Liana Grigoryan is one of the dozens of entrepreneurs who have benefited from the EU-funded “Boosting competitiveness of regional SMEs” project. She lives in Vaghatur community of Syunik province with her husband, Arman Davtyan who is an experienced cheese technologist and children also involved in the family business. With the help of her family members, in 2015 Liana founded Liana Grigoryan SP and launched cheese production Initially, it was a small family business targeting only Goris local market. Now Liana Grigoryan SP has enlarged its market in Syunik and two shops and one café in Yerevan.
The path to progress was full of obstacles and difficulties including milk market crisis in late 2017 and early 2018. But Liana with her husband and children were able to overcome all barriers and become a dynamically growing enterprise with small but modern production facilities corresponding to the food safety standards.
Strategic Development Agency (SDA) NGO has been actively involved in business consultancy, and management advice, product marketing and support in sales of Liana Grigoryan SP that became pillars for further development of the company and gave birth to a new brand called “Marana.” New branding and design, as well as an expanded assortment (5 new varieties) of the company produce helped to make it more representative and competitive in the market. In July 2018, Liana Grigoryan SP hired a new employee and registered 40% growth in sales compared with the same period of 2017. At present Liana Grigoryan SP is a stable market player regularly purchasing milk from more than 100 farmers in Syunik province.
Within the framework of the project the company also received a grant from the “Agricultural Project Implementation Unit” State Agency of the RA Ministry of Agriculture to upgrade production facilities and acquire some missing equipment. Till the end of the year the company is planning to establish a new production workshop in Goris and hire 2 more employees.
“Boosting Competitiveness of regional SMEs” project is co-funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development of RA. The overall objective of the Project is to boost competitiveness of regional SMEs and create sustainable employment opportunities in Lori, Syunik and Armavir regions/marzes of Armenia. The Project is implemented by the SME Development National Center of Armenia in partnership with “Strategic Development Agency” NGO, “Armavir Development Center” NGO, “Spitak-Farmer” NGO, “Syun” NGO.
