Armenia's certified CIRCO Hub
Armenia’s home for impact-driven entrepreneurs, and the country’s only certified CIRCO Hub, advancing the circular economy through design.
What is the circular economy?
Design for longer life
Products built to last, easy to repair, upgrade and disassemble at end of use.
Reuse, refurbish, recycle
Materials and components cleverly cycled back into the value chain instead of landfilled.
New circular business models
Product-as-a-service, sharing, take-back and value-chain collaboration that decouple revenue from raw material use.
100+ Armenian businesses trained since 2021
Impact Hub Yerevan serves as the official CIRCO Hub in Armenia, delivering the internationally recognized CIRCO Circular Business Design Track to accelerate the transition toward a circular economy through design-driven innovation. Through this structured, three-day, highly interactive training, Armenian companies and professionals are introduced to circular design strategies and business models, supported to redesign products or services, and guided to develop a concrete, short-term implementation roadmap while gaining insight into long-term system change.
As the national CIRCO Hub, Impact Hub Yerevan localizes and anchors the global CIRCO methodology within the Armenian context, convening value-chain partners, providing access to practical tools and international expertise, and integrating participants into a global network of circular frontrunners.
To date, nearly 100 Armenian businesses have completed the CIRCO program through Impact Hub Yerevan, with around a dozen going on to secure additional investment to implement their circular solutions, demonstrating the program’s tangible contribution to competitiveness, innovation, and real-world circular impact in Armenia’s business ecosystem.
The CIRCO methodology
CIRCO is a proven, design-driven methodology developed in the Netherlands and now active in 20+ countries. It accelerates the transition toward a circular economy by helping companies and creative professionals identify circular opportunities in their own products and value chains, and turn those opportunities into concrete first steps.
More than 2,000 businesses worldwide have completed a CIRCO Track.
Initiate
Dive into the principles of the circular economy. Map your current linear value chain, identify where value, materials and resources are being lost, and surface circular opportunities specific to your business.
Ideate
Explore circular design strategies and business models that fit your company, your product and your chain. Translate opportunities into a concrete circular proposition.
Implement
Stress-test technical and commercial feasibility, plan the operational impact, and learn how to navigate the barriers you’ll hit when bringing a circular product to market.
Meet Our CIRCO-Certified Trainers
Nazareth Seferian
Nazareth Seferian has been working in the field of business and sustainability since 2008. In addition to consulting for corporations, he has also worked with tech and non-tech startups to help them develop their vision and strategy, as well as increase their social impact. Since 2015, he has worked with more than 100 non-profit organizations seeking to transform into social enterprises, as well as the donor organizations that have supported the growing field of social entrepreneurship in the region. He is certified as a CIRCO trainer on circular economy and has worked with more than 50 small and medium businesses seeking to develop circular solutions. Nazareth holds an Executive MBA from the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin and a post-graduate certificate in sustainable business from the University of Cambridge.
Shoushan Keshishian
Shoushan Keshishian is a Programs Manager at Impact Hub Yerevan and a certified CIRCO trainer, leading the CirculUP! initiative to accelerate circular innovation and sustainable business growth in Armenia. With a strong background in program design and ecosystem building, she guides businesses in reimagining their value chains through circular design strategies. In addition to her work in circularity, Shoushan is the Founding CEO of Hub Artsakh, an organization she established to support grassroots community needs and entrepreneurial resilience following the 2020 war. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, Shoushan lived and studied in the U.S., France, and the U.K. before repatriating to Armenia in 2020. Her diverse international experience and dedication to post-war recovery inform her vision of fostering positive, lasting impact through impact-driven innovation and resilient business models.
Resources
Dig deeper.
Interested in learning more? Our downloadable Infopack provides a breakdown of the CIRCO methodology at Impact Hub Yerevan, from the specific circular design strategies we explore to the structured ‘Initiate, Ideate, and Implement’ phases of the workshop. Whether you’re looking to optimize your resources or redesign your entire service model, this guide is your first step toward joining Armenia’s community of circular frontrunners.