Women Entrepreneurs Prevent Dangerous Migration

We have spent a long day going to and from stores and warehouses to purchase critical equipment for enterprising Georgian women. The women, who own micro and small enterprises, choose the equipment they need to grow their ventures. Today we purchased: (1) a moto block for a horse ranch that offers long treks in the Georgian mountains and other countries; (2) a security system and grill for a guest house hosting weddings and religious, business, and children’s retreats in a rural mountainous region; and (3) a leather sewing machine for a rural car upholstery repair shop led by a woman who convinced her husband that farming alone would not sustain them. With Georgia’s new “Russian law”, prohibiting many foreign/NGO activities, we no longer provide grants for, but “gifts” of, equipment.  Georgians themselves deem HERA’s support as gifts for the equipment of their choosing and many contribute to the overall cost.

It has been an exceptionally long day following an intense week of travelling to different regions to meet four or more women entrepreneurs and their teams at their individual ventures each day. So intense I forget all happening in the U.S. or Western Europe.  For one team member, her daily media update features the protests and street barricades in Belgrade. She reports that the Serbian protestors have adopted a new way of blocking transport nationwide while remaining lawful by walking back and forth over and over again across zebra crossings. The Georgian team member hears news of opposition trials and new media laws.  

After over 212 days of protests and 16 opposition leaders in prison awaiting trials at the time of our assessment in late June, the Georgian protests are relatively calm.  Each night a few people still sleep in tents, hold signs, and wave Georgian and EU flags in front of Parliament. Every now and again different opposition groups march down Shota Rustaveli Street. Groups of police surround the protest area and keep out traffic.  Otherwise, each side observes the other to ensure nothing goes out of hand.  When I shelter from a flash flood under the arch of a government building, the officer guarding the entrance is neither hostile nor friendly, just indifferent.  

As elsewhere, young Georgians are worried about unemployment, job losses, and rising prices. Across all classes and professions, they have been affected by the withdrawal of foreign aid programs. The majority of the HERA women entrepreneurs are young with innovative and creative ventures.  Three young adults, led by a woman filmmaker, are creating virtual video books to encourage children to invent their own retelling of traditional, Georgian and Western (e.g., the Three Little Pigs) stories. 

Our team visits past grantees and current applicants in Akhaltsikhe, a Georgian town along the Armenian border close to Turkey. The only tourists we see during our time there is a small group of eight or so Americans following a guide.  July is peak tourist month, but Akhaltsikhe’s castle hotel and restaurants are empty.  In past years they tell us that they were usually full and hosted Georgians, Ambassadors, and international business and aid workers. We are the only customers one evening in a restaurant that serves regional recipes and fresh produce. The restaurant is owned by one of last year’s grantees and her husband, a local vintner is one of her investors.  He observes that her customers declined during COVID but even after that, “the American Ambassador, who left Georgia yesterday, used to come here regularly.”  The owner and her husband are not optimistic that Asian, Russian, and Middle Eastern tourists will fill the loss.

Our last meeting is with a woman lawyer, whose social enterprise addresses violence against women. Her enterprise manufactures books, t-shirts, cups, and pamphlets about heroic women activists, early Parliamentarians, and pioneers. They give sessions in schools, where the director and Administration “welcome our presentations”. Until recently, they received support from the City Government but returned the funding when new censorship laws were adopted.

We agree to fund a printer. Other Georgians in the group observe that HERA’s support may be all that is available these days for young entrepreneurs.   As we part, someone observes, “USAID Tbilisi closed yesterday.” Many are out of work. 

As it is growing dark and night falling, I stop at the corner of the road that runs alongside Parliament. There is a large crowd of protestors.  Hearing the Star-Spangled Banner, I stop to listen.  The protestors sing clearly. I join in until the first refrain of “o’er the land of the free and home of the brave.”  Then I am crying.  Tonight, the Fourth of July, the protestors are waving American and Georgian flags.  

Update on the Two GlobalGiving Appeals  

HERA received 306 applications, representing over twice the number received in any year, from young women entrepreneurs across Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. There were almost three times as many as ever received before from Georgia.  The Armenian numbers, which included displaced from Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. were particularly high.  Applications from Ukraine were equivalent to last year as grantees report work stoppages with power cuts, and sheltering in subways and bomb shelters.  HERA Moldovan team members also report concerns about their upcoming Parliamentary elections. As in past years, we are participating in GlobalGiving’s Bonus Day appeal, this year on July 16-17 for 24 hours beginning at 10 am ETD. During the month of July, we are also participating in GlobalGiving’s separate Ukrainian appeal.

Thank you all for your support!