Written by Wyles Daniel
Vazgen Gevorkyan is an Armenian industrialist involved in several sectors - including finance, hospitality, banking and infrastructure. However, in direct conversation he rarely refers to industries or profit statements. It all starts with learning.
To Gevorkyan, knowledge is a strategy for life.
He reflects on his own educational journey through multiple disciplines - economics, geology, management, and banking - not as a cluster of accolades but as a continuous quest for greater understanding. “Education, in all of its forms, never goes to waste. Learning forms the basis for clearer thinking, better decisions, and long-term prosperity,” he says.
This firmly held belief has served Gevorkyan well through decades of scaling businesses and now forms the advice he offers to up and coming entrepreneurs. For him, real learning is not about seeking credentials or accolades. It is about arming yourself to be more reflective, disciplined, and adaptable no matter how the world changes.
A Lifetime of Learning
Born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, Gevorkyan performed well at mathematics and languages during his early years. He completed a degree in geology in the early 1990s, because he was drawn to the idea of working with systems that were both complicated and longlasting.His educational journey did not stop there.
While building his career, he gained qualifications in management studies, later completing a PhD in economics and an MBA with a focus on banking.
“I undertook a PhD for better understanding,” he explains. “Knowledge helps you to ask better questions. Knowledge makes you confront complexity rather than avoid it.”
Becoming a Mentor
Most recently, Gevorkyan has shifted focus from shaping businesses to shaping people. He advises younger entrepreneurs, speaks with students, and shares his perspective on what it means to be well-prepared for life.“Start early. Work hard. Stay curious. Choose your mentors wisely,” he tells them. For him, this is not advice for appearance’s sake but a blueprint. “Happiness and success are not given, they are built - step by step, book by book, decision by decision.”
Gevorkyan often reminds students that their early career should not be defined by glamour but by exposure and responsibility. A strong beginning is the result of environments where judgment is built, responsibility is real, and curiosity is encouraged. “Don’t chase titles. Chase competence,” he adds.
This practical, disciplined approach mirrors the way he has lived. “The work itself is the reward,” he often repeats. For Gevorkyan, learning and working are inseparable - two sides of the same discipline.
Learning as Endurance
The current culture of instant expertise troubles him. “The world celebrates speed, visibility, and shortcuts,” he observes. “But real success doesn’t come from being the loudest or moving the fastest. It comes from discipline. It is the result of showing up, doing the work, and staying the course when distractions are everywhere.”To him, success is always temporary, but learning makes adaptability permanent. “One of the most dangerous traps for ambitious professionals is complacency,” he says. “A big promotion or a successful exit can create the illusion that you’ve made it. But the reality is that success is a temporary state, not a destination.”
This mindset of continuous learning has kept him grounded. It is also why he speaks so often with young professionals. “Because that’s where the future is,” he says with quiet certainty. “One of the best uses of my time is helping shape the minds that will shape communities.”
Education as the Strongest Investment
At the center of Gevorkyan’s philosophy is a conviction that education is the most powerful form of investment.“Education shapes more than minds. It shapes futures,” he says.For him, this extends far beyond formal schooling. Real education is about personal knowledge, independent study, and learning from those who have walked the path before.
“Read the right books. Listen to people who have built things. Study the systems that shape the world,” he advises.
In his view, this strategy has a compounding effect. Each insight, each lesson, each habit builds on the last, creating a foundation that outlasts career cycles or market shifts.
Looking back, Gevorkyan does not describe his path as a series of breakthroughs or strokes of luck. He describes it as a continuous practice of learning with discipline.
“Do not wait for inspiration. Start early. Act before you feel ready. Learning is not just something you do at the beginning of your career. It is what sustains you, shapes you, and prepares you for what comes next,” he says.
For Vazgen Gevorkyan, real learning is not a chapter of life. It is the strategy that makes every chapter possible.
