Settle Down Your Own Business in Armenia

The competitive environment varies across the industries in Armenia. There are sectors where a few large players control the market, including import of petrol, sugar and wheat, production of salt, tobacco and cement. However, the majority of the economic sectors, especially service and export sectors, where repatriates have a natural advantage, are enjoying competitive environments.

The Armenian Government has successfully reformed the regulatory framework for the business. The simplified procedures for state registration and licensing have significantly reduced the time and efforts spent by companies; a one-stop-shop for company registration and introduced online-registration system has been established. For standard cases, the state registration can be done within a day and a license receipt within 3 days.

Despite the recorded improvements there are still issues voiced by businesses such as unequal treatment of market players by tax and customs administration, etc. With this in mind, Armenia ranked in at 47 (out of 190) in the World Bank Doing Business 2020 report for ‘Ease of doing Business’ and at 10th for ‘Starting a Business’.

What should you do?

- Researching existing businesses: it is a good idea to set-up something which is innovative for Armenia rather than repeating something which is already in existence; things which may seem normal in the country which you are coming from could be new for Armenia.

- Providing ideas: think of an idea or a foundation for a business for Repat Armenia to build upon and to connect you to people who have set-up something similar for an exchange of ideas, information and experience. When thinking of ideas remember to separate a business from a benevolent idea. Think of it as a business in any other country rather than the ‘homeland’.

- Bringing your own experience: set-up a business in an area which is familiar to you rather than starting from scratch.

- Bringing your own contacts: think of your social circle and the people in the country you are coming from as a potential market. Armenia’s market is small, so if possible, it is a good idea to cater your business to external markets too.

- Starting small, thinking big: often it is better to start off with something small and watch it grow rather than jumping in at the deep end.

- Developing an idea: develop a feasibility study in your business plan.

- Visiting our office: we are ready to discuss your business ideas and take appropriate steps from an initial meeting.

What do we do?

- Provide tips: once we understand what type of business you want to set up we will provide you with some basic tips on business environment, opportunities and risks in Armenia

- Provideuseful contacts: we connect you with repatriates, locals, organisations and professional sector-oriented business associations successfully working in similar fields in Armenia and/or have substantial expertise who are ready to share tips and experiences with you.

- Connect you with professional legal, consultancy and accountancy organizations: Repat Armenia is partnered with Optimize Consulting which provides free basic business consultations to our repats. We also cooperate with the following institutions with whom we will put you in touch for existing training programs/courses and subsidy opportunities for starting your own business in Armenia:

- IRIS Business Incubator 

- National Center for Innovation and Enterpreneuship

- Enterprise Armenia - Investment Support Center 

- Invest in Armenia

- Supporting in business promotion: the initial steps in promoting a business are very important and we are ready to support you especially in B2C format, by engaging local media and disseminating information through social media networks. We can also support you in designing logos/pamphlets etc. Repat Armenia will support you to promote your business on our social media platforьs for free. Please contact us at contact@repatarmenia.