The European Business Association (EBA) is pleased to announce the initiation of a strategic collaboration with the Center for Entrepreneurship at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School (Boston, USA) to introduce and adapt the Urban Poverty and Business Initiative (UPBI) framework in Georgia.

As part of this initiative, an introductory kickoff meeting was held between key project leaders: Prof. Shari Worthington (Suffolk University), Mariam Kuchuloria (Deputy Managing Director, EBA Georgia), and Mariam Tsiskadze (Strategic Communications Lead, EBA Georgia). The session established the operational foundation for joint working groups, stakeholder engagement and local needs assessment.

About the UPBI Concept

The Urban Poverty and Business Initiative (UPBI) is an internationally recognized framework designed to foster economic empowerment and resilience among low-income founders and early-stage microenterprises. By providing structured entrepreneurship training, hands-on mentorship pipelines, and access to business resources, the UPBI model helps transform informal ingenuity into formal, sustainable businesses.

A Bilateral Reciprocal Exchange

This initiative was developed as a Reciprocal Exchange Project under the Professional Fellows Program (PFP), funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education.

The reciprocal exchange builds upon the PFP fellowship stay in the United States, bringing U.S. expertise directly into collaboration with Georgian business association leadership. The project is co-designed and implemented by Mariam Tsiskadze in close partnership with U.S. Fellow Prof. Shari Worthington, leveraging EBA’s strategic network alongside Suffolk University’s academic leadership in entrepreneurship education.

Through this partnership, EBA continues to reinforce its commitment to skills development, youth entrepreneurship through EBAYouth and building an inclusive environment for small and medium-sized enterprises across Georgia.