The Startup Boost Weekend, a unique 54-hour event targeting around 120 university students not only from Yerevan but from various marzes of Armenia, took place from 14-16 September, providing participants with the opportunity to define and shape their startup ideas, develop teams, and under the supervision of experienced mentors present fresh and creative startup ideas.
For the second year now, the event was supported by the ‘Support to SME Development in Armenia’ (EU-SMEDA) project operating under the EU4Business initiative of the European Union, aiming to seed healthy entrepreneurship among young and talented students thus boosting the startup ecosystem in Armenia.
Launching the weekend, the Head of Cooperation at the European Delegation in Armenia, Gonzalo Serrano, highlighted EU support to Armenia in a number of interventions aimed at the development of entrepreneurship, civil society, youth, innovation and business environment of Armenia. He encouraged the students to use the opportunities of the three-day event by learning, sharing and generating new and creative startup ideas and most importantly to dare and be bold without fear of mistakes, as they are also part of the learning and future achievements.
The event was full of lively discussions, sessions on idea generation, prototyping, hypothesis and validation, pitching techniques, learning from 25 experienced mentors, presentation of success stories and many more that enabled the students to team up, work and improve their startup ideas, with three teams winning awards at the end of the event.
At the end of the weekend, three winning projects received a range of prizes and practical support to develop their ideas.
The EU4Business SMEDA project supports the improvement of the business and investment climate for SMEs in Armenia. It aims to strengthen the private sector, support SME coordination mechanisms, and foster links between research institutions and the private sector, as well as providing access to finance for SMEs.
