The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) introduced a new data collection and analysis methodology based on sex-disaggregated data to women entrepreneurs.

The meeting was organized by ProCredit Bank within the framework of the Women in Business (WiB) program and aimed to inform women entrepreneurs about financial opportunities and business development tools. The meeting was attended by women entrepreneurs who own businesses or hold leadership roles in company management.

Salome Tvalodze, Head of the Sustainable Finance Division at the NBG, spoke about the important steps taken to improve women's economic participation and access to finance. To this end, amendments were introduced to the information disclosure regulation, which applies to commercial banks and microbanks. The purpose of these changes is to establish the collection and analysis of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) financing data by sex in Georgia, which had not previously been available.

The NBG has been working on addressing this challenge since 2023. In collaboration with stakeholders, a unified definition of a “woman entrepreneur,” along with the corresponding terminology and reporting form, was developed. This standardized approach will allow banks to collect data on enterprise financing that will now be disaggregated by sex.

Commercial banks prepared the first reports using the new approach based on 2024 data, and regular quarterly reporting will commence in 2026, ensuring continuous monitoring and availability of the data.

The new approach to data collection will help improve women's access to finance, as analyzing the accumulated information will allow banks to more effectively identify the needs of women entrepreneurs and offer them specially tailored financial products.

This change is crucial for enhancing financial inclusion in the country, as introducing a unified definition and approach enables the development of an accurate statistical database on businesses managed and owned by women.

Additional information regarding the regulations is available at the following links:

Commercial Banks
Microbanks