Success stories

Scientists in lab
EBRD and EU help Ecosoft improve quality of drinking water in Ukraine
Ukraine
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06/03/2017
In order to provide modern water treatment solutions for households and businesses in Ukraine , the EBRD is extending a US$ 3 million loan to Ecosoft, the country’s leading producer of water purification equipment. The investment will strengthen inclusion by providing customers with access to clean water at affordable rates. Inclusion is one of the six transition qualities defining the EBRD’s...
Dr Vardanush Petrossian in the Ingrediant café.
Armenian woman entrepreneur has the right ingredients for success
Armenia
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25/11/2016
Dr Vardanush Petrossian, a medical doctor with a specialisation in nutrition, has always dreamed of running her own healthy food-focused café. Using her own savings, she opened the Ingredient Café. Now, with the support of the Women in Business Programme, funded by EU4Business, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Sweden, Vardanush’s café is expanding. The Ingredient...
Improving Azerbaijan’s IT technologies for more efficient performance
Azerbaijan
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14/10/2016
When a local bookstore’s growth was outpacing its inventory capacity, its owner turned to the IT experts at the Small Business Support team (SBS) for help. In 2001, with just an initial investment of USD 600, Ms Kocharli set up a book store. With this money, she bought books from Russia and Ukraine and sold them in Azerbaijan. At first this was done via direct orders, but soon business was...
Turkan Panahova, a successful 22 year old hairdresser, attends to one of her many clients.
Improving women’s presence in business – one cut at a time
Azerbaijan
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14/10/2016
Thanks to an EU-funded course on financial management, hairdresser Turkan Panahova is now the proud owner of her own successful beauty salon. Turkan Panahova, a young hairdresser in Azerbaijan, was struggling to make her business work. Although business was good, she had trouble finding the best way to manage her money and grow the business. Thanks to a two-day EU-funded financial training course...
People serving in Levart’s Food, Pizza and Sandwich Shop.
Armenia’s passion for service – and great food!
Armenia
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12/10/2016
With the support of EFSE funding, Levart’s Food, Pizza and Sandwich Shop expanded its operations, doubled its turnover and hired more help. At Levart’s Food, Pizza and Sandwich Shop in Armenia, one can find more than 15 kinds of pizzas – not to mention an unimaginable array of sandwiches and hamburgers. Its shelves are overflowing with spinach, cabbage, potatoes, meats, cheeses and freshly-baked...
Access to credit in Armenia is icing on the cake
Armenia
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12/10/2016
Baker Vahan Khachatryan used to dread receiving the electricity bill and seeing his profits be wiped out by old, inefficient ovens. But thanks to a loan from the EFSE, his bakery is benefiting from state-of-the-art ovens and a customer base that’s always hungry for more. Getting up well before the crack of dawn isn’t ever easy – and nobody knows this as well as Patvakan Khachatryan, owner of the...
Omar and two of his employees at the new dental surgery in Rustavi, Georgia, which he opened with the help of a loan arranged through the EU4Business programme.
Ownership is the best motivation in Georgia
Georgia
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11/10/2016
A €40 000 bank loan arranged through the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) has allowed Omar Baxturidze to expand his dental practice in Rustavi, Georgia. Omar took out the loan in March 2014 with one of EFSE’s partners in Georgia, Bank Republic. “After years of renting premises, I finally invested in a practice to own outright,” he explained. “My advisors at Bank Republic laid out a...
Raising finance and increasing turnover in Georgia
Georgia
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11/10/2016
With the help of the EU4Business programme, Lopota Tour Service, a holiday resort management company in Georgia, improved its customer service and operational practices, increasing turnover tenfold as a result. EU4Business helps Georgian hotel expand With help from the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) , Lopota Tour Service, a holiday resort company...
Baia Abuladze runs a small winemaking business in Imereti, Georgia, which is receiving support from the East Invest 2 programme, designed to help sectors in Eastern Partnership countries export to the EU.
Turning an 8 000-year wine tradition into success in Georgia
Georgia
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11/10/2016
The East Invest 2 programme has financed the setting up of an online trade platform which is helping Georgian wine producers, such as Baia Abuladze, export to EU countries. 26-year-old Baia Abuladze is a wine producer in the Imereti region of western Georgia. Winemaking is traditionally a male-dominated business in Georgia and Baia one of only a few women plying their trade there, under her label...
Georgian SMEs have been successful in winning export contracts in EU countries thanks to the training they received in the SME Academy held in Tbilisi inApril 2016.
30 SMEs in Georgia prepare for the EU market with East Invest 2
Georgia
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11/10/2016
SMEs in the agro-food and beverage industries learned how to prepare products for export to the EU on a training course organised by the Georgian Chamber of Commerce with support from East Invest 2 . The SME Academy training course was held in April 2016 for representatives of SMEs operating in the agro-food, food processing, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and other related spheres such as...