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• Visa and Rooms Hotels Partnership in Georgia Embarks on New Phase

  Tbilisi, Sep 06, 2023 – Visa, the world leader in digital payments, and Rooms Hotels, world known brand in the hospitality industry from Georgia, announced a new stage in their partnership, engaging Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) expertise and innovative solutions to support Rooms Hotels.  

  The new partnership sees VCA playing a key role in providing strategic support to Rooms Hotels by allocating Visa consulting and various other Visa functions in joint projects. The partnership aims at creating exclusive offers for Visa cardholders at Rooms Hotels.

  The launch of the new collaboration was marked by the special event held in the Rooms Hotel Courtyard in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi. The happening featured the representatives of Rooms Hotels and Visa, including Valeri Chekheria, Rooms Hotels Lab CEO, Roberto De Meo, Vice President of Visa Consulting & Analytics, CEMEA, and Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager for the Caucasus Region. 

  “Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) Team is delighted to partner with Rooms Hotels, a leading hospitality brand in Georgia and a name known worldwide for its portfolio of innovative and design-oriented hotels that cater to different segments of travelers. VCA's rich global expertise, knowledge, unique insights, and local experience can benefit Rooms Hotels with a deeper understanding of the latest and emerging trends, market dynamics and customer needs in the hospitality industry - all of which are critical to further improve offerings and services to most demanding clients,” Roberto De Meo, Vice President of Visa Consulting & Analytics, CEMEA, said.

  VCA represents a major source of value for Visa, with experts in strategy, product, portfolio management, risk, digital, and more with decades of experience in the payments industry.

  “We are celebrating yet another great milestone in our years-long partnership with Rooms Hotels.Our companies started collaboration 3 years ago, and together, we've redefined what it means to provide remarkable experiences for guests and Visa cardholders. Customers will get more tailored offers and better customer experiences matching their travel profiles and expectations when staying at Rooms Hotels. Visa remains steadfast in fortifying the local business ecosystem in the country and fostering tourism ecosystem development,” Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager in the Caucasus Region, said. 

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  Valeri Chekheria, Chief Executive Officer. Valeri is a business leader, hospitality consultant and dedicated philanthropist. Before joining Slow end-2021, he led Tbilisi-based Adjara Group building a diverse portfolio of renowned hotels and trend-setting entrepreneurial projects. Prior he served as Chief of Staff to the Georgian Minister of Economic Development and the Minister of Finance. He holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs. In 2018, Valeri was appointed as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

  About Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA)

  Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) is the payments consulting arm of Visa. We are a global team of several hundred payments consultants and data scientists across six continents. Our consultants are experts in strategy, product, portfolio management, risk, digital and more with decades of experience in the payments industry. Our data scientists are experts in statistics, advanced analytics and machine learning with exclusive access to insights from VisaNet, one of the largest payment networks in the world. The combination of our deep payments consulting expertise and our breadth of data allows us to identify actionable insights and recommendations that drive better business decisions.

  To learn more about VCA, please visit https://www.visa.com.ge/en_GE/services/visa-consulting-analytics.html 

  About Visa

  Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement.

  Learn more at visa.com.ge

• Visa and Emerging Europe launch the She’s Next digital community platform for female entrepreneurs

  Functioning as a professional social network, the digital platform will unite women leaders from Georgia and the whole region of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus and provide them with tools for networking, exchanging experiences, and international business expansion.

  Tbilisi, 27 April, 2023  - Visa announced the launch of the She’s Next digital community platform for female entrepreneurs from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus created in partnership with Emerging Europe, a prominent growth hub with thorough expertise in the region. The website launch was announced in Georgia and in this regard, Visa organized an informal meeting with Georgian women entrepreneurs and Visa partners.

  At the meeting Visa team in Georgia introduced the opportunities and characteristics of the platform as it is intended to connect businesswomen from various countries and facilitate networking, exchanging experiences, and international business expansion.

