SIA 2025 Award Ceremony Held under AraratBank Sponsorship
Social Impact Armenia 2025 Awards Ceremony was held at the Impact Hub Yerevan under the sponsorship of AraratBank. The event marked the culmination of the intensive incubation program implemented by Impact Hub Yerevan with the support of AraratBank, where 8 social enterprises showcased their innovative solutions to urgent social and environmental challenges.
Gevorg Poghosyan, Executive Director of Impact Hub Yerevan, recalled that when they launched the Social Impact Award years ago, public awareness of social entrepreneurship – especially among the youth – was very limited, and attracting young people into the field of social entrepreneurship was very challenging. “Looking back at this years’ experience, we can now say that there isn’t much left to be done in this respect — the youth has already shown its interest, and all we need to do now is to equip them with knowledge and skills. What’s particularly important here is our strong partnership with AraratBank, which has enabled us to provide the resources necessary for young people to develop their ideas, structure them properly, and bring them to life,” noted Gevorg Poghosyan.
“AraratBank has been acting as an ideological and financial partner of the event for the third consecutive year – this year providing not only for the SIA award fund, but also for the entire incubation phase, ensuring critical resources for the development of teams. We are certainly encouraged by the results. Recognizing the long-term impact of social entrepreneurship, it’s also gratifying that the SIA program is not limited to Yerevan—its reach is much broader: we have participants presenting their business ideas from Gyumri, Goris, and other communities across our country,” says Anna Allahverdyan, Head of Communication and CSR Programs Coordination Division at AraratBank.
The innovative ideas were evaluated by the jury comprising representatives from AraratBank, Impact Hub Yerevan, and industry experts. Based on the jury’s vote, three teams were recognized as winners: Bonel, umutED, and Zgayn Inclusive Books, while Minder was declared the winner based on community voting results. Each of the four winning teams were awarded a prize equivalent to 1,500 euros and the opportunity to participate in the Social Impact Award Summit 2025 in Slovenia.
Social entrepreneurship is at the core of AraratBank CSR strategy, and by ensuring the continuity of programs, the bank brings its important contribution to both the development of innovative ideas among the younger generation and provision of long-lasting sustainable solutions to pressing challenges.
AraratBank is regulated by the Central Bank of Armenia.