Grand Ceremony of Business Award 2017 Held for 2nd Time in Georgia
With the slogan #Shareyoursuccess, the largest-scale business award in the history of Georgia took place in Tbilisi for the second time. The event was initiated and organized by TBC Bank and Geocell and has proven in these two years to be an extremely successful project, aimed as it is at promoting the creation of new businesses in the country and supporting the development of the existing ones. With the chief motto #Shareyoursuccess, the organizers gave an opportunity to both new and well-established companies to uncover their success stories through social networks and media.
In total, 661 companies joined the project, of which six finalists were selected by the judges in six nominations. The closing ceremony was hosted by Radisson Blu Iveria hotel’s new venue where all the participants, owners of both small and large-scale businesses in Georgia, were invited. The official ceremony was opened by celebrated Georgian DJ Kordz, Alexandre Kordzaia and musician Giorgi Zagareli’s amazing duo.
In the nomination of Business of the Year, the winner was announced as Dio, a leading company producing high-quality windows, doors and accessories in Georgia. Mamuka Khazaradze, Co-Founder and Chairman of TBC Bank Group, personally awarded the prize to Tamaz Daushvili, CEO of Dio.
“This is a very significant day for us, since we were awarded the main prize,” Daushvili said. “Our company counts 21 years’ experience and over these years we’ve offered our customers high-quality products. Our products are in many households throughout Georgia and this prize will motivate us even more to meet the needs of our customers.”
Georgian company Kula, producing various fruit and vegetable products, gained the title of Georgian Product of the Year. The company was given the prize by Dimitry Kumsishvili, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.
“We are proud of our prize, since we have the ambition to offer the best quality Georgian products. Our core aim is to expand production and let the whole world know that Georgia produces natural and high-quality food!” said Vano Goglidze, Director of Kula.
The title of Agro Business of the Year was given to Niba 2008 Ltd., a local farm meeting European standards. Levan Davitashvili, Georgia’s Minister of Agriculture, congratulated and handed the prize to a representative of the company.
Dasta Records Management claimed the title of Small Business of the Year. It is the first modern records management company in Georgia offering document storage, digitization and secure document destruction.
Hotel Kabadoni won the nomination of Touristic Business of the Year and another Georgian company, Fina, a software development and consulting company, was named Innovative Business of the Year.
“We are organizing this extremely interesting Award ceremony for the second time already,” TBC’s Khazaradze said. “The number of participants has increased significantly, which means many new innovative companies are emerging on the market. Our main strategy is to support and share the success of these young entrepreneurs and startupers with their groundbreaking ideas, since these new businesses build tomorrow’s Georgian economy.”
Hippie, a handmade accessories shop, claimed the award of Startuper of the Year. The winner in this nomination was revealed by public voting which lasted from November 28 - December 6 on the Business Award web page.
“We make handmade decorations as well as accessories from real flowers and natural stones,” - Demetre Markhvaidze, co-founder of Hippie, told GEORGIA TODAY. “The most in-demand items are our painted bags, wallets and notebooks. We launched our startup two years ago and since then we have been gradually developing and expanding our assortment and production. This prize serves as a big stimulus to us, since it means that our efforts and hard work have paid off. I remember standing in the freesing cold waiting for customers, and now I see that we succeeded only because we refused to give up and kept waiting patiently. Right now, there are only two of us in the company- Lali Tvaliashvili and me - but in critical situations our friends always help us out.”
This year’s Award had an additional focus on a developing trend in social entrepreneurship in Georgia, with promotion during the project supported by Geocell. The winner in this nomination was revealed by a special jury and announced as handmade crafts workshop EthnoDesign, which was granted the special prize by Georgia’s First Lady Maka Chichua, who is a big supporter of social enterprises in Georgia.
Lika Chigladze