Civilnet
Website of Siramark, an Internet-based platform featuring Syrian-Armenian businesses in Yerevan.
Repat Armenia and Ayo! have teamed up to create an Internet-based platform, which allows users to quickly find information about businesses that have been set up by Syrian-Armenians in Yerevan.
The new website Siramark.am was recently launched and displays businesses including restaurants, shopping, services and cafes owned by Syrian-Armenians. According to the creators, it also enables Syrian business owners the opportunity to broaden their clientele and better develop a sustainable client base.
The new site not only maps Syrian-Armenian businesses but allows the user to become acquainted with the people behind the business venture, their story of escaping the war, their journey to Armenia and establishing a business.
One example is AVA shoes, which opened its first store in December, 2014. The owners of AVA shoes are three young Syrian Armenians, Andranik Safar, Vigen Dolmaghlian and Ando Eleyjian. According to the website the young entrepreneurs "want to encourage the new generation of Armenians to stay and the Diasporan Armenians to return. They believe this country needs the youth to open businesses and create jobs to improve its economy."
Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011 more than 200,000 people have died, more than a third of the population are internally displaced and more than 3 million people have become refugees. Many Syrian-Armenians who fled the country found refuge in Lebanon and Armenia. This past February, Armenia’s Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan stated approximately 12,000 Syrian-Armenians currently live in Armenia.
Ayo! was set up by the Fund for Armenian Relief and its aim is to say “yes” to the multitude of innovative ideas by Armenians looking to realize them -- its goal is to support local initiatives.
Repat Armenia was set up in 2012 to assist Armenians from all over the world who have decided to repatriate to the country. Repat Armenia provides integration support and delivers result-oriented programs to facilitate integration of repatriates into Armenian society. The organization supports and champions the return of high-impact individuals and families to Armenia to secure the future development of the Armenian nation.
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