Financial Inclusion Organization, Crystal

The Crystal company is a financial development platform for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, especially for the growth of the entrepreneurial potential of young people and women and to support their economic activity. In 2020, Crystal launched a large-scale program based on international practice, called Buzz Georgia, which is implemented within the framework of USAID YES Georgia and the White House Women's Global Development and Welfare Initiative. It is the first of the Dutch international women's empowerment network Buzz Women Global and the only representation in Georgia.

Buzz Georgia is a unique platform for the personal growth and the development of the financial and the entrepreneurial skills of women entrepreneurs. The purpose of the program is to have a significant impact on the economic development of women and the well-being of their families.

The Buzz Georgia program originally envisaged conducting women's economic empowerment trainings in different locations of Georgia through the mobile BUZZ bus equipped with training materials/equipment. Due to the pandemic, the trainings moved to the online space which opened up a very wide platform for the program and through which entrepreneurs of different ages and women interested in entrepreneurship from the cities and villages of the regions of Georgia came together.

The first online training was held in June 2020. Since then, more than 1,300 women from the regions of Georgia have attended 41 weekend online sessions, supporting each other and creating interesting collaborative projects. In order to exchange information and business proposals on a daily basis in a short period of time, a closed group was created in social networks at the beginning of the project in which all participants of the trainings are members. In the group, members can post advertisements or news about their products or services, thereby creating business awareness and increasing sales.

Trainings for regulating the COVID situation continued with physical meetings with women living in the regions which took place in 24 different locations.

Through the trainings, women living in the same community saw each other's entrepreneurial activity, potential and personal goals in a new way which led to the inspiration to create women's organizations in their communities in order to strengthen and support women in the regions.

Three hundred exceptionally active Buzz Ambassadors were selected from among the 1,300 participants. In addition, ten field training sessions were held for them in personal and entrepreneurial skills development, financial planning and networking.

A total of four outreach tours were conducted in the regions with a view to sharing opportunities with more women.

The non-governmental organization, Association of Women Entrepreneurs AĐE, was founded in May 2022 whose activities are related to the mobilization of women entrepreneurs in Georgia and beyond its borders in order to increase future cooperation and entrepreneurial opportunities.

One of the ambassadors of Buzz Georgia, Nano Uriatmkopeli, founded a start-up – Georgian Enterpreneur Giftbox, where the products of more than 130 female entrepreneurs are for sale.

In order to increase the awareness of women entrepreneurs and popularize their work, business articles about the activities of Buzz Ambassador women are published in various sections of the Entrepreneurial Georgia magazine.