In 2015 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) launched a “Women in Business” programme in Armenia, in the framework of which various advisory projects are carried out for women entrepreneurs in the RA.

The project is funded by the EBRD, the European Union, Sweden and the Early Transition Countries Fund.

One of the successful projects of 2016 “Women in Business” Programme of EBRD Advice for Small Businesses in Armenia is the advisory support to “Farma-Star” Ltd., a network of pharmacies in Yerevan and regions of the RA, to develop a new human resources policy.

Established in 2009 by a woman entrepreneur, “Farma-Star” Ltd. started as a drugstore in the region and soon evolved in the medical industry, starting to import high quality disposable medical supplies.

Nowadays, the company engages in both retail and wholesale of pharmaceuticals, medical disposables, as well as medical aesthetic equipment.

This fast growth of the organization brought a number of organizational challenges. The lack of clearly-defined and formal HR procedures resulted in low employee satisfaction and lack of motivation which in turn led to a decrease in service quality and sales. Thus, the initial organic management style needed to shift to a more systematic approach based on a set of written procedures in the form of a human resources (HR) policy supported by clear job descriptions.

Taking into account the needs of “Farma-Star” Ltd. “Women in Business” Programme of EBRD Advice for Small Businesses in Armenia enabled the company to get a management consultant’s support, who helped to improve the company’s HR management.

In order to identify  organizational problems of the company the Project management consultant carried out a complete diagnosis of the enterprise from a human resources perspective and conducted a SWOT analysis; created an organization chart to reflect the activity flow and then updated the recruitment process by preparing a detailed job description for each role.

In the framework of the project sales and service relevant training was delivered to the employees,  corporate HR rules were developed and a  rewards and recognition system was established, all of which were collected in company’s human resource management manual.

“With the new HR policy of our company, employee satisfaction has significantly increased by up to 35%.  With the help of a local consultant specialised in process management, within a year we managed to increase employee productivity by 25%. We also have an increase in customer satisfaction and turnover”, said the director of “Farma-Star” Ltd., Gohar Vardanyan.

Gohar Vardanyan added, that the cooperation with the Advisory project was successful, thus for the sustainable development of the business “Farma-Star” Ltd. continued working with “Women in Business” Programme of EBRD Advice for Small Businesses in Armenia, hiring the same specialist as a consultant.

Besides, the Director of “Farma-Star” Ltd. participated in two Entrepreneurial Skills trainings for women entrepreneurs organized by the EBRD Advice for Small Businesses Team.

EBRD is a multilateral development bank, committed to furthering progress towards market-oriented economies and the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative in more than 30 countries. EBRD is owned by 65 countries, the EU and the EIB. Follow the bank on the web, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.