The program launch kicked off with an exhibition and sale of products and services produced by YES-Georgia beneficiaries, allowing them to present their products to a wider audience. The participants of the USAID program have said they have high expectations from this initiative, as in addition to supporting them financially, it helps them to increase public awareness about their products through participation in various exhibition-sales. It also gives them valuable knowledge and experience as to how to develop their business through various trainings and seminars.

As a part of the event, young women entrepreneurs, the YES-Georgia beneficiaries, had an opportunity to talk about their journey into entrepreneurship and the benefits they received within the framework of the USAID initiative, and to present their success stories to the attendees.

The official part of the ceremony started with an introduction by USAID/Georgia Mission Director Peter Wiebler followed by opening remarks from H.E. Bonnie Glick, USAID Deputy Administrator; Archil Talakvadze, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia; Natia Turnava, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; and Archil Bakuradze, Chair of the Board of the Crystal Fund.

While addressing the audience, the Georgian and foreign officials emphasized the importance of the program in terms of the country’s economic development, seeing YES-Georgia significantly encouraging and motivating local youth and female entrepreneurs, and contributing to their successful activities in the future.

The event was attended by international and local organizations, donors, government and business representatives, project beneficiaries, academia and youth and women entrepreneurs.

The program is implemented in Georgia by the Crystal Fund, with financial support from the American people through USAID and the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative. Additional financial support is provided by JSC MFO Crystal. The program cooperates with the international organization Buzz Women and local consulting company Crystal Consulting LLC.

Archil Bakuradze, Chair of the Board of the Crystal Fund, told media that company representatives are glad and honored to be part of such an important project contributing to the country’s economic development.

“We are happy to announce the beginning of the new phase of the program today, which is aimed at encouraging youth and women entrepreneurship in Georgia, and which is supported by the US government. It is a very important initiative, as entrepreneurship development and employment are essential fields for our country, as is youth involvement in this process. The program components include not only entrepreneurship training and mentorship to promote personal and professional development, but also financial services tailored to women entrepreneurs’ needs. We plan to create a business environment allowing them maximum access to finances, which will allow us to move to the next level of entrepreneurship development in the country,” Bakuradze said.

H.E. Bonnie Glick, USAID Deputy Administrator, elaborated on the main goals and importance of the program, expressing satisfaction that the project, now launched in Georgia for the second time, has been successful and fruitful for its beneficiaries. She highlighted the success of the youngest local entrepreneur, Giorgi Shesahberidze, a 12-year-old teenager who owns the renowned homemade lollipop business ‘Dora’ and is among the beneficiaries of the YES-Georgia initiative.

“I am fortunate to be here for the second launch of YES-Georgia, a program designed to promote entrepreneurship,” Glick said. “It kicks off for the second time to support young people and youth entrepreneurship, and it also highlights women entrepreneurship. Over the next four years, YES-Georgia will support entrepreneurs with an $840,000 investment from USAID and the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative. Through the beginning of 2024, it will provide more than 2,500 women with business management training, access to legal and accounting services, and mentoring and networking opportunities.

“It is wonderful to see the outcomes of the first program YES-Georgia, training young entrepreneurs, as well as offering another level of funding for them. I was fortunate to receive a lollipop with the USAID logo on it from Giorgi Sheshaberidze, the youngest participant of today’s exhibition-sale of products and services of YES-Georgia beneficiaries, who himself is supporting others, as well as his family, with his own business.

“It is wonderful to see children’s programming, to see programming coming from the occupied regions of Georgia, all very important for encouraging entrepreneurship in the country. Yet another great thing with the next launch of the program is the focus on women entrepreneurs, which comes from the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative championed by Ivanka Trump, a senior adviser of President Trump, who cares very deeply about developing women entrepreneurs around the world. We look forward to seeing success from such women throughout Georgia, many of them starting new businesses, having already raised their children and deciding it is the right time for them to promote their own interests and business ideas,” Glick concluded.

The second part of the project presentation saw a panel session titled ‘Youth and Women Entrepreneurship – Way to Development, Challenges and Opportunities’, with the participation of a number of successful and highly experienced professionals in the field. Among them was Nino Zambakhidze, Head of the Georgian Farmer’s Association, who noted that the implementation of YES-Georgia will address the current challenges in terms of women entrepreneurship, such as access to education and finances, and encouraging their aspiration to start their own businesses.

“The Project envisages women’s economic empowerment and prosperity, which itself will allow citizens living in rural areas of Georgia to be more actively involved in entrepreneurship, various educational activities, trainings, and economic processes,” she said. “This project started with the support of Ivanka Trump, and is now being implemented in 22 countries. It is to be welcomed that Georgia is the first country where the initiative will be implemented by Crystal Fund”.

