27
June
2014
Even more surprisingly, as the ISET Policy Institute team found out while interviewing businesses in Rustavi, Gori, Kutaisi, and Batumi, Georgian employers do not necessarily consider education to be a major criterion in their hiring decisions. Many of the interviewees were mostly concerned about the work ethics of their future employees. Others, particularly owners of small family businesses, cared to hire their relatives, whether they had the necessary education (and qualifications) or not.
27
May
2014
On May 22, ISET hosted Mamuka Khazaradze, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TBC Bank, who talked about the story of his success in business, particularly the establishment of TBC (Tbilisi Business Center) Bank in Georgia.
22
May
2014
The subject of the debate concerned future steps to be taken in to ensure the growth of SME's in Georgia - significant part of the economy. The expert panel included speakers representing government, SMEs, financial system, academia, NGOs, businesses and business associations. The importance of SMEs for economic development cannot be understated: most successful large firms in developing countries have graduated up from SME category, whereas the breadth of the SME category itself reflects and helps to create a strong and deep entrepreneurial culture.
23
April
2014
In the second quarter of this year, the ISET Business Confidence Index registered 21.7 on a scale of 100 points (see methodology below). This is down from the 30.2 recorded in the first quarter of the same year. The positive number nevertheless indicates that the confidence factor among businesses is about 21.7 more positive, rather than negative or neutral (e.g. a confidence index of 100 would have indicated that all firms in the sample reported a positive outlook.
28
March
2014
As Georgia embarks on an ambitious program to develop farmer organizations, it is worth considering both the positive and negative lessons from the experience of similar initiatives, both in Georgia and elsewhere in the developing/transition context. The piece by Tim Stewart, originally published on www.springfieldcentre.com, identifies some of the main reasons for the failure of start-up farmer organizations.
