On the Move with Entrepreneurs
Unlocking the potential of people, partnerships and small businesses in Azerbaijan and Armenia
I am so thankful to have this job because I get to see how USAID policies and programs, thoughtfully designed over months and years, help individuals transform their great ideas into self-sufficient enterprises.
This past December, while many members of my family were busy prepping for the holidays, I was walking down the jetway at Dulles International Airport. I was headed to Azerbaijan and Armenia — two nations relatively unknown to many on this side of the Atlantic. More and more citizens of both countries are working to fulfill their own versions of the American dream, striving to chart their own course as small business owners and innovators.
On this trip, I met a sausage maker seeking to expand her operations, a young tailor who wants to start her own fashion line, artisans working to capitalize on their talent to build an international following, and students preparing to leapfrog their country to the top of the tech industry. Each person had a different story to tell. They also shared something in common: courage. It is not easy to start a business or invest in a new idea. Your own time and money are on the line.
USAID’s Private-Sector Engagement Strategy is helping to unlock the potential of these and other entrepreneurs, whether they be a farmer outside of Baku or an app developer in Yerevan.
How does this work? Small businesses, established enterprises, American companies and budding entrepreneurs bring their ideas and ambition. USAID brings its expertise and support. The results change lives.
One of my first stops in Azerbaijan was Masalli, a town around 100 miles south of the capital Baku. I met with members of the local Women’s Resource Center, supported jointly by USAID, the United Nations Development Program, and Azerbaijan’s State Committee on Family, Women, and Children’s Affairs. The center equips women with financial literacy, leadership, communication and business development skills.
Since the opening of the center in 2016, 200 women have attended USAID training and more than 50 women have already started their own businesses. Each of these women have helped to expand Azerbaijan’s non-oil based economy and create jobs — and to bolster economic resilience.
One entrepreneur — a hardworking assistant tailor at only 17 years old — had already started her own business, and dreams of launching her own fashion line one day. By providing technical guidance in developing business plans, marketing techniques and leadership skills, USAID helps ambitious young people like her turn dreams into reality, helping our partner countries grow their workforce at the same time.
Further south, I visited a livestock farm run by Goychek Alasgarova. When we sat down at her table, she told me that she had always wanted to start her own business but lacked the resources and knowhow to get started. Using the skills she gained from the Women’s Resource Center, she built her own farm and sausage factory. She now employs multiple graduates from the center and sells her products to major grocery chains in Baku.
All 50 of these new women-led businesses help create more resilient, self-reliant communities in rural Azerbaijan.
Next up was a firsthand look at USAID support to Armenia’s growing high tech sector.
I had a chance to see what students are doing at the USAID-supported Armenian National Engineering Laboratories (ANEL), with help from National Instruments, an American company headquartered in Austin, Texas. ANEL, housed at the State Engineering University of Armenia, provides research laboratory space across 36 engineering specializations to university students and staff, high schoolers with an interest in engineering, and even the private sector.
I don’t think I could have a built a fully functional robot at age 18, so the young people I met there have already exceeded my technical capacity. Together with National Instruments, and the State Engineering University of Armenia, ANEL is ensuring that the next generation of engineers are prepared to join an increasingly high tech economy.
At the USAID-supported Microsoft Innovation Center in Armenia, I met the future leaders of Armenia’s burgeoning IT sector, many of whom started their businesses and careers with the center.
And at the Innovative Solutions and Technologies Center, a collaboration between USAID, IBM and Yerevan State University, I spoke with young people gaining the skills they need to jump into the tech sector as soon as they graduate.
By partnering with American universities like Duke, Stanford, San Jose State and Fordham, this partnership is upgrading the IT curriculum at nine Armenian universities so that graduates are equipped with the skills they need to find productive jobs right out of college.
As I jumped on my early morning flight back to the United States, it occurred to me that a common theme wove its way throughout the week. Whether I was in Baku or Yerevan, it was clear that the future of international development must be good for business if it is to solve the challenges of today and tomorrow. I found an unlimited supply of ideas, ingenuity and drive. If USAID provides the tools, entrepreneurs and businesses will provide the breakthroughs.
About the Author
Brock Bierman is the Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia. Follow him at @BBiermanUSAID.
