Robert Dietrich

I wanted to throw up some pictures of one of the many monasteries to be found here in Armenia – all old, all beautiful, all interesting and haunting in their own way.  The priests that had occupied this particular monastery over the many hundreds of years that it has been in existence had a tradition of having their natural remains buried under their gravestones in one of the many walkways lain throughout the structure.  It was supposed to a final act of humility, allowing ones’ gravestone to be used as a cobblestone. 

I actually take quite a few pictures, I just don’t get the chance to post them - these pics were taken in better, warmer days (this past August).  The connection speed here is SO slow, but regardless, I’ll try and get a few up whenever I can to keep things fresh. 

This has been a pretty slow week – we’ve all had travel restrictions because of the elections here (protests and rallies and such).  But I’ve tried to keep busy with my counterpart organizing the implementation schedule for the marketing plan we’re getting ready to start on March 1^st.  In essence, we’re coordinating three separate marketing programs for the three independent print media vehicles we’re working with in our Marz (state), under the umbrella project, Gegharkunik Print Media Empowerment Project.

All the marketing consulting I’m doing with the Harsnaqar Hotel Complex is coming along well.  We start pushing a sales initiative focusing on our B2B market segment, along with our institutional market segment, next week.  It’s the first step in the implementation of the marketing plan I devised for them.  And more than the marketing / promotional side of things, we’re also reorganizing the product and service offering of the complex, and devising a new line of services to appeal to tourism consumer market segments that are seeking a truly “cultural” experience while they’re in Armenia.  We’ve got some really interesting stuff cooking for Harsnaqar and I’m looking forward to seeing how everything comes together.  Also, we’ve put out invitations to artists within our Marz to submit their work for consideration in the new Armenian Artists Direct souvenir shop we’ll be opening in the hotel complex, new this season – I have high hopes for this new offering within Harsnaqar.  I’m hoping it will not only strengthen the viability of the arts within my Marz, but also provide local artists with a commercial outlet so they might better sustain themselves through their individual gifts and talents.

Also, this past Sunday, I had the honor of giving a presentation on Business Ethics & Networking for AIESEC.  I spoke to a group of members who will be leaving to start internships in Western European, American and Latin American business entities and/or NGOs.  In total, there will be 12 Armenians headed out for internships ranging from 2 to 12 months, working with their respective host organizations.  I was scheduled to speak for 45 minutes, but we ended up going for over 2 hours.  I never thought I’d actually enjoy discussing business ethics, but as it turns out, globalization, business ethics and corporate social responsibility are hot topics and I was fully engaged (I think we could have kept going, if the next speaker hadn’t been such a rub).  Anyway, an enormously gratifying experience for everyone involved.  AIESEC is a truly amazing organization with over (I’m pretty sure) 20,000 members worldwide; check them out.

Beyond that, I’m keeping busy with studying, reading and watching Teaching Company lectures.  I’m working on the course series, “Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition.”  It’s a great series with over 84 lectures from the most incredibly engaging professors you could possibly imagine.  I’ve got another course coming in the mail, so I have that to look forward to after I finish the material I’m currently working through.  Check out their website: www.teach12.com, they’ve got courses on everything from philosophy, physics and political science to religion, history and the arts. 

In terms of books, I’ve just finished up Karl Jaspers’ “Way To Wisdom,” which I highly recommend.  As one of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers gives a concise summery of the basic tenets of his philosophy.  Having finished that book, I’ve decided to explore his corpus of work at greater length, but later I think.  I’ve begun Herman Hesse’s, “Demian,” having finished all his other works except for “The Glass Bead Game.”  I’ve been going through books at a pretty good rate, dedicating a lot of my free time to personal study.  My sister should be sending out Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Mind,” Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason,” “Critique of Practical Reason,” and, “Critique of Judgement,” as well as Eric Fernie’s “Art History: A Critical Anthology.”  I’ve read the latter two, but hope to dedicate more time to studying them during my time here, especially Kant’s work.  I’m just getting into Hegel, and want to explore his crowning achievement, having finished his “Philosophy of Right,” and “Philosophy of History.”  I took a huge number of books when I moved out here, which was painful to be sure (we had to conform to rigid weight restrictions with our checked luggage – I lugged out over 80 pounds of books in a carry-on), but I’m glad I did.  The selection in the PC library is limited at best, unless you’re a big fan of Danielle Steele, T. Brown and Grisham.  Eek.

