As Israel’s acute shortage of high-tech workers deepens, the country’s outsourcing high-tech human resource operation, Webiz, is now expanding its operations to Armenia.

In September, the Israeli-founded company announced that the establishment of its recruitment and training center for technological personnel in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, had yielded positions in leading Israeli high-tech firms for some 200 Georgians.

Webiz is currently completing the establishment of its branch in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and opened a local Webiz Academy. The company has hired local managers, including Ashot Pashinyan, son of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who will serve as Talent Acquisition Manager. An Israeli team will manage the Armenian branch.

Armenia’s high-tech industry grew by approximately 21 percent in 2014-2017, with more than 400 IT companies operating in the country, employing around 15,000 professionals. Armenia is rapidly changing the face of the industry, providing outsourcing services to the innovation-based industry. Half of the country’s revenues now come from local R&D products and services. In addition, 200 foreign companies operate in the country, and the government encourages the entry of more companies, offering tax breaks, light regulation, openness, and friendly bureaucratic processes.

“Demand for the workers we recruit has skyrocketed,” noted Webiz co-founder and CEO, Eyal Bar-Oz noted. “In practice, every worker who completes the training course is headhunted by Israeli companies. The new branch in Armenia will help us deal with the surging demand, especially in disciplines such as Cyber, Big Data, and AI – all areas in which Armenia is developing an excellent track record for success. Our target is to recruit 100 to 200 programmers by the end of 2022,” he added.

Bar-Oz, Meni Benish and David Zerach, all serial entrepreneurs and angel investors founded Webiz in 2018. The company’s technology personnel recruitment and training centers offer comprehensive training programs, based on an Israeli syllabus. The company recruits both developers from its training programs and senior developers.

Webiz’s business model is based on providing a one-stop-shop for technology companies, with services focused on securing seed investment, product design, development project management, marketing, and business development. Webiz currently enables new startups to consume development services in exchange for equity.