On 17^th November 2016 in Tbilisi, TBC Bank, Georgia’s largest bank, and Geocell, a telecommunication company, held a business award ceremony to present awards to seven Georgian business winners.

In efforts to promote the development of Georgia’s business sector, on June 21, TBC Bank and Geocell urged small Georgian businesses to compete in winning nominations. The participating businesses had to have been registered in Georgia before 2016 with an annual turnover under GEL 10 million.

Dimitry Kumsishvili, Georgia’s Economy Minister, spoke at the business award ceremony. He revealed that the competition had a purpose to motivate existing and the awarded businesses of Georgia to strive for further development and achievements. The growth of the quantity of small businesses in Georgia is crucial to the success of Georgia’s economy.

Kumishvili noted, “Currently, Georgia’s Gross Domestic Product is a mere 21 per cent. This is a large difference to the 70 per cent GDP of the developed European countries.”

Additionally, Kumishvili pointed out the Georgian government’s efforts to encourage the increase of local businesses through organizing the Startup Georgia state program. The program is designed to finance more than 4,000 entrepreneurs for small business start-ups.

A total of 523 companies had registered for the competition. However, only seven of the participants had won and were presented with honoring awards.

White Studio

The White studio specializes in intricate and hand-made ceramic art and pottery for household and outdoor purposes. Uniquely, White Studio combines the methods used by the latest technology developments along with traditional Georgian pottery-making elements.

Biochimpharm- Innovative Business of the Year

Biochimpharm specializes in the field of chemistry creating medication using natural products to serve as an alternative to antibiotics. Specifically, they created the medicine “Phagyo”. In 2017, the representatives of the firm will be attending the innovation summit which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal.

Barbarestan- Touristic Business of the Year.

Barbarestan is a family business offering Georgian cuisine with new standards attracting many foreign customers. The restaurant uses the 19th-century recipes from Barbare Jorjadzis.

“We use organic products brought in from Georgian farms,” one of the owners of the family business commented.

Badagi- Georgian Product of the Year.

Badagi manufactures Georgian alcoholic beverages. Recently, the firm began to additionally produce the traditional Georgian churchkhela- candy made of dried grape juice stuffed with nuts.

BPC Ltd.- Agro Business of the Year.

BPC Ltd is a family business launched in 2010. It produces natural wild Rosehip juice with local Georgian employees gathering the berries.

Zeta Camping- Business of the Year.

Zeta Camping was established in 2015. Initially, the business involved organizing small camping trips within Georgia.

“Within 1 year, our customer base grew to 8,000 people. Currently, we have a hotel and a restaurant in the same area in which we started the business, in the base of Chaukhi, Kazbegi,” said the founder of Zeta Camping.

Educational Organization Kings- People’s choice.

Educational Organization Kings launches educational competitions in 37 cities. Recently, the firm expanded into Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. With a total of 120,000 students, the firm holds educational activities relating to Math, English, and the Georgian Language.

“We’re planning to grow into 10 European countries,” said David Kartsivade, Director of the Educational Organization Kings Georgia.

Source:cbw.ge