Ekaterine Galdava, Vice Governor of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), participated in the “Women in Business” economic forum, emphasizing the institution's ongoing efforts to promote women's inclusion in the economy.

In her speech, Galdava underscored the NBG’s commitment to fostering gender diversity in leadership and economic activities. She noted that women hold a significant proportion of senior management positions at the NBG, with women making up the majority of the Board.

"At the National Bank of Georgia, we have always believed that the proportional involvement of women in decision-making and economic activity is one of the important prerequisites for the long-term sustainable growth of the country. We have always supported relevant initiatives. You probably remember that since 2018, we requested commercial banks to have at least 20% of the supervisory board composed of women, as a result of which the share of women increased from 9% to 30% in the following years," Galdava said.

She further highlighted the importance of encouraging female entrepreneurship, improving financial literacy, and increasing access to finance. Galdava also touched upon the NBG’s introduction of a sustainable finance taxonomy, which fosters gender equality and helps financial institutions design products tailored specifically for women.

One notable initiative mentioned was NBG's support of the WE (Women Enterprises)-Finance Code in 2023, a multi-stakeholder effort to collect gender-disaggregated data for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to promote gender-responsive entrepreneurship policies.

“At the National Bank of Georgia, we plan to drive change and strengthen capacity to collect, analyze, and publish annual financing data for women-owned or women-led businesses. With this, we aim to expand and introduce new measures to support and finance small and medium-sized enterprises led by women," Galdava added.

The forum also featured discussions on the challenges and opportunities women entrepreneurs face in accessing finance, with participation from international organizations such as the European Union, the United Nations Development Program, USAID, and the EBRD. These organizations highlighted their efforts to improve financial access and advisory services for women-led businesses.

Women entrepreneurs from both Tbilisi and Georgia's regions were in attendance, sharing the specific challenges they encounter in their local areas.

The event also included short motivational talks from successful women, a session titled “Women Talks: Failure = Opportunity", and a public speaking workshop in which all participants could engage.

Organized by the Business Federation "Women for the Future" in collaboration with partners such as Gazelle Finance and Visa, the economic forum attracted approximately 300 participants.