Visa and Forbes Woman Georgia launch a business contest to empower women entrepreneurs in Georgia

Tbilisi, August 26, 2021 – Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, announces the launch of a public contest for small and medium businesses led by women entrepreneurs in Georgia, in partnership with Forbes Woman.

The contest is conducted under the She’s Next, Empowered by Visa global initiative in Georgia and aims to empower and strengthen women entrepreneurship, particularly small and medium-size businesses run by women in Georgia, by offering knowledge, resources, information, and experience. The contest is designed for women, who have interesting business ideas or who already run their own personal business but are facing challenges in planning and managing a brand strategy, promoting a product, or marketing communications. Participants must be female citizens of Georgia, hold the position of a CEO or representative of a small or medium-size business, or be the founder of a startup company^[1].

“The announcement of the SME Contest for Women Entrepreneurs in Georgia marks a landmark in Visa’s commitment to support small and medium business and entrepreneurship across the region. We are proud that She’s Next global campaign enables us to empower women’s leadership that increasingly is a driving force in the creation of a new businesses. All elements of the contest aimed to give females an access to free mentoring session with brand expert, gain brand exposure and special offers from our partners – TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia”, said Diana Kiguradze Visa Country Manager for the Caucasus region.

The competition will be held in four stages:

Application process, an independent jury will first check if each application meets all eligibility criteria and will be followed by the selection of TOP 10 most successful and highly promising women entrepreneurs who will be granted to access online free mentoring consulting sessions.
• Consulting Sessions, TOP 10 female SMEs will undertake free online consulting sessions, be assisted by brand expert to create and build brand strategies, receive feedbacks on perspective of business development and brand visibility.
• At the third stage of the competition, the TOP 10 candidates will be required to pitch a business idea in an online presentation format. TOP 3 finalists will be selected by a professional jury. Forbes Woman Georgia will celebrate the TOP 3 female entrepreneurs with high-quality profile videos, featured in Forbes Woman magazine.
• At the final stage, the person among the TOP 3 who reaches the highest number of positive reactions (likes) on the Forbes Woman official Facebook page of over a specified period will become the winner of the contest. The winner will get additional prize and her story will be published as a special feature in the next edition of the print version of Forbes Woman.

Eligibility criteria for applicants:

• Legal adult and citizen of Georgia;
• Female holding the position of CEO or representative of a small or medium-size business, or founder of a startup company^[2].

Prizes and Special offers from Banks for TOP 10 SMEs and the final winner of the Contest:

• Bank of Georgia will award TOP 10 SMEs with the 6-month package of the Adapter for free, which enables organization to digitize inventory with the help of modern and flexible inventory management software Optimo and sell the products online via one of the biggest marketplaces in Georgia Extra.ge; 12 months-free Package of Business Banking services of BOG, which enables access to any banking service with annulated fees and only final winner additionally will be granted an opportunity to attend one coaching session Sami Cohen.

• TBC Bank will award TOP 10 with the one year premium package membership of TBC Business Club and Visa business card, which enables access to the various banking products, such as free daily banking products and non-financial services such as training, networking events and etc.

Interested candidates should carefully read the rules of the contest and complete the application form, include a letter of motivation in Georgian and submitted by the link it by 2 September 2021.

^[1] The rules of the campaign are available on https://www.forbeswoman.ge/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SME-Contest-Rules-GEO-ENG.pdf

^[2] Only one application form and business idea per applicant will be accepted for the contest.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere.  As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa, visa.com.ge, facebook.com/VisaGeorgiaGE.

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