  “The She’s Next Empowered by Visa initiative is not only about empowerment but about creating a community of motivated and aspiring women,” commented Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager for the Caucasus. “Hosting events dedicated to female entrepreneurship, we noticed an interesting detail: She’s Next alumni from different countries tended to connect based on shared interests and values. The latest She’s Next research results in Georgia revealed that 82% of Georgian SMBs are eager to join the international community of entrepreneurs. So, we created it for them to share best practices, learn from each other, and grow as leaders. I believe the She’s Next digital community platform will be a real game-changer for all businesswomen from Georgia and the whole region.”

  The digital platform includes all functions of a professional social network—a newsfeed, interest groups, and tools for posting and messaging—and will allow female leaders and entrepreneurs to communicate, search for business contacts, suppliers, or investors, and develop their personal brand. All potential platform users will undergo a verification process upon signing up to prevent fraud and ensure they are real persons and reliable partners for cooperation.

  The She’s Next digital community platform is open to everyone interested in entrepreneurship, from those with a business idea but no existing business to startup owners and women with well-established enterprises. To learn more and join, please visit https://shesnext.emergingeurope.org/.

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  About Visa

  Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at visa.com.ge

• Applications open in Georgia for Visa Everywhere Initiative, a global innovation competition for fintech startups

  • Visa Everywhere Initiative tasks startups with solving today’s most pressing payments and commerce challenges, with monetary prizes, global exposure, and validation from one of the world’s most trusted brands

  Georgia, 20 April 2023: Applications are now open in Georgia for the 2023 edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation competition that sees startups pitch their innovative solutions to solve tomorrow’s payment and commerce challenges.

  In addition to monetary prizes, VEI winners gain access and exposure to Visa’s vast networks of partners in the banking, merchant, VC, and government sectors. The winners also benefit from receiving recognition from one of the world’s most trusted and valuable brands.

  The Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) finals will be livestreamed on July 27 on TechCrunch – a leading online publisher focused on the tech industry and the startup ecosystem. The startup that wins at the CEMEA Regionals will participate in the global finale, which will be held on September 19 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

  This year, Visa's VEI CEMEA is set to introduce for the first time an award in the Risk and Security domain - Fintechs Innovating in Risk Excellence, or ‘FIIRE’, Award. Through this Special Edition, Visa in partnership with Emirates NBD are scouting for global Fintech players across fraud management, cybersecurity, and credit risk, among others. Following a joint review by Visa and Emirates NBD representatives, the winning Fintech will receive a $25,000 prize and an opportunity to work with Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region.

  “The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a platform that empowers fintechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions in the world of payments and commerce,” said Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager for the Caucasus “Through their technology-driven, innovative solutions, fintechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits to the markets they operate in – particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved. At Visa, we believe access to the digital economy drives equitable, inclusive growth, and VEI is an important means of supporting the innovators playing a leading role in this space.”

  Since its launch in 2015, VEI has helped startups representing more than 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion USD in funding, with a network that includes nearly 12,000 startups from across the globe. Last year, VEI awarded more than $530,000 USD in prize money over the course of the competition, which saw over 4,000 startups participate from five regions. VEI 2022 saw Nigeria’s ThriveAgric take home the VEI Global grand prize of $100,000 USD. ThriveAgric also won the $20,000 USD Visa Direct prize. In 2021, PAYZE of Georgia became the winner for the CEMEA region, for representing the best innovative payment and commerce solutions to solve the payment challenges of tomorrow.

  VEI is seeking innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs who are uplifting communities by solving payment and commerce challenges faced by businesses of all sizes and sectors, including:

  What we are looking for

  Enablers of digital services and digital issuers

  • Blockchain and cryptocurrency
  • Crowdfunding
  • Banking-as-a-Service
  • BIN sponsors
  • Issuer/processors
  • Program managers

  Digital issuance

  • Blockchain and cryptocurrency
  • Alternative lending
  • Personal financial management
  • Money transfer and remittance
  • Digital banking (aka neo banks)
  • Digital wallets, peer-to-peer (P2P) and transfers
  • Employee benefits
  • Payables
  • Corporate cards (aka expense management)

