The National Bank of Georgia (NBG), in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), successfully hosted a workshop on leveraging data for advancing finance to women entrepreneurs and the WE Finance Code. The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WE Finance Code) is a multi-stakeholder effort to advance the collection of sex-disaggregated SME data, and promote its use to design gender responsive entrepreneurship policies that work for both women and men, enabling them to grow and contribute to their economies and communities.
The workshop, titled "Leveraging Sex-Disaggregated Data for WSME Proposition Design – Introduction to the SME/WSME Dashboard," was held at the NBG office and brought together representatives from the financial sector, public institutions, development partners, and other key stakeholders. The event emphasized the importance of sex-disaggregated data in developing products and services for women-owned and women-led SMEs and to introduce the new SME/WSME Dashboard.
The Acting Governor of the NBG, Ms. Natia Turnava, opened the workshop with welcoming remarks, underscoring the critical role of data in fostering financial inclusion and supporting the growth of WSMEs in Georgia. She stated, "The National Bank of Georgia is committed to advancing financial inclusion and gender equality as essential pillars of our sustainable finance framework. Addressing gender disparities in access to financial services is not just about fairness-it's about creating a dynamic financial sector that drives sustainable growth. Together, with the support of our partners and stakeholders, we can make a significant impact for women, our economy, and society as a whole."
Alkis Vryenios Drakinos, EBRD Regional Head for the Caucasus, says: We are supporting Georgia to develop women entrepreneurship and through it strengthen its economic performance. Georgia can set an example by building inclusive and gender-responsive financial systems and a supportive business environment. For the EBRD, increasing women’s access to equal economic opportunities- as business leaders, as entrepreneurs, and as consumers of finance-is a business priority. Promoting inclusive policies with regulators to make the financial systems more inclusive is crucial in this effort.
The workshop featured several key sessions, including a demonstration of the Georgian sex-disaggregated Data Dashboard, which offers insights into gender-specific the credit and deposit data for entrepreneurs. The live demonstration also showcased insights across regions and business sectors illustrating how data can be leveraged to enhance decision-making processes and support financial inclusion efforts.
The presentation was followed by an interactive discussion that addressed key data challenges and explored potential use cases for the dashboard. The discussion also highlighted the relevance of the WE Finance Code in Georgia and its potential to drive positive change within the financial sector.
As a follow-up to the workshop, participants agreed to further refine and implement the insights gained during the sessions. The NBG, with support from the EBRD, will continue to work on enhancing the SME/WSME Dashboard and aligning it with the needs of the financial sector and WSMEs, with the aim of advancing gender equality and financial inclusion in Georgia.
