The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), in close collaboration with the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia and the contractor NGO (SATEPA), helped women living in Oni and Senaki municipalities implement their ideas.

The grant competition, which was held to promote women’s economic empowerment, included conducting a business plan writing masterclass for beneficiaries and providing each winner with production equipment worth 2,000 euros.

Gvantsa Khomasuridze from Oni is the youngest winner of the GIZ competition. She graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Black Sea International University and returned to her hometown.

Before pursuing her profession, she decided to set up a family guesthouse and gradually began renovating the house with the help of family members. However, due to outdated inventory, she couldn’t offer proper service to tourists. Buying new furniture required certain financial resources, which further delayed the implementation of her idea.

“When I learned about the GIZ competition, I was hesitant to participate due to lack of experience, but the business plan writing course gave me the motivation, and now I’m a program winner. “Everything developed very quickly after submitting the application. “I now have all the necessary equipment and am ready to receive tourists. “What makes me happiest is that I learned how to write projects, and I will confidently participate in other grant competitions,” stated Gvantsa Khomasuridze.

Guranda Mirgatia, a resident of Senaki who is a clothing designer by profession, wrote her first business plan with the help of GIZ’s training course. For 4 years now, she has been creating handmade items and participating in various festivals and exhibitions.

Guranda first created New Year’s decorations with her own design, which earned great approval and inspired the young designer to create themed items for Easter celebrations.
She soon started thinking about accessories as well and decided to work with leather.

“After creating toys and jewelry, I wanted to expand my business and offer even more diverse products to customers.
“I was always interested in working with leather and made several items, but I needed special equipment and tools to create quality products, which required significant funds.
“I learned about the GIZ grant competition on the last day, and I quickly formulated the idea that had been on my mind, but I had never written a business plan before. The special training and subsequent consultations helped me tremendously with this.
“I will definitely use this knowledge in the future and might expand my business further. “At this stage, I’m planning to employ one person who will help me with this beloved work,” noted Guranda Mirgatia, who received a leather sewing machine along with special tools for working with this material as part of the grant.

Teona Maisuradze also plans to expand her business and employ several people. GIZ’s partner organization (SETEPA) provided her with equipment for her beauty salon, including a professional hair dryer, washing basin, chair, and cabinets of her choice.

As Teona noted, girls living in Oni and nearby villages had to travel to other municipalities to get their hair done, but from now on, she will personally serve them.

“It was my childhood dream to create beautiful hairstyles, and I took stylist courses in 2012, but I didn’t have the necessary equipment and could only practice my craft among friends. “Now that I have a well-equipped salon, I plan to invite manicure and therapeutic massage specialists. “I also plan to take on students whom I will later employ in my salon,” stated Teona Maisuradze, a resident of the village of Ghari.

The GIZ grant competition also helped increase financial opportunities for a socially vulnerable family with many children living in Oni.

Lali Natsvlishvili, who was deported from France two years ago, returned to Racha with her husband and 4 children and began selling bread baked with a single baking machine.

“The idea that I implemented with the help of this program came to me from the first day of using the machine. “In the evenings, when stores close, it’s practically impossible to buy bread in Oni. “That’s why I started selling the product. “Orders increased very quickly, but with one baking machine, I could only bake 6 loaves of bread per day. “Today I have 10 machines, which allows me to bake 60 loaves of bread in 24 hours,” noted Lali Natsvlishvili.

The project “Supporting Women’s Business,” which was implemented in target municipalities from June 5 to December 15, was led by GIZ-invited experts, NALAG’s Deputy Executive Director and CEMR National Coordinator and Expert Natia Gvinashvili, and Local Economic Development Expert Shorena Kochlamazashvili.

Notably, a total of 75,105 GEL was distributed in grants across both municipalities,

The grant competition, which aims to promote gender balance through institutionalization in municipalities, was implemented with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), within the framework of the program “Good Governance for Local Development in the South Caucasus” (GGLD).

This article was prepared with the support of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), within the framework of the program “Good Governance for Local Development in the South Caucasus” (GGLD). GIZ does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the content of the article and the opinions expressed in it.