Exemplifying
Entrepreneurship
The Kololian and Shahinian
families are good examples of the entrepreneurial spirit amongst Armenian-Canadians.
Kevork Kololian and his wife Armenouhi (Armen), upon immigrating to Canada
from Egypt with their two children, Vahan and Nairy, in 1962, established
K.K. Precision Industries Inc. The enterprise began modestly, but with
big dreams. One employee in a 600 squarefoot factory became an industrial
concern, which today employs nearly 200 people and supplies highly sophisticated
machine parts to the aerospace and machinery manufacturing industries.
In 1984, 22 years after founding K.K.Precision Industries, Kev, third from
left, sought other entrepreneurial pursuits (he has since launched four
other businesses) at which time Vahan, far left, and his brother-in-law
Yervant (Eddy) Shahinian, second from left, proposed a buy-out by the second
genera-tion. “There is no question that the next generation has brought
the discipline and structure to build the company. They have done a great
job, ”says the father with pride. Vahan, who is not active on a day-to-day
basis at K.K.Precision, having founded and built with his partners the
venture capital firm, Polar Capital Corporation, says that “Baba (Armenian
for Dad) did the risk taking and heavy lifting, with huge support from
my mother, which laid the groundwork for Eddy, Rye (Eddy's brother), far
right, and Nairy to take the company to the next level.” The Kololians
and Shahinians are not unique in Armenian circles. In fact, both Canada
and the U.S. have seen many Armenian entrepreneurs establish similar successful
businesses. Both Nairy, second right, and Armen have recently received
community service awards which also speaks to the community orientation
of Armenian families in general. Armen’s award was from the Armenian Relief
Society in recognition of her 25 years of service and Nairy’s citation
was from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in recognition of her dedicated
community work in both Armenian and other Canadian circles. [Photo, courtesy
Charles J. Humber]
