Armenia has plenty of entrepreneurs, but the country's technology gap is holding businesses back. Regional Post looks at this problem shown in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Armenia National Report 2024/2025, released in June by Ameria CJSC. The report shows a country where people want to start businesses, but many don't have access to the technology they need to succeed.
By Arshak Tovmasyan
Cultural Enthusiasm Masks Economic Reality
Armenia ranks first among Eastern European countries and fifth globally in viewing entrepreneurship as a desirable career path, with over 87% of adults considering business creation attractive. Yet this cultural enthusiasm masks a harsh reality: 79.3% of early-stage entrepreneurs start businesses primarily because "jobs are scarce," transforming apparent opportunity-seeking into survival entrepreneurship.
"Our society has a fairly high entrepreneurial orientation compared to other countries," observes Tigran Jrbashyan, partner at Ameria CJSC and director of Ameria Management Advisory Services, who led the research team. However, this orientation appears rooted more in economic necessity than genuine opportunity identification, undermining sustainability and growth potential.
The study, conducted through interviews with 2,000 adults and 37 industry experts between April and June 2024, reveals that total early-stage entrepreneurial activity has declined since 2019, particularly in Yerevan and rural areas.
Even more striking is the dramatic generational shift within Armenian society. Support for income equality among young adults aged 18-24 plummeted from 70.1% in 2019 to just 51.6% in 2024—a nearly 20-percentage-point decline. This pivot toward individual success over collective prosperity represents a fundamental recalibration of Armenian social values. "The desire to accumulate wealth has increased significantly, especially among young people and urban residents," the report notes, suggesting a generation more willing to pursue growth-oriented ventures.
Structural Barriers Persist Despite Progress
Despite Armenia ranking fourth globally for gender equality in access to entrepreneurial resources, according to experts, men remain 1.7 times more likely than women to become early-stage entrepreneurs. This contradiction highlights the disconnect between perceived equality and cultural practice.
"Armenian women are more effective in business, but our country ranks low in terms of business involvement, even compared to Islamic countries," Jrbashyan observes. His research indicates that "the combination of willingness to take risks and rational management of expenses in some cases makes women more productive than men." In a country where 44% of early-stage businesses and 53% of established enterprises operate as sole proprietorships, this represents significant untapped potential.
The digital divide poses an equally serious challenge. Armenia's lag in digital technology adoption, especially among established businesses, creates tension between preserving traditional business cultures and embracing technological modernization. While Armenian entrepreneurs demonstrate remarkable international ambition—ranking 11th globally in expectations of earning over 25% of revenues from foreign markets—their ability to compete internationally is undermined by technological disadvantages.
"The report findings evidence that entrepreneurship in Armenia needs a broader policy vision—one that goes beyond financial support and focuses on education, digital inclusion, and structural incentives promoting business scalability, innovation, and lasting survival," Jrbashyan emphasizes.
The irony is sharp given Armenia's reputation as a regional IT hub, suggesting technological advancement remains concentrated in specific industries rather than diffusing broadly across the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
From Survival to Innovation
Armenia faces a fundamental transition challenge: moving from survival-oriented entrepreneurship to innovation and growth-oriented ventures. The country demonstrates high early-stage entrepreneurial activity but struggles with business scaling, as entrepreneurs tend to remain in small, necessity-driven enterprises.
This pattern reflects deeper structural issues. While cultural foundation strongly supports business creation, the institutional infrastructure needed to facilitate growth—including access to capital, management expertise, and market development support—remains underdeveloped. The necessity-driven nature of much Armenian entrepreneurship creates additional scaling challenges, as businesses launched primarily to address unemployment often lack the strategic vision and growth orientation needed for significant expansion.
Moving beyond traditional financial support requires comprehensive ecosystem development, addressing entrepreneurial education, digital infrastructure, and institutional support for business scaling. The policy framework must recognize Armenia's cultural strengths while creating incentives for growth-oriented entrepreneurship.
As Jrbashyan notes, the increasing participation of young entrepreneurs seeking international markets "creates the basis for the future." Whether that future fulfills Armenia's entrepreneurial promise depends on policy choices that balance preserving cultural strengths with fostering institutional changes needed to support scalable, innovation-oriented entrepreneurship.
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The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is conducted annually by the GEM Consortium, involving more than 100 countries worldwide. Armenia's participation is facilitated by Ameria CJSC Management Advisory Services, the country's exclusive GEM partner since 2019. The full GEM Armenia National Report 2024/2025 is available at:
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