. Three startup
from Armenia and three startup from Turkey (already supported by the
US Embassy) pass to the four-year program, which includes an online
consultation. In other words, the experts from Armenia and Turkey are
helping their teams to develop their ideas and get to the finished
product." Later, according to Seda Muradyan, all these 6 teams in
Armenia will have the opportunity to present their programs in the
presence of investors. "And it depends on their talent whether they
will be able to attract these investors, whom we will invite, obtain
investments or not. However, we are going to have 4,000 euro for the
best startup idea and a prize for the team."
Anna ISRAELYAN Antalya-Yerevan
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2015/03/05/169122/
From: A. Papazian
March 5 2015
One of the outcomes of the "Exchange of Entrepreneurs" program: the
Turkish professor is now seeking funding to set up centers similar
to Tumo. And what practical benefit did the Armenian entrepreneurs
receive from the visit to Turkey? The news is the purple cow In
the last days of stay in Turkey, on February 27-28, the Armenian
Information and Communication Technology Delegation attended the
Startup Turkey event in Antalya. Recall that the visit took place
under the "Exchange of Entrepreneurs'" project implemented by the
Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and the Public
Journalism Club (PJC) within the framework of the "Support to the
Armenia-Turkey Normalization Process" program funded by the European
Union. This year, one of the speakers of the Startup Turkey was Mike
Butcher, the Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch, one of the leading news
source about technologies. He has worked for such periodicals, such
as The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph,
etc., and is considered to be one of the most influential persons in
the industry of new media and technologies. Herewith, having such a
considerable experience, he was giving advice to the Startup Turkey
attendees on how to gain the media attention. Let's single out a few
of his advice, they might be useful to our new entrepreneurs too. "The
news is the purple cow. The news is that the person has bit the dog.
Just the fact that you are a startup venture is not news. Or the
fact that you exist is not news," says he and hints how one can be
a part of the news. "Conversations are better than press reports,"
in addition, he listed what facts should be composed to raise interest.
In addition to informing that you have elaborated a new attachment,
you should also convey why it is better than the existing ones,
and promise that it would be the exclusive of the mass media, and
provide links for additional information. You can see the full list
illustrated by TechCrunch editor in the photo. Armenians in Startup
Turkey To the point, TechCrunch has not yet referred to the Apps of
Shadowmatic puzzle created by the Armenian Triada Studio Games. And
the Armenian delegation member Arpine Grigoryan immediately seizes
this opportunity to show the game to Mike Butcher. He liked the
Shadowmatic. It is remarkable how Pavel Snkhchyan, Vice President of
Sourcio IT Consulting Company, was presenting their program on checking
the eye sight and maintaining the eye health. He was approaching
the ones who were wearing optical glasses and suggesting them to
test it by presenting what kind of project is this and what problems
it solves. To the question of "Aravot" of what were the reactions,
Pavel Snkhchyan replied, "There were very positive reactions from
all sides." As Startup Turkey also creates an opportunity to set
up business relationships with the investors, we were interested
to know whether it was possible to achieve some agreements with the
investors in the meantime, Pavel Snkhchyan replied that they did not
pursue the problem of "catching" especially investors. "Simply, we
wanted to spread more information about our program. And it actually
will automatically lead to the investors, because only the good
name is worth much, and it would be easier for us to negotiate with
this-or-that investor in the future." To the question of whether this
meeting enabled to set up new contacts, he replied, "Absolutely. It
can be said without exaggeration that I acquired more than 10 good
contacts with whom we plan to work in the future and see what kind
of partnership ways we will have."
Eliminating the borders between the two countries The award ceremony
for Startup Turkey winners was conducted by Professor of the Istanbul
MEF University Erhan Erkut, whom "Aravot" interviewed separately
below. - In your opinion, do Armenia-Turkey relations in the Startup
industry have prospective or future? - I think so. I think that
entrepreneurship, in particular, and economics, in general, do not
recognize any boundaries. Consequently, we can certainly benefit from
collaboration, as by collaborating to will improve the welfare of
all countries in this region. - But do you think any Turkish investor
may invest in a newly established enterprise in Armenia under these
conditions that there are no diplomatic relations between our two
countries? - Absolutely. The Turkish investors are not limited
by the government or by the diplomacy. They are in the business
of making money. They will go wherever they think they can make
money. And as far as I know there are no restrictions on investing
in any country in the world. - What do you think, can the absence of
relations between Armenia and Turkey effect on the IT industry too? -
I think that this actually is the best place to improve the relations,
because the entrepreneurs, scientists and investors are not bound by
what politicians or governments think. They do what they think is the
best for themselves and for the community and for the humanity. So,
I think there is great potential for collaboration. There are problems
of access, for example, travelling between our countries is difficult.