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, also highlighted the importance of the program for Georgia’s economy and noted that it represents yet another obvious example of successful strategic partnership between the two countries.

“USAID assists Georgia in developing priority sectors. The US government has declared unprecedented support to Georgia, which has been confirmed by numerous acts. This program is yet another example of the successful partnership between the two countries. YES-Georgia will significantly contribute to development of new technologies in business and a knowledge-based economy. Most importantly, it will help us to increase the employment rate, create new jobs and will assist young and female entrepreneurs to implement their innovative ideas, which itself is of the utmost importance for the country’s economic growth,” she said.

“YES-Georgia envisages supporting young and female entrepreneurs in the process of launching new initiatives and business projects,” Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze told media representatives. “More than 2500 people will have an opportunity to benefit from it and receive the necessary knowledge about how to start and implement their ideas. This in turn will strengthen our economy and promote the active involvement of young entrepreneurs in economic processes. This is a very important collaboration both in terms of economy and politics between Georgia and the US, which once again confirms that we have unprecedented support from the US government”.

YES-Georgia supports economic growth and empowers Georgia’s youth and women by encouraging innovation, promoting entrepreneurship, and enhancing youth and women’s employability. The program provides emerging entrepreneurs and professionals with skills development, business training, mentoring, and access to finance. Supporting Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia is an extension of the previous USAID program Youth Entrepreneurial Skills for Advancing Employability and Income Generation in Georgia. Since 2016, YES-Georgia has supported more than 3,000 young entrepreneurs and professionals, the majority of whom are women.

The White House launched the W-GDP initiative in February 2019 to advance women’s economic empowerment worldwide. Through the initiative, the US government aims to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025. W-GDP is a whole-of-government effort, with USAID managing the W-GDP Fund, a $27 million program, to source and scale the most innovative and impactful programs being implemented by the US government. The W-GDP fund will mobilize partnerships to leverage more than $260 million from private sources, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, universities, and foreign governments.

31 იანვარს, ფაბრიკაში (ე.ნინოშვილის ქუჩა #8), USAID-ის პროგრამის „ახალგაზრდების და ქალთა მეწარმეობის მხარდაჭერა საქართველოში“ (YES-Georgia) გახსნის ოფიციალური ცერემონიალი გაიმართება.

შემდგომი ოთხი წლის განმავლობაში, YES-Georgia მიიღებს $840,000-ის დაფინანსებას USAID-ისა და თეთრი სახლის მიერ მართული ქალთა გლობალური განვითარების და კეთილდღეობის (W-GDP) ინიციატივისგან. 2024 წლისთვის, პროგრამის ფარგლებში 2500-ზე მეტ ქალ მეწარმეს ექნება უკეთესი წვდომა ცოდნაზე, ფინანსებსა და ბიზნეს სერვისებზე. ეს დახმარება მათ შესაძლებლობას მისცემს გაზარდონ თავიანთი ბიზნესები და გააძლიერონ საქართველოს ეკონომიკა.

პროგრამა YES-Georgia ხორციელდება ფონდი კრისტალის მიერ, USAID-ის და ქალთა გლობალური განვითარების და კეთილდღეობის (W-GDP) ინიციატივის ფარგლებში, ამერიკელი ხალხისგან მიღებული ფინანსური დახმარებით. პროექტს დამატებით ფინანსურ მხარდაჭერას უწევს მიკროსაფინანსო ორგანიზაცია კრისტალი.

ღონისძიება დაიწყება  13:30-ზე  YES-Georgia-ს ბენეფიციარების მიერ წარმოებული პროდუქტების და მომსახურებების გამოფენა-გაყიდვით. პროგრამის ოფიციალური ნაწილი 14:30-ზე დაიწყება და მას გახსნის პიტერ ვიბლერი – USAID/საქართველოს მისიის დირექტორი, რომლის შემდეგაც სიტყვით გამოვა ბონი გლიკი – USAID-ის ადმინისტრატორის მოადგილე; ნათია თურნავა – საქართველოს ეკონომიკისა და მდგრადი განვითარების მინისტრი და არჩილ ბაკურაძე – ფონდი კრისტალის აღმასრულებელი დირექტორი. ღონისძიებას ასევე დაესწრებიან საერთაშორისო და ადგილობრივი ორგანიზაციები, დონორები, სახელმწიფო სექტორის და ბიზნესის წარმომადგენლები, პროექტის ბენეფიციარები, აკადემიკოსები, ახალგაზრდები და ქალი მეწარმეები.

