E-Commerce Goes Viral in Georgia

• Date: March-May 2020

• Donor: USAID Economic Security Program

• Partner: TBC Bank

• Beneficiaries: MSMEs operating in Georgian market

Impact:

• 1,400 registered applicants

• 711 MSME representatives trained

• 7 international speakers

• 12 local e-commerce experts sharing experience

“E-Commerce Goes Viral in Georgia” was an emergency project of the Association launched against the backdrop of the lockdown that was introduced to contain the spread of the virus. The project aimed to address a critical need of MSMEs to sustain operations during the pandemic.

The project was designed to provide fast, efficient, relevant and cost-effective solution with two objectives:

1. To enable and empower MSMEs, businesses, entrepreneurs, service providers and individuals to design and operate e-commerce businesses in the short-term; and

2. In the long-term, to enable them to utilize lessons learned to develop a sustainable growth strategy that includes e-commerce.

A series of five capacity building webinars were held to provide best practices on the entire cycle of e-commerce business. More specifically, five capacity building webinars guided the MSMEs throughout the process of selling products and services online, designing marketing products and services, choosing technological platforms for on-line sales and the logistical supply chain management for e-commerce.

In the course of the project, 711 MSME representatives were trained, out of which 35 MSMEs applied to the membership of the Association. In addition and as a part of the project, a policy paper was initiated and communicated jointly by some of the participating MSMEs and the Association. The paper outlined the challenges to e-commerce businesses in Georgia and provided recommendations to the Government in terms of creating an enabling environment for e-commerce.