In partnership with the Business and Technology University and the world-renowned Henley Entrepreneurship Center, Entrepreneurship Center, Silicon Valley was officially opened in 2019 at the Tbilisi base. The aim of the center is to increase entrepreneurship development and access to finance, conduct research, promote the internationalization of the ecosystem, deepen the discussion between private, public and academic spaces, initiate legislative or other changes necessary for the development of entrepreneurship in the country and the formation of an innovative ecosystem.
From 2021, the University of Business and Technology became a member of the MIT Martin Trust Center. The agreement aims to improve the entrepreneurial environment in the country, support startups and stimulate innovation processes. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world’s leading universities, is an important member of the International Innovative Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Affiliate experts from the Martin Trust Center will hold webinars and workshops at BTU, sharing quarterly industry analysis materials. BTU membership also makes it possible to participate in the DELTA V accelerator and demo day organized by MIT in New York, Cambridge and Silicon Valley, to establish links with venture funds, investors, and Silicon Valley startups.
All students at Business and Technology University start their academic career by learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Specific courses are designed in a way that encourages students to create their own startups, pitch them on yearly demo days and participate in the incubation process. The aim of these courses is to give students basic knowledge about entrepreneurship, teach them the tools for ideation, business model creation etc. to ensure that they’re fully informed about all the steps necessary to launch a successful startup.
The entrepreneurship course was created in partnership with Henley Business School. This allows students to have access to top class international resources.
For graduating students, BTU has introduced a specially designed course – “Practical Business Project”. The objective of this course is to transfer all the theoretical knowledge students have received into practice, encouraging them to acquire new practical skills. In the context of this project, students choose an industry according to their interests and prepare a real business plan for a company in the given industry. Throughout the course, students will attend workshops in modules such as: business model generation, marketing, research, financial modeling, fundraising, pitch deck creation etc. Students will also have access to mentors from BTU’s partner organizations.
The BTU Center for Entrepreneurship offers free programs to startups throughout Georgia. Startup bootcamps, training, workshops, hackathons, regional research, access to finance opportunities represent only a few of the center’s activities. The center implements these programs for different organizations as well. Our potential partners can contact us and request detailed info about the possible services the center can offer them. The service of organizing pre-accelerators, hackathons, training series etc. is offered individually, depending on the needs and priorities of the client/project. Ideation, business model generation, drafting a business plan, how to obtain financing, investors relations – these are some of the themes covered in custom training series organized in collaboration with partners.
BTU Center for Entrepreneurship established the online business clinic in partnership with Henley Business School. The main purpose of the clinic is to support the Georgian Entrepreneurship ecosystem by offering different webinars and individual consultations to startups and aspiring entrepreneurs. All these activities and offerings are free for the beneficiaries of the clinic. Topics within the clinic include: how to write a business plan, strategic planning tools, digital transformation, marketing and communication, internationalization, access to finance, and others.
First two webinars opening the clinic are: “how to write a business plan” and “how to get government funding for my startup”. These series of webinars are dedicated to supporting those startups who are just starting out and want to prepare themselves better for applying for local grants or want to request funding from financial institutions.
Mentors of the business clinic include academic personnel of BTU as well as representatives of our partners, who are leaders in their fields and major players in the ecosystem.
In order to register for online business clinic activities, please contact us at: cfe@btu.edu.ge