  Value-add for merchants and/or consumers in the finance space

  • Data and analytics
  • ID, authentication and security
  • InsurTech
  • Loyalty
  • Merchant services and tools
  • Process and payment infrastructure
  • Retail technology
  • Other

  Small- and medium-sized business recovery

  • Money movement (disbursements, Intra-account, P2P vendor and payments)
  • Acceptance (e-commerce and mobile acceptance)
  • Risk management (chargebacks, etc.)
  • Brand management (Community building, etc.)
  • Other

  New categories for 2023:

  • Sustainable fintechs
  • Risk
  • Urban mobility

  This year’s prizes

  • VEI CEMEA Regionals 1^st place: $20,000
  • VEI CEMEA Regionals Audience Favorites: $10,000
  • VEI CEMEA Regionals Risk Winner: $25,000

  Global Finals awards and cash prizes

  • VEI Global Overall Winner: $50,000 USD
  • VEI Global Audience Favorite: $10,000 USD
  • VEI Global – Visa Direct: $10,000 USD
  • Additionally, all 5 finalists will be able to exhibit their companies at the TechCrunch Disrupt in a branded pavilion in the Expo Hall.

   

  The overall winner and the Visa Direct winner are also eligible to win the Audience Favorite prize.

  The application deadline for VEI Georgia is May 14^th.

  For more information about VEI, please visit our website.  

   

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  About Visa

  Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at visa.com.ge

• AN EVENT DEDICATED TO THE ROLE OF TURKMEN WOMEN IN PUBLIC AND STATE ACTIVITIES WAS HELD

  Today, on April 6, 2023, the cultural event "Turkmen woman - a pattern example in public and state activities" was held in the building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan.

  The purpose of this representative forum is to widely highlight the role and place of women in the life of the Turkmen state and society, their efforts in the implementation of various areas of development both at the national and international levels. As is known, caring for women, raising their status in society, ensuring gender equality are the priorities of the political course of independent neutral Turkmenistan.

  The event was attended by the Hero of Turkmenistan, Executive Secretary of the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO Chinar Rustamova, Hero of Turkmenistan, People's Writer of Turkmenistan, poetess Gozel Shagulyeva, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Myakhri Byashimova, Chairman of the Central Council of the Women's Union of Turkmenistan Akjemal Durdiyeva and other state, social activists of the country.

  In the speeches of the participants of the event, special emphasis was placed on the ever-increasing role of women in the life of modern Turkmenistan, their great contribution to various aspects of state and social development.

  The participants of the forum paid special attention to the policy of Turkmenistan towards women, the reliable guarantor of the provision and protection of whose rights are the Constitution and relevant acts of national legislation, as well as successfully implemented programs related to the education and health of women, their social and public status. Separately, the great importance of the place and role of women in the implementation of initiatives in the field of cultural, educational, environmental diplomacy, their huge contribution to the worthy education of the young generation of Turkmen citizens was emphasized.

• Economic Council meeting led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili

  The Economic Council’s meeting, led by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, was held today at the Government Administration.

  The members of the Economic Council discussed large ongoing and planned economic projects, also the infrastructural projects underway on the instructions of the Prime Minister.

  The 2023-2028 Urban and Resort Development Program was also discussed at the meeting, and Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Irakli Karseladze briefed in detail the Head of Government and the meeting’s participants on this program. It was noted that ten tourist destinations had been selected for rehabilitation at the initial stage. The special importance of developing destinations for the country’s economic progress and stimulation was underlined.

  The conversation touched on the high rates of economic growth. It was pointed out that, despite the situation in the region and global challenges, Georgia’s economy maintains sustainability, and a high growth of economic activity is in place.

  Notably, the trend of a high economic growth in 2022 continued in January 2023 as well, with the month’s growth rate reaching 8.4%. In parallel with high economic activity, a drop in inflation—which is a global post-pandemic challenge—is also evident.

  Attention was paid to FDIs. It was noted at the meeting that the volume of FDIs in 2022 grew by 61.1% to make up 2 billion USD, which is a historical maximum of FDIs made in the country so far.

  Press Service of the Government Administration