On 8^th of April, 2019 Ajara  hosted National Women Business Forum. The event, which has become a tradition, was held for the third time in Batumi and was attended by up to 250 women entrepreneurs from different regions of Georgia, mostly representatives of small and medium businesses. About 50 women from Khulo and Keda local action groups which are supported by EU ENPARD program participated in the forum.  

The main objective of the forum is to strengthen the capacity of women entrepreneurs, increase their engagement in small and medium business, access to finance, promote their activities and stimulate new ideas. The event is held annually in Ajara and it is organized by Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ajara, Ajara Business Women’s Association and Women's Rooms.  The main topic of the discussions for this year were the issus of the availability to finances and opportunities for simplifying financial products, strengthening bilateral dialogue between financial institutions and presenting the examples of financial institutions from other countries.

Representatives of Khulo and Keda LAGs had an opportunity to conduct business negotiations with potential business partners and discuss prospects for cooperation. They were introduced with the successful examples of Georgia and neighbour countries. Within the frame of the forum, trainings were conducted on the following directions, branding, how to expand business, emotional intelligence and relations with financial institutions. All participants had the opportunity to choose their interesting training and attend it.

The projects “Optimizing the Potential of Local Assets for Rural Development of Keda Municipality (Keda LEADER)” and “Promotion of Rural Development and Diversification in Khulo Municipality” are implementing since 2017 with support by EU under the European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD). In Keda project is implemented by CENN and in Khulo by Caritas Czech Republic in Georgia (CCRG)