Could this happen today in the UK? The Avet story...
Discussion
Intro- we are talking fishing reels here..
ok not your usual Chinese sweatshop mass produced rubbish we anglers have to put up with here in the UK mind...
reel porn...
The Avet Story...
"...The Alajajyan family story is inspiring. In the tradition of many immigrant stories, the Avet Reel chronicle starts with the Alajajyan brothers' father, Avetis; the namesake of the company. Avetis made shoes on the sly and struggled to keep the business a secret from the communist government in Armenia. Although Armenia is a free country now, at that time it was against the law in Armenia to have a private business, only state-owned businesses were sanctioned and no extra income was allowed. The Soviet Armenian government provided housing, medicine and other like needs except for food, clothes and private transportation. The Alajajyans were living well by Armenian standards of the time; however, they wanted the freedom to grow financially, and Soviet Armenia, with its restrictions was not the place to do it. They made the decision to come to the U.S., although getting from Soviet Armenia to the U.S. was difficult and expensive.
Nonetheless, in 1986, the family had successfully reached our shores with only high hopes and very little money to start a new life. Sarkis had $1,500 to his name when the family arrived in LA. Harry's older brother, Sarkis, had worked as a machinist in Armenia since he was 16 years old. By the time Harry was 14, he was spending his summer break from school working with Sarkis who was teaching him precision machining. Shortly after his arrival in the LA area, Sarkis took a job as a machinist. Meanwhile Harry, who had also learned diamond setting in the old country, found a job as a jeweller downtown. For two years the brothers worked and saved. Then the machine shop that Sarkis worked in shut down. Sarkis was given severance pay, which he combined with his savings and suggested to Harry they open a machine shop together. Harry agreed, and each put $10,000 into the venture to start a machining business in the San Fernando Valley. They began with two machines, a conventional lathe and a mill.
As with all new manufacturing businesses, their time was split between soliciting work and manufacturing. Working together they lived by their simple rule "If the competition puts in 8 hours, then we will put in 10." Following that ethic, they found contract work in the aerospace industry and for fiber optics companies. Soon the company began flourishing. In their spare time, Sarkis and Harry went saltwater angling. As soon as they could they bought an 18-foot boat, then a 21 footer, then a 28-foot Mako, and are now looking for a 48-foot sportfisher. Since all their free time was spent on the water using other manufacturers' reels that lacked the performance and quality they desired, the brothers decided to build their own reels in their shop. They liked what they created, and in 2001 Avet Reels was successfully born...
...the Avet range are the new generation Lever Drag models and produced using only the finest Billet Aluminium.
Could this success be reproduced in the UK today, I somehow doubt it.
ok not your usual Chinese sweatshop mass produced rubbish we anglers have to put up with here in the UK mind...
reel porn...
The Avet Story...
"...The Alajajyan family story is inspiring. In the tradition of many immigrant stories, the Avet Reel chronicle starts with the Alajajyan brothers' father, Avetis; the namesake of the company. Avetis made shoes on the sly and struggled to keep the business a secret from the communist government in Armenia. Although Armenia is a free country now, at that time it was against the law in Armenia to have a private business, only state-owned businesses were sanctioned and no extra income was allowed. The Soviet Armenian government provided housing, medicine and other like needs except for food, clothes and private transportation. The Alajajyans were living well by Armenian standards of the time; however, they wanted the freedom to grow financially, and Soviet Armenia, with its restrictions was not the place to do it. They made the decision to come to the U.S., although getting from Soviet Armenia to the U.S. was difficult and expensive.
Nonetheless, in 1986, the family had successfully reached our shores with only high hopes and very little money to start a new life. Sarkis had $1,500 to his name when the family arrived in LA. Harry's older brother, Sarkis, had worked as a machinist in Armenia since he was 16 years old. By the time Harry was 14, he was spending his summer break from school working with Sarkis who was teaching him precision machining. Shortly after his arrival in the LA area, Sarkis took a job as a machinist. Meanwhile Harry, who had also learned diamond setting in the old country, found a job as a jeweller downtown. For two years the brothers worked and saved. Then the machine shop that Sarkis worked in shut down. Sarkis was given severance pay, which he combined with his savings and suggested to Harry they open a machine shop together. Harry agreed, and each put $10,000 into the venture to start a machining business in the San Fernando Valley. They began with two machines, a conventional lathe and a mill.
As with all new manufacturing businesses, their time was split between soliciting work and manufacturing. Working together they lived by their simple rule "If the competition puts in 8 hours, then we will put in 10." Following that ethic, they found contract work in the aerospace industry and for fiber optics companies. Soon the company began flourishing. In their spare time, Sarkis and Harry went saltwater angling. As soon as they could they bought an 18-foot boat, then a 21 footer, then a 28-foot Mako, and are now looking for a 48-foot sportfisher. Since all their free time was spent on the water using other manufacturers' reels that lacked the performance and quality they desired, the brothers decided to build their own reels in their shop. They liked what they created, and in 2001 Avet Reels was successfully born...
...the Avet range are the new generation Lever Drag models and produced using only the finest Billet Aluminium.
Could this success be reproduced in the UK today, I somehow doubt it.
Guys, guys 
It was their arrival with $1500 to their names and what they have managed to build for themselves.
No doubt there were funding opportunities to set up businesses, but it was their determination to stand on their own two feet as it were, as immigrants, that hit home.
Would that happen, in the UK today? not a rosy picture.
http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca...
http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca...
It was their arrival with $1500 to their names and what they have managed to build for themselves.
No doubt there were funding opportunities to set up businesses, but it was their determination to stand on their own two feet as it were, as immigrants, that hit home.
Would that happen, in the UK today? not a rosy picture.
http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca...
http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/press.nsf/0363c1f07c6ca...
Actually what you are illustrating is what can be achieved by people who are willing to work hard, earn some money and invest it in a business, all of which is happening every day in all corners of this country. Sure, there is relatively high unemployment and if you want to borrow money that can be hard, but these guys financed their business from their savings which is exactly what I did when I started.
Many of the people I know and relate to are people who have started their own businesses, whilst most don't do it as immigrants into another country the stories aren't really that dissimilar to this, you start small with little money, lots of determination and put a lot of work in, just as they did.
I see absolutely nothing about this story that couldn't be reproduced here and now.
Many of the people I know and relate to are people who have started their own businesses, whilst most don't do it as immigrants into another country the stories aren't really that dissimilar to this, you start small with little money, lots of determination and put a lot of work in, just as they did.
I see absolutely nothing about this story that couldn't be reproduced here and now.
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