Women entrepreneurs gain new knowledge and opportunities in Georgia

Thanks to a recent initiative, 164 women entrepreneurs in Georgia will continue their business activities with new knowledge and skills. UN Women, in cooperation with the Georgian Farmers’ Association and the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is implementing the project “Supporting Women Entrepreneurs in Georgia” for women living in the regions who run businesses in various fields.

The initiative was launched in January 2024. With the help of business diagnostic tools, trainings, seminars and individual and group mentoring programmes tailored to the business needs of women entrepreneurs were initially developed. As a result, participants were retrained in branding, digital marketing, e-commerce, business management and sales. In addition, they received valuable knowledge about financial and tax tools and established useful connections that will help them expand and develop their businesses.

Salome Kalandadze, 29, is one of the participants in the initiative. She received a higher education in tourism and now grows about 30 types of organic vegetables in the village of Nigoiti, located in Lanchkhuti Municipality in the region of Guria.

“We received training tailored to our needs,” says Salome, “and mentors also talked to us about current topics. Most importantly, participating in the project introduced me to and connected me with entrepreneurs with common interests, which I think is very important. In the future, these women will definitely cooperate and take greater steps together to strengthen the country.” Salome plans to develop an agritourism facility in Nigoiti that will welcome visitors.

It is noteworthy that within the framework of the project, profiles were created on social networks and online platforms to promote the work of the women entrepreneurs. Participants were also trained in social media management and how to post products on the e-commerce sites, which will allow them to manage these profiles independently in the future. The initiative also included study visits for the participating women entrepreneurs.

Since 2019, UN Women has been working to empower women entrepreneurs, supporting the development and expansion of their business activities. This support includes sharing important and valuable knowledge and experiences for women entrepreneurs, strengthening their necessary skills, helping them to establish useful business connections, providing mentoring opportunities and increasing their access to online sales and financing.

The initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs, implemented in collaboration with the Georgian Farmers’ Association and the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, are part of the Women’s Economic Empowerment component of the UN Women project “Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia”. The project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).