UN Women creates new opportunities for women entrepreneurs

The volatile, rapidly changing business environment poses unique challenges for women entrepreneurs, so UN Women in Georgia has aimed to respond to these challenges with new initiatives. They include partnerships with the private sector that will help women entrepreneurs find different, promising sales markets, establish useful connections and maintain the positive dynamics achieved in recent years.

This is precisely the goal of the cooperation between UN Women and the diverse concept food mall Bazari Orbeliani, within the framework of which exhibitions and sales of products made by women entrepreneurs will be organized at the market on the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday of each month. It is worth noting that the first such event was already held from 7 to 9 March and was dedicated to International Women’s Day.

Visitors to the sales exhibition had the opportunity to discover products that women from different parts of Georgia are creating and buy them on the spot. The event presented food, drinks, handicrafts, souvenirs and other products. A total of 30 entrepreneurs participated in this first event. In parallel with the sales exhibition, the participants had the opportunity to listen to the managing partner of FAS Group, Natia Skhvitaridze, who talked to them about coping with crises and also gave them interesting pieces of advice.

“Such exhibitions and support are very important for small entrepreneurs, in order to introduce our work and products to the wider public, so I always try to participate in such events,” said Natia Jokhadze-Mchedlishvili, who has been creating handmade accessories for about 10 years and travelled from the city of Gori to participate in the exhibition.

It is noteworthy that on 8 March, the exhibition was visited by the Danish Ambassador to Georgia, Anne Toft Sørensen; the UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, Kaori Ishikawa; and the representative of Bazari Orbeliani, Ani Baratashvili. On the same day, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between UN Women and Bazari Orbeliani.

The market is located in the oldest building in Tbilisi and dates back to the 19th century. It is worth noting that the main part of the building has been serving as a market since that period, and its traditions and significance attract many locals and tourists. Accordingly, Bazari Orbeliani is one of the most useful spaces for organizing exhibitions and sales.

As part of the UN Women and Bazari Orbeliani initiative, a total of 300 female entrepreneurs will participate in the sales exhibitions throughout the year. The events will also include information sessions and masterclasses on a variety of timely topics, which will help participants receive specific advice and recommendations, establish useful connections and increase sales.

The cooperation between UN Women and Bazari Orbeliani is part of the UN Women programme “Women’s Increased Leadership for Resilient and Peaceful Societies”, which is implemented by UN Women offices in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine with the support of the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia and with funding from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.