But I think we need to work together to get over this problems. Maybe
we would send some Turkish entrepreneurs to Armenia and bring some
Armenian entrepreneurs to Turkey. Really, I mean we send some of our
best entrepreneurs to Europe, US and so on. This is really a cross
boundary business and I think it has therefore a great potential to
help improve relations, because it's a natural place to start. -
If I'm not mistaken, you visited Armenia last year, was there any
project that you were interested in and do you see any potential for
that project? - I was actually very impressed with the Armenian IT
ecosystem. I was expecting to see a less developed ecosystem, but
I was impressed to find out that 3.5% of all Armenian exports are
IT-based, while this number in Turkey is less than 1%. I was really
impressed with Tumo center. In fact, I will give you a secret. I am
trying to build something like Tumo center in Turkey now. I want to
improve if possible... maybe I wouldn't say improve, but to built
something like Tumo center in certain ways, but more like incubation
and techno park oriented than Tumo center. So, currently I'm actually
looking for funding to establish series of 15 Tumo centers across
Turkey. I will call them entrepreneurship factories or entrepreneurship
schools. I was also very impressed with the Hachathon at Gyumri. I
couldn't believe that there were 270 high school students hacking,
programming. And when we went over to them to talk, they said that
they were able to speak to us in English. This cannot be expected in
Turkey. Most high school students don't speak English well enough to
converse in English with a foreigner. So, I think we have something
to learn from Armenia and I would say there complementary benefits.
What I realized while I was there is that Turkish markets sizes are
very attractive for Armenian investors, and the access of the US
Armenian investors and the Armenian Diaspora is very attractive
to Turkish entrepreneurs. So, this is a clear potential for
collaboration. I would like to see more partnerships between Armenia
and Turkey entrepreneurs. So when a Turk and an Armenian collaborate
on a new business, would you call it a Turkish business or an Armenian
business? It's neither. It's a business. Okay. I think this is how we
can actually work on taking down the mental barriers and boundaries
between the countries. - For you, is it possible for the Armenian
delegation to be able to attend the next Startup Turkey and present
its programs? - I am not wanna be the organizer of Startup events
but my advice to the organizers is to include as many countries as
possible. And when you come to for example a startup in Istanbul, you
realize that it's not a national event. There were 900 participants
last year and about 400 to 500 of them were from abroad. There
were really no national panels. The panels were all mixed: Indians,
Americans, Russians, all sorts of nationalities were mixed. I would
like to see Armenians in that group as well. I did see some people
from Iran, some people from Greece, Romania and Russia. I would like
to see Armenians as well. I would like to see more Arabs. I would like
to see more people from the entire region coming together, because
entrepreneurship doesn't have this nationalistic boundaries. What will
be in the next stage? We asked the Head of Public Journalism Club Seda
Muradyan about what comes next after the "Exchange of Entrepreneurs"
project. "This is the first time that such kind of exchange program is
conducted between these sectors. We already hope for a response visit,
which will enable to further strengthen the ties that were established
in Yerevan. We the organizers, do not perceive this as a short-term
project, because her we have already agreed on our long-term plans."
There are already new ideas, it remains to raise funds. First, you
want the Armenian entrepreneurs to have the opportunity for the next
Startup Turkey to present their projects to investors and generally,
the potential of the IT industry in Armenia. "In general, we consider
this event first of all as obtaining contacts and the ability to
communicate directly with the investors. Secondly, currently, after
the first visit, we have started a long-term program. Three startup
from Armenia and three startup from Turkey (already supported by the
US Embassy) pass to the four-year program, which includes an online
consultation. In other words, the experts from Armenia and Turkey are
helping their teams to develop their ideas and get to the finished
product." Later, according to Seda Muradyan, all these 6 teams in
Armenia will have the opportunity to present their programs in the
presence of investors. "And it depends on their talent whether they
will be able to attract these investors, whom we will invite, obtain
investments or not. However, we are going to have 4,000 euro for the
best startup idea and a prize for the team."
Anna ISRAELYAN Antalya-Yerevan
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2015/03/05/169122/
From: A. Papazian