YES-Georgia-ს პროექტის შესახებ: 

USAID-ის პროგრამა „ახალგაზრდების და ქალთა მეწარმეობის მხარდაჭერა საქართველოში“ (YES-Georgia) ხორციელდება ფონდი კრისტალის მიერ, USAID-ის და ქალთა გლობალური განვითარების და კეთილდღეობის (W-GDP) ინიციატივის ფარგლებში, ამერიკელი ხალხისგან მიღებული ფინანსური დახმარებით. პროექტს დამატებით ფინანსურ მხარდაჭერას უწევს მიკროსაფინანსო ორგანიზაცია კრისტალი. პროგრამა თანამშრომლობს საერთაშორისო ორგანიზაცია Buzz Women-თან და ადგილობრივ საკონსულტაციო კომპანია შპს კრისტალ კონსალტინგთან.

პროგრამა YES-Georgia ინოვაციების წახალისებით, მეწარმეობის ხელშეწყობით და თვითდასაქმების დონის ამაღლებით მხარს უჭერს ქართველი ახალგაზრდების და ქალების ეკონომიკურ გაძლიერებას და ქვეყნის ეკონომიკურ განვითარებას. სამეწარმეო უნარ-ჩვევების განვითარების, ბიზნეს ტრენინგების, მენტორობის და ფინანსებზე წვდომის გაუმჯობესების გზით, პროგრამა ეხმარება დამწყებ მეწარმეებს და პროფესიონალებს. „ახალგაზრდების და ქალთა მეწარმეობის მხარდაჭერა საქართველოში“ USAID-ის წინა პროგრამის „ახალგაზრდების სამეწარმეო უნარ-ჩვევების, დასაქმების და შემოსავლის გენერირების მხარდაჭერა საქართველოში“ გაგრძელებას წარმოადგენს. 2016 წლიდან დღემდე YES-Georgia-ს პროგრამამ მოიცვა 3000-ზე მეტი ახალგაზრდა მეწარმე, რომელთა უმეტესობას ქალები წარმოადგენენ.

ქალთა გლობალური განვითარების და კეთილდღეობის (W-GDP)  ინიციატივის შესახებ:

2019 წლის თებერვალს თეთრმა სახლმა ქალთა გლობალური განვითარების და კეთილდღეობის (W-GDP) ინიციატივა  ჩამოაყალიბა. ინიციატივის ფარგლებში, აშშ-ს მთავრობა მიზნად ისახავს 2025 წლამდე მოიცვას 50 მილიონი ქალი. W-GDP წარმოადგენს აშშ-ს სახელმწიფოს მიერ შექმნილ ინიციატივას, რომლის მიზანია $27 მილიონით დააფინანსოს და აშშ-ს მთავრობის მიერ განახორციელოს მსოფლიოში ყველაზე ინოვაციური და ეფექტიანი პროგრამები. W-GDP-ს ფონდი მობილიზებას გაუწევს სხვადასხვა სახის პარტნიორობებს, რათა დამატებით მოიზიდოს $260 მილიონი კერძო წყაროებიდან, ორმხრივი და მრავალმხრივი დონორებისგან, არასამთავრობო ორგანიზაციებისგან, უნივერსიტეტებისგან და სხვა სახელმწიფოებისგან.

2019 წელს USAID-მა გამოაცხადა, რომ ქალთა გლობალური განვითარების და კეთილდღეობის (W-GDP) ინიციატივიდან დამატებით ფინანსურ მხარდაჭერას გამოყოფდა YES-Georgia-სთვის. ეს გახლავთ ერთადერთი შერჩეული პროგრამა ევროპასა და აზიაში, რომელიც YES-Georgia-ს ფარგლებში, ამერიკელი ხალხისგან მიღებული $840,000-იანი დაფინანსებით ხელს შეუწყობს მეწარმეობის განვითარებას. პროგრამა განსაკუთრებულ პრიორიტეტს მიანიჭებს ქალთა მხარდაჭერას და განახორციელებს ისეთ აქტივობებს, რომელიც ქალ მეწარმეებს გააძლიერებს.

The public launch of the USAID program Supporting Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia (YES-Georgia) will take place in Tbilisi on January 31, 2020 at Fabrika (8 Egnate Ninoshvili Street).

Over the next four years, YES-Georgia will receive an $840,000 investment from USAID and the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative. Through the beginning of 2024, YES-Georgia will provide more than 2,500 women with business management training, access to legal and accounting services, and mentoring and networking opportunities. This assistance will support entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and contribute to wider growth in Georgia’s economy.

