Vanessa Kachadurian- Delta Faucets, MASCO Manoogian family developed the 1 arm faucet

Alex Manoogian

It all started at the end of the roaring '20s. That's when an Armenian immigrant, fleeing from a life of persecution in Turkey, landed on the shores of America. His name was Alex Manoogian.

The eldest son of a grain merchant, Alex spoke five languages — but none of them English. He settled in Detroit with nothing more than a suitcase and $50 in his pocket. Driven by his determination to survive and succeed, Alex took a job as a general laborer and pledged to bring his family here to give them a better life in the United States.

Alex was fired from his first job as a skilled machinist because he wasn't one — at least not yet. But he knew what it took to make a great machinist and acquired the skills he needed. He was an intelligent man with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.


He saved what money he could to buy a screw machine. Eventually, he invested in a few more pieces of equipment. With the automobile industry booming in Detroit, it was the perfect place for him to start a business. By 1928, Alex and two partners took the first initials of their last names and $5000 and set up Masco Screw Products Company.

Although the Great Depression years were difficult, in 1930 Masco got its first contract of $7000 from the Hudson Motor Car Company. From its humble beginnings in a small loft, Masco's annual sales soon exceeded a million dollars. In 1937, Masco was listed on the Detroit Stock Exchange.

Sales continued growing, and when World War II took center stage, Alex supported his new country by diverting some of his production to military needs, such as bomb fuses and other types of materials. Despite the many challenges that came his way, he viewed each one as an opportunity. He was always on the watch for new products to produce. Relentless in his pursuits, he built the Masco business little by little.

Read entire story at the company's website:
http://www.deltafaucetcompany.com/company/history/manoogian.html

Vanessa Kachadurian- Armenia's Pharmaceutical Business is developing

Armenia`s pharmaceutical industry developing


January 29, 2011 | 17:06

The economic crisis did not affect Armenia`s pharmaceutical industry Karine Minasyan, Deputy Minister of Economy, stated at a shirt-sleeves meeting with industry representatives in Aghveran, Armenia.

Armenia`s pharmaceutical industry recorded 8% growth in 2009, and 18.7% growth last January-November. Also, Armenia was exporting its pharmaceutical products to Europe rather than to the other CIS states. which is evidence of higher quality of Armenian pharmaceutical products.

Minasyan also reported that fewer people are now employed at the 18 Armenian pharmaceutical companies. She hopes the reason is companies` enhanced efficiency.

The industry representatives said that they receive attractive offers to transfer their businesses to other countries, particularly to Georgia.

Minasyan admitted that many countries have revised their tax rates since the crisis. In Armenia, however, it is not an issue on the agenda. Armenia is trying to create free economic zones for pharmaceutical companies to work without paying VAT, she said.

Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Business Directory

Yet another Armenian Business Directory

http://www.ashkhadank.com/

Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Business: Agriculture will be priority for Armenia

Tigran Sargsyan: agriculture will be priority for Armenia in 2011
GMTPanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian government discussed a program on improvement of agriculture.

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan and representatives of the Ministry, as well as members of the Public Council and representatives of relevant structures participated in the meeting, the RA governmental press service reported.

Opportunities for enlarging cultivated areas in spring of 2011 were presented during the sitting.

Summarizing the results of discussion, Sargsyan gave relevant instructions to institutions, stressing the importance of permanent communication between heads of institutions and regional administrations.

“Agriculture will be a priority field in 2011. And we should do our utmost to secure a growth in it,” noted Sargsyan.

AAA Armenian Business men

Vanessa Kachadurian-Armenian American Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, March 26, 2011

http://www.armenialive.com/armenian-events/Armenian-American-Chamber-of-Commerce-2011-Business-Awards-Gala-USA--CA-South-Glendale-Sat--26-Mar-2011-8-00-PM

Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Business Directory

http://b2barmenia.com/search.php?CategoryID=-1&SearchField=NameEng&SearchValue=VERTEX%20MACHINERY%20WORKS%20CO.,%20LTD&Exact=true&StartWith=true&ExactMatch=true&Param1=0&CompID=4470

Vanessa Kachadurian- Finnish Company suggest to set up combined harvester plant in Armenia

Finnish company suggests to set up combine harvester plant in Armenia
YEREVAN, January 19, /ARKA/. Armenia’s territorial administration minister Armen Gevorkian received Tuesday a delegation of the Finnish Sampo Rosenlew company that specializes in manufacturing of combine harvesters. The company was founded 150 years ago.

