First B2B Exhibition of Social Enterprises Held in Tbilisi
The first ever Business to Business (B2B) exhibition of social enterprises opened on November 3, at Garden Hall, Ilia Garden Tbilisi, aiming to establish business partnerships between local social enterprises and the leading companies in Georgia. The event was also designed to raise awareness of the social entrepreneurship concept, and help the overall development and promotion of social enterprises in the country.
The B4B exhibition was organized by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), with Social Enterprise Alliance-Georgia as co-organizer of the event. It was held within the EU- and Bread for the World-funded ‘Social Entrepreneurship - Innovative Approach for Economic and Social Changes’ project which is ongoing until 31 January, 2019.
“The goal of the event is to introduce social enterprises and their potential to the business sector in the country. You’ll see a lot of social enterprises which have extremely interesting concepts and products, and who are competitive,” Eka Datuashvili, Head of the Social Entrepreneurship Program at the CSRDG told GEORGIA TODAY.
We are surrounded by the testament to that potential; stands showcasing everything from handcrafts, beautiful wooden toys, natural products ranging from wine and honey to natural juices, and gift cards and paper-recycling services.
“These products made by social enterprises can very easily be accquired and used by the business sector, and there will be a dual benefit to doing so,” she tells us. “On the one hand, they will get the products they need and on the other other hand through their acquisitions policy, the businesses can achieve greater social impact and help solve many of the problematic issues in our society. That’s why we chose a B2B format for this exhibition, enabling potential partnerships to be launched between social enterprises and the business sphere. I believe that this can be the start of very productive collaborations,” she added.
“Social enterprises are often regarded as a kind of a charity in Georgia, when in reality it is a business with a social mission and goals,” Natia Metreveli, Public Relations Manager at the CSRDG, told us. “The incomes they receive are then used for social needs again. We would like the business sphere to become more active and involved. We have so many social enterprises represented here, and it’s great to know that many of the public and private sphere companies already expressed their interest to cooperate with social enterprises”.
“We recycle paper waste and make numerous products from it; stationery that can be used in offices; calendars, wrapping paper and more,” said Dato Janelidze, General Director of Green Gift social enterprise. “At today’s event we expect to expand our reach and raise awareness of waste paper recycling”.
Anna Goguadze, founder of Mziuri Café social enterprise, shared her personal views on social enterprises in Georgia.
“Large business are still not supporting social enterprises to the extent they can, being a social enterpreneur is as yet quite new as a concept in Georgia and many don’t even know what it means,” she said, adding that the B2B exhibition gave her a chance to communicate with other social enrepreneurs and that she hopes to get more business representatives interested in potential partnership.
Kote Svanadze, the founder of social enterprise Kodala, producing ecologically clean wooden toys, said their enterprise was created four years ago, and actively employs people with disabilities and people from socially vulnerable groups. He told us their products are available in many supermarkets throughout Tbilisi and they have their own shop on Leselidze (Apkhazi) Street.
“We’ve already planned four meetings today and we hope they will be successful. Social enterpreneurship clearly needs more promotion and awareness-raising in Georgia,” Svanadze said.
Nino Gugunishvili