ISET continues to challenge its BA students to think about economics and apply knowledge gained during their studies in everyday life. On October 19, 2017, Eric Livny, President of ISET and BA Program Director, conducted a very intriguing discussion on how to start a business in Georgia and what factors one has to initially take into account.

On the 18th of October, ISET Policy Institute together with its partner organizations: Georgian Farmers’ Association (GFA), Civil Development Agency (CiDA), Export Development Association (EDA), and Association Atinati presented a new project: Food and Agriculture SME Support Initiative (FASSI).

The cooperative movement in Georgia started back in 2013 with EU support, through the launching of the ENPARD project, a major component of which is the development of agricultural cooperatives across Georgia.

In September 2017, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri varied across Georgian cities, from 3.33 GEL (the minimum observed in Tbilisi), to 3.85 GEL (the maximum observed in Telavi). The average price was 3.63 GEL, which is 5.5% higher compared to the previous month (August 2017), and 6% higher compared to September of last year.

On October 10, 2017, Professor Hans Wiesmeth challenged ISET BA students to think about possible solutions to environmental issues, more specifically, how the country can deal with beverage packaging, which is a global environmental issue, with 1 billion plastic bottles produced each day (more than ten thousand every second). Only about 10% of these bottles are currently recovered and recycled.