On 22 June 2022, ISET Policy Institute visited the Svaneti region’s Tetnuldi College in Mestia to conduct an informational ReforMeter session with the local youth and organizations that work on youth issues, among their other activities.

RECONOMY is a 7-year program for the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership that focuses on enabling women and young people, in particular, excluded and disadvantaged groups, to benefit from economic opportunities by inclusively and sustainably increasing their income and finding decent jobs. Its aims also include education & skills, policies & regulations, and business & financial services.

This study attempts to identify the barriers youth entrepreneurship in Georgia faces and proposes interventions, which could be led by relevant actors within the ecosystem, to overcome the challenges. Following Isenberg’s Model of Entrepreneurship (2010) as the main analysis framework, we address the role of the current Policy, Finance, Culture, Supports, Human Capital, and Markets in the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Georgia.

World economies hampered by the pandemic; countries facing public healthcare crises, with millions killed by COVID-19; thousands of cities under lockdown; social distancing and transformed social practices; countless institutions functioning online; the youth spending endless days and nights in front of computer screens; and, globally, over a year of online education. This is the reality in many countries around the world, including Georgia, in the spring of 2021.

Identifying barriers to youth entrepreneurship in Georgia studying the Georgian entrepreneurship ecosystem. The study aims to identify the barriers youth entrepreneurship in Georgia faces and proposes interventions, which could be led by relevant actors within the ecosystem, to overcome the challenges.