Armenia

Since its founding in 2010, Ginosi Apartels has emerged as a tech-based travel company in Armenia, where it is a top employer of choice. With hotel operations in the US and Europe, Ginosi Apartels is headquartered in Yerevan, where nearly 100 employees manage the company’s apartels abroad using its technology backbone. The company has attracted talent from the global Armenian diaspora, which has been steadily trickling into Armenia following the country’s independence from the Soviet Union. Co-founder Areg Ginosian lived abroad for over 20 years before moving back to Armenia with his international apartel brand. RP sat down with him to discuss the advantages of living and operating an international company in Yerevan.

The repatriation of the Armenian Diaspora was a unique event in the History of Armenia, an exceptional one in world history and can probably only be compared to the emigration of Jews from the Diaspora to Israel in scale. Repatriation changed both the lives of Armenians from the Diaspora and the face of Yerevan: the capital city of Soviet Armenia received cultural influences from Armenians who came from all over the world and they brought with them various traditions, knowledge and habits. But the process was not easy, especially for the ones who came to Armenia.

One of the most striking examples of the collaboration between the Diaspora and Soviet authorities to help repatriates was the construction of the Nubarashen district. Today this district, being one of Yerevan's 12 administrative districts, also used to be one of the many Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) projects in Eastern Armenia.

It is difficult to overestimate the role that repatriates have played and continue to play in different spheres of life in Armenia. The repatriation, which started from the very beginning of Armenia’s independence (the first Republic of Armenia) and continued in distinct stages from the 1920’s and 1930’s into the 1940’s and then during the 1960’s, is in some sense still ongoing, providing a source of hope to change the quality of life here in Armenia. This is by no means a comprehensive list of individuals born and raised in the diaspora who chose to settle with their families in Armenia (in and after the 1940’s), enriching Armenia’s culture and academic life. The list is of course a contentious one and therefore, admittedly, some personalities who played a very important role in their respective areas are not in the list due to the constraints of space.

What new challenges were waiting those young people, who decided to make one of the important steps in their lives – to come to Armenia and build their future here. We asked a few young repatriates to provide with a short guideline for those, who are preparing to move to Armenia for the first time.

In the past there had been several waves of repatriation, which have strengthened Armenia and made the realization of the Armenian nation-state project possible. In the rapidly changing, globalized world of today, repatriation may become indispensable not only for the survival and development of Armenia as a country, but also for the survival and development of Armenian identity and culture globally.

Since the war in Syria began, a large number of Syrian-Armenian refugees have opened businesses here in Armenia with the hope of not only generating sustainable income, but also integrating into their new community and regaining some much needed stability in their lives. These entrepreneurs are all extremely resilient and resourceful, but if they possessed the market visibility equal to those of their local counterparts, they would be able to not only survive, but thrive in Armenia.

A center of arts and a showroom which will open soon on the crossroad of Abovyan Street and the Northern Avenue, at Abovyan 2/5. The center will bring fresh ideas to Armenian culture and art as well as will create new standards in the service industry. The showroom exhibits the brand Ardēan. We spoke to Vasken Brudian, the director of the brand, and tried to find out the origins of this creative salon as well as discussing the future of Armenia-Diaspora relations.