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"People have been fascinated since childhood by their success stories in biography," said Irma Dushvili, co-founder of DIO and a member of the Georgian Women's Business Leaders' Association “Women for the Future”.
Her personal success story comes from selfless labor, tons of experimentation and testing the strength of various fields. In 2018, a new chapter of this story was written, when “Oscar”, the award for successful business women by the French champagne house Veuve Clicquot, established in 1972, was given for breaking innovative thinking, bold ideas and stereotypes. At the ceremony, which was held on July 13, 2018, one of the vines in the unique VUEVE CLICQUOT champagne vineyard was named "Irma Daushvili" and the Georgian flag was hoisted for the first time in these famous vineyards.
Irma Daushvili: While studying at the Komarov Mathematical School, where most of the students were boys, I had to constantly argue with them. Later, when I passed the math exam, I was surrounded by boys again. Lecturers, however, were not sympathetic to those they believed to be the weaker sex: they believed that their labor in students was devalued by women because they were creating families and no longer pursuing science.
It can be said that I grew up in battles, which made me a novelty seeker. I have never dreamed of entrepreneurship. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, like everyone who had just graduated from high school, I found myself in a difficult situation. During the period of transformation, transformation, it was difficult to understand the path. Women living in Georgia have dealt with the difficulties caused by mass unemployment in the country much greater than men. To save their children and families, most of them were able to adapt to the strict demands of the labor market through self-employment and self-realization.
I, in parallel with working in my profession, also first worked in public service, then later at the bank, constantly looking for other sources of income. Whatever job they offered me, and I thought I could do it, I agreed. I was used to working in a tense mode and it was not difficult for me to do several things at once.
Starting a curtain-blind business was quite a risky business at the time, but I had the most important thing - family support. For my father, who was a scientist-lawyer, the topic of business was foreign to me, but he supported me. My brother also stood by my side, without Tamaz, DIO would not have developed like this. Then he joined us. Today both work with the same energy as before and create the future of the company. I was psychologically struggling in the early stages of the business.
Mostly men at the construction sites met me and were surprised to see me. The main barrier, however, was public distrust: many wondered, "Who’s got time for blinds?" When people don't have money for bread. ”It was also impossible to communicate with banks, and financial institutions often did not support the work of women (because they did not have real estate proposals).
After 23 years, this shortcoming has been corrected by many banks and today we can find special projects and offers for women. The years have brought changes. Today it is much easier to do business. According to official data, our country ranks 9th in terms of doing business. The issue of gender balance has also been more or less raised, but some problems still remain. For example, the issue of violence against women does not change. The stronger the woman, the more they fight. Statistics show that many successful and composed women are single in marital status. It seems that Georgian men are not ready for strong woman. I am very lucky, my husband feels good about the importance of the work I do. Probably a factor as to why they're doing so poorly. My husband is a doctor by profession and understands my work. He thinks that the relationship with a business woman is very interesting. This mentality must be changed. The problem of education was especially evident. There is a lack of qualified staff in many areas. For example, pedagogical work today is mainly done by women and this profession is still not considered prestigious (due to low pay in the field of education). Gender balance is quite well maintained in our company. For example, women hold 50 percent of the top management. The partners are one man and two women.
,,Women for the Future"
Women for the Future is a business women's union in Georgia, of which I am a board member. Our goal is to respond in a timely manner to similar problems in the country (primarily in the field of business). For example, we help women start a business so that they can boldly implement their ideas. We provide education (we provide various trainings), as well as legal assistance if needed. The second goal is to take care of the development of the regions, ecological problems, etc. It is important for a woman to constantly strive for self-development. Recently, I decided to become a student again, enrolled at the University of Sheffield. This decision was quite a challenge at this age - I already had a big workload in the family and at work. The rest of my free time is taken entirely by study, but otherwise it is impossible to move forward.
