Within the framework of an innovative product created to support business, intended for agribusinesses, TBC has already funded up to 250 startups. The total amount of investment exceeds 70 million GEL.
TBC has been implementing the agro-startup financing project since 2016. In four years, the project has gone through several phases. Initially, it started by supporting the cultivation of perennial orchards, and since 2017 it has been cultivating local vine varieties and supporting the family farm. To date, within the framework of the Startup Agro product, local wine vines have been planted on more than 100 hectares in specific viticulture zones throughout Georgia.
From 2018, the project added support for high-yielding livestock farms, intensive trout farms, high-tech greenhouses, product storage refrigerators, and warehousing farms. From the fall of 2019, the arrangement of processing enterprises and agro-tourism has been added to the list of Startup Agro products for primary producers of agricultural products.
“Despite the pandemic, the support of agro-startups has not stopped in any direction of TBC, including the support of agro-tourism. We have added different agro directions to the list of startup funding each new agricultural season, and this process will continue. Recently, with the support of business, we have created an aggro card, the use of which is especially relevant right now, during the spring season. Within the framework of business support, we will offer many new and necessary products to our customers, ”said Shota Gongladze, TBC Business Segments Management League.
The agribusiness start-up support program provides for the use of a long-term grace period over the principal amount, depending on the specifics of the financing activity, up to a maximum of 5 years. Lending to fixed assets is carried out in partnership with Preferential Agrocredit and provides for co-financing of the interest accrued on the loan by the state.