From a few handfuls of fruit from her home garden to a growing small business, Silva Ghazaryan’s journey began with participating in a self-help group in Aratat, Armenia. What started as a way to step away from daily routines and find support gradually gave her the confidence, skills and resources to turn her homemade dried fruit into a sustainable livelihood.
“Initially, when I was participating in the self-help group meeting, I didn't even think that I would be able to engage in an independent activity. For me, this was also a way to distract myself from daily routines and unwind,” tells Silva Ghazaryan.
For Silva, who settled in the Vosketap community of the Ararat region, founding her own small business started with the harvest from her home garden. At first, she experimented with dried cherries from her own garden, then gradually expanded the assortment to include strawberries, bananas, pears, apples, melons, and watermelons.
Silva participated in the self-help group formed in Ararat. “Gathering together and talking relieved a lot of stress,” Silva recalls, emphasising the importance of psychological support from group meetings, and after successfully completing the course and receiving a grant, she had the opportunity to expand production and turn it into a sustainable business.
Acquiring knowledge and technical equipment fully modernised the production process. Silva notes that after the training courses, she is fully able to calculate the cost price, which is especially important for the final preparation of mixed dried fruit platters.
Special packaging containers and freezer facilities have prepared the business for active winter sales, while the products are sold through acquaintances, partners from Nagorno-Karabakh, and are also exported abroad thanks to a personal network of consumers.
Today, Silva successfully combines household duties and domestic responsibilities with entrepreneurial activity.
Thanks to the funding from the European Union within the “Human Rights for and with Refugees" project, we are running self-help groups that support the mental well-being of people from Nagorno-Karabakh and provide them with practical skills and support to start or restore small businesses and secure sustainable livelihoods.
The programme is funded by the European Union.