I’ll try and compile a list of books that I would recommend, and post that next time. 

Other than that, I try and keep warm.  The winter is vitiating both physically and emotionally after a time; I am greatly anticipating the warmer months to come. 

Hope all is well wherever you are.

-Dietrich

Hey everyone, I hope this entry finds you all well.  It’s been awhile since my last update, so this will be a long one.  Before I start, I just want to thank the guys over at Rassai Interactive (www.rassai.com) for hosting this site for me.  They’re doing really interesting things – check out their website!

I’ve found a lot of opportunities for business development and marketing within my community.  And I also received my first grant – this one totals a little over $10K.  It’s for a project I wrote with my counterpart called, “Gegharkunik Marz Print Media Empowerment Project.”  The grant proposal was submitted and accepted by the US Embassy’s Democracy Commission Small Grants Program.  We just got the contract last Friday, and we’re really excited.  We’ll be implementing a marketing plan that aims to increase brand awareness of the three main independent print media vehicles within our marz, increase subscription rates, and increase paid-for business advertisements within the print media vehicles.  It’s going to be a six-month project and it’ll keep me pretty busy managing everything with my counterpart.

I also have begun working with the Harsnaqar Hotel Complex and Waterworld.  It’s the largest and most luxurious hotel complex in my community.  It’s famous all over Armenia and is a multi-million dollar operation – it’s going to be a great professional development opportunity for me.  I’ll be working long-term as their marketing consultant.  I’ll be training another individual within my community in everything I’ll be doing, so my work with the business will be sustainable.  I’m in the process of organizing an integrated marketing & communications plan for the business, which has taken quite a bit of work.  I had to complete a lot of survey and focus group research in the capital and within my marz, which took me almost a month and a half.  But now I have a good deal of qualitative information to build on the quantitative data I already had in addressing this business’ problems, goals and objectives.  I’ve also just finished designing a new set of marketing collaterals, and will begin work on their website next month.

I’ve got a new Small & Medium Enterprise Development project too.  With the Regional Development and Research Center NGO I have developed and provided a training schedule to offer local businesses within the Sevan MSA business training seminars.  The SME Project training materials and training schedule have been approved and we are planning on moving forward with advertising the project to potential attendees in two weeks.

My USAID Cross-Cutting proposal for a tourism exchange has been approved, as I wrote previously, and I finished consulting with the implementing agency in working out all the details.  That’ll be executed soon; I’m waiting on the final draft from the implementing agency to review. 

Also, taking advice from the CAPS (Competitive Armenian Private Sector) office, and drawing from personal experience, I have entered into discussions and am drawing up a project plan for a private tourism center, to be located in the Harsnaqar Hotel Complex, for private enterprise tourism industry businesses to advertise their goods and services in a very public and well-known area.  I am hoping that this private tourism center will act as a tourism commerce bureau that will help develop a more collaborative business culture.  I’ll let you know how this works out.

I’ve been devising a strategy to further the online presence of the Sevan, and Armenia, tourism destination brands.  Travel and tourism websites abound and tourists are always looking for information on potential getaways.  I believe Armenia is really under-the-radar, as a brand, and I think that a guerilla marketing campaign might exact some very positive outcomes in this vein.  I don’t think there’s a holistic view of what Armenia really is, as a tourism product, and I’d like to design a campaign to address this fragmented brand perception.  I’ve made a matrix of all possible travel tourism website portals that I’ve come across thus far, and have devised a way to promote the individual, marz and national brand in a subversive way that will appeal to potential tourists making plans to visit the Caucusas region.  I’ll be implementing this in March.