YES-Georgia is implemented by the Crystal Fund with financial support from the American people through USAID and the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative. Additional support is provided by JSC MFO Crystal.

The program launch will start at 13:30 with the exhibition and sale of products and services produced by YES-Georgia beneficiaries. Official proceedings will begin at 14:30 with an introduction by USAID/Georgia Mission Director Peter Wiebler followed by opening remarks by: Bonnie Glick, USAID Deputy Administrator; Natia Turnava, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; and Archil Bakuradze, Chair of the Board of the Crystal Fund. The event will be attended by international and local organizations, donors, government and business representatives, project beneficiaries, academia and youth and women entrepreneurs.

About YES-Georgia

The USAID program Supporting Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia (YES-Georgia) is implemented by the Crystal Fund with the financial support from the American people through USAID and the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative. Additional financial support is provided by JSC MFO Crystal. The program cooperates with the international organization Buzz Women and local consulting company Crystal Consulting LLC.

YES-Georgia supports economic growth and empowers Georgia’s youth and women by encouraging innovation, promoting entrepreneurship, and enhancing youth and women’s employability.  The program provides emerging entrepreneurs and professionals with skills development, business training, mentoring, and access to finance. Supporting Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia is an extension of the previous USAID program Youth Entrepreneurial Skills for Advancing Employability and Income Generation in Georgia.  Since 2016, YES-Georgia has supported more than 3,000 young entrepreneurs and professionals, the majority of whom are women. 

About the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative

The White House launched the W-GDP Initiative in February 2019 to advance women’s economic empowerment worldwide. Through the initiative, the U.S. Government aims to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025. W-GDP is a whole-of-government effort, with USAID managing the W-GDP Fund, a $27 million program to source and scale the most innovative and impactful programs being implemented by the U.S. Government. The W-GDP Fund will mobilize partnerships to leverage more than $260 million from private sources, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, universities, and foreign governments.  

In 2019, USAID announced that YES-Georgia would be revised with additional support from the W-GDP Initiative. The only program in Europe and Eurasia to be selected, the American people will invest $840,000 in additional funding to support entrepreneurship through YES-Georgia. Additionally, the program will renew its focus toward supporting women, launching new activities designed to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs.

Crystal Blitz Chess Game is dedicated to Crystal Fund and JSC MFO Crystal’s women economic empowerment initiatives, which will be held in partnership with Georgia Chess Federation.

Crystal Blitz Chess Game “All Women Are Champions!” is a part of a larger campaign, aimed at empowering entrepreneurial potential among Georgian women.

Participants of the event will have opportunity to play blitz chess with World chess legends: Nona Gaprindashvili and Maya Chiburdanidze as well as Georgian National Women’s Chess Team.

Blitz Chess Game will be played by international consultants of the technological company SAP SE, who are on a consultancy mission in Georgia to support development of women driven strategy and products. 

At the event, presentation of the product designed specifically for female Crystal clients will take place. 

BACKGROUND:
Crystal is Georgia’s leading non-bank financial institution, which manages 270 million GEL loan portfolio, employs more than 1,000 professionals and serves more than 100,000 unique clients across Georgia through a network of 50 branches. Crystal acts as a platform for economic development of thousands of customers, providing them with innovative financial products and services tailored to their specific needs.

Crystal is the first Fitch-rated non-bank financial institution in the region to be assigned a ‘B’ Rating with a Stable Outlook. It is also the first institution to issue corporate bonds worth of 15 million GEL, dedicated to women’s economic empowerment. In 2018, the company won the nation’s Responsible Business Award of Meliora 2018 as the Most Responsible Company of the Year 2018. In 2019, the company was also awarded with the prestigious CSR Award for the best practices of the gender equality principles – UN SDG #5 (Gender Equality). In May 2019 Microfinanza (MFR) rated Crystal with ^sA-.

Crystal Fund is a non-governmental organization that implements civic initiatives, including the YES-Georgia program, which will soon launch a new component of women’s economic empowerment with the support of President Trump’s Global Development and Welfare (W-GDP) initiative. 

Yes-Georgia program (“Support Youth Entrepreneurial Skills for Advancing Employability and Income Generation in Georgia’’) is being implemented by Crystal Fund with financial support of USAID, in partnership with the Financial Inclusion Organization “Crystal” and Junior Achievement. In order to create a women specific product for YES-Georgia program, Crystal Fund and JSC MFO Crystal, together with SAP SE and PYXERA Global, are developing a strategy for the advisory Arm that will help women get hands on advising and counselling in various aspects of entrepreneurship to scale-up their economic and social advancement.

