“Nothing can stop me from going to my Motherland”․ Sarine Hayriyan

Already in November of 2019, a new brand called Sarin’s entered the local market of Nagorno-Karabakh. In a short time, cloth bags representing the local dialect and color became popular and demanded outside the Nagorno-Karabakh, reaching the United States.  In a conversation with WomenNet.am, Sarine Hayriyan, the founder of Sarin’s, told WomenNet.am about her business start-up, development and future plans, as well as her childhood in Sghnakh , post-war goals and personal dreams.

– I am a philologist by profession. I have always been engaged in the humanitarian field. I have worked as a journalist for many years. I have never been involved in the financial sector, but I did not want to always be a hired worker. I wanted to be independent, to have my own source of income. Sarin’s was my first business experience. In 2019, when the Armenian General Benevolent Union announced the launch of the next phase of the “Women Entrepreneurs” program, I decided to try my best without expecting to win.

My goal was to make the Nagorno-Karabakh dialect recognizable through cloth bags, to arouse interest in Nagorno-Karabakh outside the borders of the Republic of Armenia. My second goal was to promote ecological culture in Nagorno-Karabakh through cloth bags. It is a small area, somewhat detached from the developments of the world, people find it difficult to understand how much using and throwing away plastic bags harms nature. Many people were surprised when I went shopping with a cloth bag. I thought that if the bags speak the dialect of  Nagorno-Karabakh and present familiar images, it will help people to get and start using cloth bags.

About 70 women applied for the program. 15 of us passed to the next educational stage. Skilled trainers came to Nagorno-Karabakh and in four months taught us how to run a literate business. During that time my idea crystallized, became a business plan, which I presented to the jury. I took the third place and got a grant of 800,000 AMD.

I did not come to Armenia. The war brought me. At the beginning of October, I took my daughter to Yerevan, my husband did not let me go back, he said it was dangerous so I joined various volunteer groups. We helped with what we could, collected what we could, sent it to Nagorno-Karabakh.

At the end of October I decided to update the Facebook page of the bags. I felt that the topic of  Nagorno-Karabakh was sensitive, topical, which was a decisive factor. It seems that a new stage has started, I can even say that the start has been given. People used to buy bags not only to have them, but also to support me as an Nagorno-Karabakh citizen with that money. We also held a charity event on the page, directing 50% of the money received from the sale of bags to the purchase of items needed in the frontline positions.

The bags arrived in the United States through one of the customers. The buyers were mostly Armenians, which is natural: the topic is specific, it touches and interests us. After all, it is the connection with Nagorno-Karabakh that pushes people to buy bags.

The AGBU has been by our side, supporting us in every issue.

After starting a business, we regularly submit sales volumes. If the sales figures are not good, the specialists try to understand what the problem is and how they can support us. They direct, organize marketing, tax literacy and other courses, which of course helps a lot to overcome fears.

Nagorno-Karabakh is my home, I always go there with an open heart and great desire. I am 34 years old, I have lived there all my life. How can you be afraid to go home, no matter what happened to your house?

It is very difficult for a thinking person to take into account everything that happened to us. Work helps me not to get bogged down in post-war stress. Of course, there are moments, but I try my best to get out of it.

I do not know whether there are dreams left after the war or not. The only real dream that existed and remained is that not only me, but all the children of the world live in peace.

Full text in Armenian