How did a dry fruit start-up get the opportunity to grow in the village of Byurakan? Its founder Anna had been thinking about her venture for a long time before she learnt about Kolba Lab. Information about Kolba’s support to start-ups caught her attention and she proposed to build a fruit dryer using solar energy, which is in abundance in Armenia. We caught up with Anna recently to find out how she was getting on.

What made you apply to Kolba?

Well, it happened accidentally. During the summer holidays I was looking through my social media accounts and I came across a post from Kolba Lab about its social innovation ideas competition. Along with other active members of Byurakan community, I thought, “why not? Let’s try it!” We thought that even if our proposal didn’t win, the opportunity to communicate with Kolba’s team of social innovators might still be very helpful. When we applied for the competition we didn’t expect much from it. To our surprise, Kolba replied very fast. They visited us and the process quickly began to evolve. We took part in discussions, consultations, presentations, proposals, and a lot of team work. Eventually, we made it as one of four successful start-ups out of a final selection of ten proposed projects. That was it, “Byurakan Chir” won.

Do you think there was something that Kolba could have done better?

Generally, Kolba fully supported us and helped us a lot. For example, they encouraged and helped facilitate us in finding, contacting and initiating negotiations with companies that we hoped to work with. Today we have a large network of partners, but in the beginning it was Kolba who pushed us to believe in the effectiveness of start-up programs and showed the possibility of getting support for our ideas.

My only regret is that all the other projects couldn’t be shortlisted as winners as well. Each of the ten proposed projects deserved to win and be implemented. There were so many bright ideas!

At what stage is “Byurakan Chir” now?

We are in the working phase, connecting with new potential partners and signing harvest exporting contracts. Our project is connected with natural cycles, so as the apple and peach drying season begins, I think we will have a strong start to our operations.

Do you have any new ideas for your project?

There are still many challenges out there for our community. “Byurakan Chir” partially solves the issues of unemployment and harvest sales. However, with the community’s help we are planning to look at creating an even greater impact. To achieve this we are searching and applying for a variety of programs, targeting many more problems and issues.

What would be your advice to other citizens who want to take the initiative like you did?

Firstly, I would advise any prospective applicant to define the problem they want to tackle very precisely. Secondly, I would encourage anybody with an idea that he or she should definitely try and implement it. Apply for funding and look for supporters. They are there, believe us. There really are so many opportunities around today!