According to the press office of the ministry, members of the delegation spoke about their company’s interest in the Armenian market and their intention to set up a plant here to assemble combine harvesters. The company runs such projects in many countries, including some CIS states.

The implementation of such mutually beneficial projects with involvement of the local potential, will give an opportunity not only to meet the country’s domestic demand but also export the combine harvesters to other countries, according to members of the Finnish delegation. The company intends to implement the project on a basis of partnership.

The vice prime minister described the proposal as very interesting saying a comprehensive study of the market and legislation is important for its successful implementation. He suggested that the guests look into the demand and business capacity of the market and meet also with Armenian agriculture minister. The vice prime minister expressed readiness to provide support in case of the implementation of the project. -0-

Vanessa Kachadurian-Tufenkian Carpets

Cinnabar one of Tufenkian's many rug designs for more click below.

http://www.tufenkiancarpets.com/collections/armenian-traditional.html

Armenian Traditional
Drawing from the traditions and materials native to one of the world’s oldest carpet weaving cultures, Tufenkian’s Armenian Traditional carpets are richly textured and their colors subtly striated. They possess all the character and individuality of great decorative antique carpets in colors much sought, but seldom found in them.

Vanessa Kachadurian the great American Yogurt Columbo (Colombosian) family

AS AMERICAN AS YOGURT
In the Public View
by Hrag Vartanian


Who would've guessed that the kitchen of Rose and Sarkis Colombosian would give rise to one of the most important ingredients of America's health food revolution? "They certainly didn't have any idea. My father died in 1966 so he didn't see any of the growth really. My mother saw most of it, she was around until 1981," retired yogurt man and son of the founders, Bob Colombosian responds.

Bob Colombosian sold Colombo Yogurt to General Mills in 1977 but recently he has been coaxed out of retirement to become an integral part of a new television ad campaign that has appeared on CBS, NBC and FOX in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Chicago.

"General Mills called and invited my wife and I out to dinner in Boston. A few weeks later they called and asked if I wanted to be in a commercial. Eventually, they integrated my wife, Alice, and the rest is history. When they asked for my input, I wanted to emphasize that it was an Armenian company when it started and they agreed with all that. In the first ad, I had a little bit of Armenian such as, Assiga shad hamov eh [This is very delicious]. They let me do those things and they let me show Armenia on the map. The Colombo name sounds Italian, so I emphasized the Colombosian," he explains about the first ad that has made him a household face in many places in the country.

Speaking to Mr. Colombosian you sense he is taking all of the newfound fame in stride, "It depends where I go, they all recognize me but it's ok. They look at me kind of funny and I say 'I'm the person you're thinking about'."

It is strange to think that when Mr. Colombosian's parents, originally from Chunkoosh, in Turkish Armenia, began making yogurt in 1929 at the small Colombo and Sons Creamery in Andover, Massachusetts, it would become a staple of the American diet—as American as apple pie.

He describes the difficulty his parents experienced in the early years, "They struggled, they had a little farm and one or two cows when they started. They had a garden and they would deliver vegetables and everything else with the yogurt—which was selling for 10 cents a quart with a nickel deposit.

"Mostly ethnic people bought it when we introduced it in the early 30's, like Greeks, Italians, Jews. It was very low volume and it was plain, natural yogurt back then with a cream top because it was before they had homogenization. It didn't pick up until 1950 when a big article in Reader's Digest by Dr. Gaylord Hauser appeared about how good yogurt was for you and how it made you live longer. That was the turning point. Sales picked up, and no one knew how to make yogurt back then. A lot of these dairies were asking for it and they would call me up. I would be the only one around in the New England area so I'd get all of that business.

