4-Month Pre-Acceleration Recap
The EU-supported Tourism Innovation Academy implemented a pretty intense 4-month Pre Acceleration program with 50 grantees working hard on their initiatives. These grantees covered diverse branches of the tourism sector and were at different stages of development, ranging from the idea stage to working to scale their businesses.
Product development was the main focus of the Pre Acceleration program, which was packed with a series of workshops, one-on-one mentoring sessions, and training.
More than 50 mentors were involved in the program hailing from countries including Armenia, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and more!
The expert-led workshops covered a wide range of topics such as Product Development, Business Strategy, Storytelling Sales in Hospitality, Digital Marketing Planning, Legal Advice, and Organizational Planning to name a few.
Among these distinguished workshop leaders were Lecturer at Bremen University of Applied Sciences Matthias Beyer, Marketing and Communications Partner at ADWISE Business and Legal Consulting Nune Melkoumian, President and Co-Founder of BANA – Business Angel Network of Armenia and Co-Founder of Formula VC Grigor Hovhannisyan, Certified Trainer for Business Edge Krikor Tchifdjian, managing partner of ADWISE Consulting Lilit Gharayan, Nejdeh Hovhanessian, Zara Zeitountsian and more!
Meanwhile, the Tourism Support Center continued its now honored tradition of organizing monthly networking events for the players and changemakers in the tourism industry. These events continue to provide industry insiders with the opportunity to connect with their peers, exchange ideas, and open doors for potential collaborations.
The Tourism Networking Nights are organized in cooperation with Impact Hub Yerevan and powered by the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia” project.
As a culmination of the efforts taken during the 4-month Pre Acceleration Program, the participants gathered at Impact Hub Yerevan on April 29, 2022, for a Demo Day, where beneficiaries whose ventures showed promise presented to an esteemed jury panel to be considered for selection for the Acceleration (or Investment Readiness) phase.
Jurors included Junior Advisor at ITTD Shushan Asryan, Executive Director of Impact Hub Yerevan Gevorg Poghosyan, Founder of BANA – Business Angel Network of Armenia Grigor Hovhannisyan, Technology & Financial Specialist Edgar Nalbandyan, and Co-Founder of Embry Tech Sargis Karapetyan.
The Demo Day also concluded with a Graduation ceremony where certificates were distributed to the beneficiaries for having successfully completed the Pre Acceleration Program.
It is gratifying to see the Pre Acceleration Program come to a close with such fruition, and we are excited to welcome a new phase very soon! In the meantime, we would like to congratulate all our Pre Acceleration Program participants for their accomplishments and wish them great success in their future endeavors.
The Tourism Innovation Academy project is made possible thanks to the European Union’s EU4Business “Innovative Tourism for Armenia” project, Tourism Support Center, and Impact Hub Yerevan. “This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia” project and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.”