Getting Visibility In The Digital World For Natural Pharma SMEs In Georgia
Client: UNIDO
Programme: EU Innovative Action for Private Sector Competitiveness in Georgia (EU IPSC)
Focus: Bacteriophages and natural pharmaceuticals sector
Country: Georgia
Language: English
Donor: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
Goal: The main objective of the programme was to identify opportunities to boost visibility, create awareness and increase sales of products and services from the Georgian bacteriophages and natural pharmaceutical clusters online across the world. The project objective is to increase e-commerce skills for the healthcare sector within Georgia.
Activities: To design, develop and deliver an E-marketing Online Course for businesses within the priority natural pharmaceutical sectors in Georgia. This included:
Developing, localising, adapting and delivering an online e-marketing training curriculum in English for the bacteriophages and herbal pharmaceutical cluster
Supporting the businesses during the programme, including weekly Q&A sessions and reviewing assignments
Preparation and delivery of e-marketing and e-commerce 1:1 coaching for 10 companies in the natural pharmaceutical cohort to enhance digital presence, extend online business models, set up new digital sales channels and boost online visibility
Deliver an executive presentation to the Managing Directors of the participating companies to present the opportunity that global e-commerce has for their businesses and sector
Working with the new Georgian National E-commerce Expert to increase their capability to become the future course facilitator for further e-marketing and e-commerce programmes within Georgia in the Georgian language.
The programme has now run with cohorts in the jewellery sector, toys sector and also in the honey sector in Georgia.
Results: The E-marketing Online Course launched in March 2022 and within a few weeks the companies had:
Adopted new online business models
Updated content to appeal to a broader range of customers
Developed new websites
Listed products on new online marketplaces
Started online selling for the first time and reached 50 online sales in the first month.