"My brother John and I moved the company to an industrial park in Methuen, Massachusetts in 1970, and from there it really started to fly. When we first moved I was doing $300,000 a year in sales in the old place and the first year we moved to the new place it hit a million and kept doubling after that," he says. The idea to introduce Colombo's distinctive frozen yogurt was Mr. Colombosian's idea back in 1973. At first, they brought in soft serve ice cream trucks and began going around college campuses and offering free samples—he knew the market would develop and it did.

Colombo Yogurt's recent marketing campaign, headed by advertising powerhouse Saatchi & Saatchi, has drawn on Colombosian's folksy and all-American personality. The campaign is part of a larger trend that is becoming a national phenomenon. Frank Perdue of Perdue Farms and Dave Thomas of Wendy's have also been drafted into the U.S. ad wars selling their products on consumers hungry for a little bit of the homegrown.

What's Bob Colombosian's favorite yogurt flavor? "I still like the plain one." "Low-fat?" I ask. "Yeah, low fat but not the no fat variety," he admits.

"We kept having to add sugar to it so people would like it. Everything that is selling is fruit and sugar. But that's what the kids like and that's why they're going that way. It went against everything I believed in but if you want sales then you've got to do what the people want," he says.

Colombo's current success is a far cry from their humble beginnings. "The funny thing about it is that a lot of people, specially when I was going to school, would make fun of my brother and me because we had MADZOON [yogurt in Armenian] written on our delivery truck. Very few people knew what yogurt was at the time—let alone MADZOON! Now there is a whole new appreciation of our Armenian culture and ethnic foods, in particular. These same people want to associate themselves with an Armenian family that had the ingenuity to turn an idea into a health food phenomenon," Mr. Colombosian says.

Colombo Yogurt is sold throughout the American Northeast and Northwest and its frozen variety is available nationally and in a slew of countries around the world, including Switzerland, the Caribbean, and even Iceland.

Mr. Colombosian is still working with Saatchi & Saatchi and General Mills to make sure that Colombo Yogurt continues to succeed. New ads are in the works and if Mr. Colombosian gets his way, the whole country will know that it was Armenian American ingenuity that helped develop the American taste for yogurt.

Vanessa Kachadurian on Berberian: Modesto facilities bear name of the 'walnut king' - Community Voices - Modbee.com

HAGERTY: Modesto facilities bear name of the 'walnut king' - Community Voices - Modbee.com

Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Premier visits Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Armenia | Armenia News - NEWS.am

Armenian Premier visits Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Armenia | Armenia News - NEWS.am

Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian Business Zildjian Cymbals

Historical Background
Every Company has a story: Ours starts in 1623.
Avedis Zildjian I (the first) was an Armenian alchemist in the city of Constantinople in the early seventeenth century. While attempting to create gold by combining base metals, he discovered an alloy of copper, tin, and traces of silver with unique sound qualities. In 1618, Avedis used his secret alloy to create cymbals of spectacular clarity and power. The sound of the instruments was so extraordinary that the Sultan invited Avedis to live at court (Topkapi Palace) to make cymbals for the Sultan's elite Janissary Bands. As Avedis's reputation grew, the Sultan gave him the name "Zildjian" in Armenian (Zilciyan in Turkish), a word meaning "son of cymbal maker."

In 1623, Avedis was granted permission to leave the palace in order to start his own business in a suburb of Constantinople named Psamatia. That same business is now nearly four centuries old and has been passed down to Zildjian heirs for fifteen generations. Relocating to America in 1929, Avedis III moved the Zildjian factory to Quincy, MA and then to its current location in Norwell, MA for Zildjian's 350th Anniversary. The business passed to Avedis's son, Armand in 1977 and then to Armand's daughter, Craigie, in 1999. Currently, Craigie and her sister Debbie continue the family tradition in what is recognized as the oldest family-owned business in America.


Read the rest at the official Zildjian website;
http://www.zildjian.com