I also created a Tourism Prospectus Packet, which I’ve begun to send around to travel agencies in the US.  This idea was broached by one of my father’s contact who owns a travel agency in California.  The purpose of this packet was to help provide appealing information about what Sevan – and Armenia in general – has to offer as a travel destination.  It was created to be a destination marketing collateral that would be shopped around to customers of travel agencies in the United States.  This item was developed in tandem with my counterpart, Lusine.  The outcome of this collateral is yet to be seen.  I’ll let you know how this works out.

The Youth Career & Professional Development Center is coming along well.  We’ve finished writing the organizational plan, and grant proposal.  It’s going to be an expensive project – the requested total amounts to around $50K.  We’re working with the Center for Development of Civil Society NGO out of Yerevan in implementing the center in Sevan.  We are in the process of seeking funding sources, and have set meetings with the aim of doing so.

My Capacity-Building Initiatives are coming along extremely well.  I’ve been providing assistance in developing resumes and personal and professional facilitation, as time allows.  Various community members have approached me to request assistance in applying for jobs, as well as to find out about possible work- and study-abroad opportunities.  Currently, I’m aiding several separate individuals with their resumes, while also providing advice on how they might develop more professional experience (through volunteerism, etc.).  I’m using the resume writing “workshops” to help me develop a ready-resource of potential applicants for various programs I may encounter in the future, or as potential / future participants in the Youth Career & Professional Development Center.  Armen, our former technical trainer was able to provide me with some guidance in finding out about available study abroad opportunities.  Right now, I’m in the process of looking for organizations that provide opportunities that I might be able to help plug qualified applicants into; I have been somewhat successful in plugging individuals into opportunities to this point.  I just finished finding interpreter positions for three highly-qualified individuals I work with for the upcoming elections, working for OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe).  I’ve also plugged quite a few people into internships in the capital.  This is really fulfilling work, I must admit.  I hope to find more opportunities soon.

I also finished my Language Tutor Business Plan last month.  Having discussed the language tutoring business with a relative of my Shahumyan host family, that currently resides and works in Yerevan, I found a strong need for an openly available organized business plan for language tutors.  I developed the business plan and provided it to this aforementioned individual along with four other individuals in Yerevan.  I hope to circulate it more widely moving forward.

I’ve been providing a good amount of business consultation to business entities within my community as well.  I’ve completed a telephone and security installation business consultation already, which worked out extremely well.  I’m also working on a business plan, along with some general business advice, for a plastic bag manufacturer in Sevan.  I’ve finished a small-scale marketing project for a restaurant here, Ekipaj Bistro, which proved to be very effective; they went along with all my advice and are very happy with the results thus far.  What else – oh, I finished my ‘Detroit Rock City’ business and marketing consultation project.  They’re an entertainment group who are doing some really exciting and progressive things in-country.  That was a really fun project where I developed and designed marketing collaterals, including: brochures, posters, t-shirts, menus and table tents.  I also designed a website for them and am in the process of minor revisions before an anticipated launch in May.

I’m also writing a commercial fish farm business plan.  I’ve done a lot of research for this project, and we’re in the process of writing a project & implementation plan so we can apply for start-up funds.  I’m hoping to get $20K to get things rolling.  I want this to be a capstone project for my service here.  I’ll let you know how this progresses.

I recently found and assisted five young women with UGRAD applications, which will give them a study abroad experience in the US.  Two of them got interviews and we’re waiting to here if these individuals will go on to the next round.  Fingers crossed.

I also developed and designed marketing collaterals for the Gyumri IT Center.  The materials were tailored for a fundraising campaign they’ll begin next month.  Best wishes for their success in finding the month they need to keep things rolling.  They’re doing great work.

And on and on and on – I try to stay really busy here.  And I’ve been successful in this up to now.  I have other things going on, but no need to get exhaustive.  I’m really learning a lot of valuable lessons personally and professionally that I believe will greatly aid me moving forward in life.  I no longer see problems; I see opportunities for development and solutions.  I don’t see walls; I see ways to expand my horizons.  It’s almost like I’m discovering a “new mind” here.  I’m excited about where I am right now, and I’m hoping things continue to progress as they have been.

I hope all of you are well.  I’ll update again soon.   

-D.