Jeppe Strands and Severin Schirmer, Founders of Cilicia Living - a podcast by Christine McDannell

After graduating from United World College in Armenia, Jeppe opened a Danish-style international collective in Dilijan National Park for gap-year-takers. After Severin joined as a pioneer participant, the collective was given the opportunity to develop into an entrepreneurial village with help from the previous Armenian ambassador in Denmark, Hrachya Aghajanyan. They quickly decided to skip college for now and build their dream community.

Now managing the lakeside property of Port Ayas, Jeppe and Severin are building a community based on entrepreneurship and local development. The community is project-based - which means that everyone lives there in pursuit of a project. Some people do startups while others volunteer. Besides being a community they are also deploying social projects in the nearby poor Armenian villages. They focus on education and local enterprise development - since the average salary of the region is $290 per month.

Further episodes of The Coliving Code Podcast

Further podcasts by Christine McDannell

Website of Christine McDannell