Start-up Georgia:
20 winning business ideas undergo intensive training

Winners of the nationwide Start-up Georgia competition are preparing to undergo intensive training before heading to the United States (US) where they’ll present their creative ideas to business experts and investors.

A new component of the competition – mentorship program – was added to Start-up Georgia to enrich the experience of the 20 business winners through special trainings led by US business experts from Silicon Valley.

A group businessmen and women who work in successful businesses in Silicon Valley are currently in Georgia to lead the new mentorship program.

Over the coming months the Silicon Valley group will help competition winners prepare themselves and their business plans before they head to the US to present their business ideas and vie for funding.

While abroad the competition winners will present their projects to about 100 potential investors.

Over the next three months the Silicon Valley experts will provide 40 hours of trainings to competition winners. The state has allocated 500,000 GEL (about $216,466/€192,628*) to pay the US experts for leading the mentorship program.

Georgia's Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili met the winners of Start-up Georgia competition and presented the mentorship program to them. Photo by Georgia's Ministry of Economy.  

These winners have all the potential to bring their ideas to the global market. After winning the competition it is now important to continue supporting them to ensure their ideas are finally brought to life,” said Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.

To support them the state will provide funding while the winners go through the very important trainings that will improve their business ideas. They will gain skills in financial modeling, marketing, branding and finalising the target audience. After the training they will be ready to show their business ideas to global investors,” he added.

After completing the training, winners will head to the US early next year, and while there they will undergo another two-week training course before presenting their ideas to investors.

Meanwhile when the 20 winning business ideas were announced in August, each winning group received 100,000 GEL (about $43,293/€38,525*), from a total prize pool of 2 million GEL (about $0.87 million/€0.77 million*), to bring their ideas to life.

Start-up Georgia is a Government-initiated competition to find the best new business ideas, finance them and bring them to life with the ultimate goal of fostering entrepreneurial spirit in Georgia.

When the program launched in May 2016, the Government announced the funding pool for the program was 11 million GEL (about $4.76 million/€4.24 million*) but it would increase to 35 million GEL (about $15.15 million/€13.48 million*) as time progressed.

*Currencies are equivalent with the latest National Bank of Georgia exchange rate.