Giving women voice in company management may prove beneficial for performance. For instance, according to an influential Catalyst report, The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards, “companies that achieve [gender] diversity and manage it well attain better financial results, on average, than other companies.”

On Friday, June 5th, ISET hosted Mr. Rezo Vashakidze, the founder of Chirina Ltd, by far the largest Georgian producer of poultry products (sold under the BiuBiu brand), a Greenfield investment worth more than 80 mln USD. The main topic of Mr. Vashakidze’s presentation was entrepreneurship in Georgia (as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia).

On Friday, June 5th ISET hosted Loredana Sorg, Mercator Fellow of International Affairs, who gave a presentation titled "The Georgian Hazelnut Value Chain and the Potential of Cooperatives". The objective of the study was to understand how and at which level value is added, to identify critical elements for a competitive hazelnut production in Georgia, and to reflect the potential of cooperatives for the development of the value chain and in particular for organic fair-trade hazelnuts.

On Thursday, May 28th, at the request of the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Diaspora Issues ISET hosted Liesl A. Riddle, associate professor of International Business and International Affairs at the George Washington University School of Business. Prof. Riddle gave a presentation titled “Diaspora Roles in Development around the World: Challenges, Opportunities & Models”.

On Monday, May 11th, Professor of Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) Dr. Mette Helene Bjørndal gave a public lecture at ISET conference hall. Prof. Bjørndal held the presentation titled “Insights into the Nordic Energy Market”. The main aspects of the presentation were to review the structure, main characteristics of the Nordic power market, and peculiarities of its integration into other European electricity markets.