"The university gives us two things that can never be taken away: knowledge and connections," YSU graduate Tiran Hakobyan says

In his talk, titled "University Connections as a Driver of Business Development," Hakobyan spoke not only about his professional path but also about people and relationships formed during his student years that later became the foundation for successful initiatives.

Parents choose the school, we choose the university

According to Hakobyan, a person is shaped by three main factors: environment, knowledge, and the turning points people encounter throughout life. He recalled individuals who played important roles in his development, including Manvel Petrosyan, the Founding Director of the Aparan Physics and Mathematics School, and university lecturers Khachatur Nerkararyan and Samvel Harutyunyan.

"On September 1, Samvel Harutyunyan said a sentence that I still remember: 'I do not promise that we will make physicists of all of you, but I promise that we will teach all of you to think,'" the YSU graduate recalled. The words later became an important guideline for him.

According to Hakobyan, relationships formed during student years have special value because they are built on sincerity and shared interests.

"The connections formed between the ages of 16 and 22 are very warm and sincere. They are mostly not based on self-interest and later become an important foundation for human and professional relationships," he said.

One missing grade changed everything

Hakobyan also shared an episode from his student years that, as he acknowledged, later became one of the turning points in his life.

According to him, his grades in the first and second years were not particularly impressive, but everything changed thanks to an optics course. In those years, students often received automatic grades for midterm assessments, which created a certain sense of "freedom." Hakobyan admitted that, as a result, he did not always devote his free time to studying.

One day, however, he did not receive one of the midterm grades in the optics course, putting his opportunity to take part in an international program at risk. Trying to resolve the situation, he approached lecturer Levon Aslanyan and expected an exception, but was refused.

"I decided to prove that I was not such a bad student," he recalled.

That was followed by serious and consistent work. He studied optics in depth, read basic literature in the field and prepared in a way that eventually changed the lecturer's attitude toward him.

According to Hakobyan, it was after that incident that he developed a conscious attitude toward studying. Levon Aslanyan later became the supervisor of his final thesis and then his master's thesis.

"It was one of the turning points in my life," he said.

Knowledge and connections as the university's main capital

According to Hakobyan, the university gives graduates two resources that do not lose their value over time.

"The university gives us two things that can never be taken away: knowledge and connections," the businessman said.

In his view, trust is central to business, politics and human relationships, and long-standing connections are what help build that trust.

"That is why, in almost all my initiatives, my partners have been my university friends," he said.

He cited his first business projects, as well as Armenian Mushroom Company and other initiatives, as examples of projects rooted in relationships formed during his student years. Hakobyan advised students to make the most of the university environment and not limit themselves to classes.

"Try to build as many connections as possible. You will always need them," he said.

According to Hakobyan, friendships are formed around shared interests, and those interests later turn into professional paths and important life collaborations. He noted that graduates of his class now work in various fields, from science and education to finance, public administration and business. Moreover, they are spread across the world, including Europe, the United States, Brazil, New Zealand and elsewhere.

According to him, having such a network creates a major advantage both in terms of professional cooperation and finding new opportunities.

Concluding his remarks, Hakobyan admitted that returning to the university years later still evokes the same feelings.

"Today, when I was walking through the Institute of Physics, it seemed to me that nothing had changed. Student years, after all, remain the most memorable period of life," said Tiran Hakobyan, a YSU graduate and CEO of GTB Holdings, concluding his speech.

Watch the video for more from Tiran Hakobyan's talk.