SAP SE is a multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. PYXERA Global is an international organization, dedicated to navigating challenges and pinpointing purposeful global engagement opportunities).

Eight representatives of the public and private sectors of Georgia were awarded by the UK-based International Association – Enterprise and Parliamentary Dialogue International (EPDI) in cooperation with Business and Economic Centre (BEC): Nomination 1: Two Chairmen of the Parliamentary Committees – Mr. Irakli Kovzanadze, the Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee and Mr. Kakhaber Kuchava, the Chairman of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee were awarded for their gracious contribution towards the development of BEC as the Parliamentary Public-Private Dialogue Platform; Nomination 2: One public sector organisation -Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC), one private sector organisation – Galt & Taggart JSC and one member of the Parliamentary Staff – Ms. Tamila Shabashvili, Head of the Staff of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee were awarded for their outstanding and dedicated cooperation with BEC in the PPD activities in the Parliament of Georgia; Nomination 3: Three Members of Parliament (MPs) from different political factions – Mr. Levan Koberidze, Mr. Beka Natsvlishvili and Mr. Roman Gotsiridze – were awarded for their outstanding and dedicated participation in the PPD activities of BEC in the Parliament of Georgia.

The Annual Awards Ceremony was supported by Crystal Fund and hosted by the Executive Chairman of EPDI Mr. Fredrick R. Hyde-Chambers OBE and the International Chairman of EPDI Mr. Keith Young MBE.

The Ceremony was attended by up to 70 supporters, partners and participants of the Parliamentary PPD Platform, among them: the representatives of the USAID/Georgia and G4G project, MPs, four Chairmen of various Parliamentary Committees, three deputy ministers, Business Ombudsman of Georgia, the representatives of the regulatory bodies, international organisations, business associations, private companies, academia, think tanks and civil society organisations. 

• MR. GEORGE VOLSKI, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, member of the Temporary Commission on Territorial Integrity of the Parliament;
• Georgian MPs: MS. SOPHIO KATSARAVA, the Chairwoman of the Foreign Relations Committee; MR. ZVIAD KVACHANTIRADZE, the Chairman of the Diaspora and Caucasus Issues Committee and MR. IRAKLI MEZURNISHVILI, Deputy Chairman of the Diaspora and Caucasus Issues Committee;
• MS. KETEVAN TSIKHELASHVILI, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia;
• MR. JUSTIN MCKENZIE SMITH, British Ambassador to Georgia;
• MR. VAKHTANG KOLBAIA, The Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia;
• Experts and representatives of local and international NGOs working on conflict resolution and peace-building: among them: MS. OLESYA VARTANYAN, MR. LEVAN GERADZE, MR. GIA ABASHIDZE, MR. MIKHEIL MIRZIASHVILI, MS. KETEVAN CHACHAVA, MR. JUBA MARUASHVILI, MR. DAVID LEE, MR. NUKRI MILORAVA and MR. ALU GAMAKHARIA;
• IDPs as well as beneficiaries and partners of Crystal Fund from Abkhazia.

British guests – Mr. Fabian Hamilton and Mr. Frederick R. Hyde-Chambers OBE, Executive Chairman of the EPDI visited the village of Khurvaleti’s shelter for the elderly “House without Borders”. The head of the shelter, Leda Salia, showed the guests the barbed wire fences made by the Russian occupation regime.

In addition, there was a special Tbilisi City Tour organized by MR. GIORGI DARTSIMELIA, the John Smith Trust fellow, founder of the TeamBuilding.ge and Queen Tamada. The British guests had an opportunity to visit the historical part of the city, Kashveti Church, and explore Tbilisi’s unique architectural heritage as well as history of Georgian-Jewish Relations.

Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the Parliament, Mr. George Volski, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament and Ms. Natalia Beruashvili, Chief of Party of the USAID Governing for Growth (G4G) in Georgia project were awarded for their gracious contribution towards the development of the Parliamentary Public-Private Dialogue Platform in 2017; Mr. Roman Kakulia, Chairman of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, Mr. Zurab Tchiaberashvili, MP, member of the Faction “European Georgia – Regions”, Mr. Nikoloz Gagua, Deputy Minister of Finance and Business Association of Georgia were awarded for their outstanding and dedicated cooperation with BEC in the PPD activities in the Parliament of Georgia as well as for their outstanding and dedicated participation in the PPD activities of BEC.

The event was attended by up to 60 supporters, partners and participants of the Parliamentary PPD Platform, among them: Georgian MPs; deputy ministers; the representatives of international organisations, private sector, academia, think tanks and civil society organisations.