Liberty Bank for Education

Liberty Bank is one of Georgia’s outstanding companies promoting corporate responsibility. In 2022, corporate sustainability became one of the strategic directions of Liberty Bank, whose other main priorities include promoting education, sharing knowledge and raising awareness.

Please tell us about the projects you are currently working on.

A key focus of Liberty’s corporate sustainability strategy is education, specifically promoting education, knowledge sharing and awareness raising. Liberty implements several important projects that have positively impacted hundreds of people. Education is the main tool that creates opportunities. One-time charity campaigns are important, but these projects have a long-term impact and create new opportunities. This is a priority for the bank.

Liberty’s educational projects have had a profound effect on 7,000 people. Through these projects, they have acquired the knowledge, skills and information that gives them a real opportunity to improve their lives and achieve success.

In 2022, Liberty Bank became an official partner of the Millennium Innovations Award. This partnership allows Georgia to promote the education of talented youth — especially those seeking innovative solutions — and support young people, including those living in the regions. In addition, every year for the last six years, Liberty Bank has provided awards to the ten best teachers who won the National Teacher Award.

Mziurmtsodne is one of the educational projects Liberty supports. It is the initiative of Ana Goguadze, the founder of Mziuri Cafe. During this project, schoolchildren participated in a program specially designed for them. They learned about nature, ecology, animal protection, environmental protection, financial education and inclusive environment. Their efforts earned them honorary titles and badges.

Youth Entrepreneurship for Rural Development is a financial education program of Liberty Bank. It aims to develop the entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of young people between the ages of 18 and 35, as well as to support agricultural and non-agricultural businesses, facilitate access to finances and establish market networks. The project aims to increase the social and economic participation of youth in the regions, improve their welfare and develop their entrepreneurial potential. The Liberty Bank team designed a financial literacy training module specifically for this program, which 1,500 young people attended. The finalist young entrepreneurs were provided with grants to support their business initiatives.

The major purpose of the support initiative for the girls’ football team of Lanchkhuti was to empower women and break down deeply rooted gender stereotypes.

One of the most important projects implemented by Liberty Bank is the MY DOC mobile clinic. The project offers mobile medical services for the residents of the mountainous regions. The mobile clinic, equipped with modern facilities, has visited 436 villages with the Liberty Bank express cars and provided free-of-charge medical services to more than 3,000 people conducting high-tech examinations of cardiovascular and respiratory tract diseases. The MY DOC project won the UN Global Compact Corporate Sustainability Award last year.

The Mountain Books project is another of Liberty’s ongoing initiatives. It involves bringing books to children and adults in mountainous areas to stimulate their interest in literature. Liberty Bank is a strategic partner of Mountain Books. Together with the project team, Liberty employees visited the villages of Guria, Svaneti and mountainous Adjara and gifted thousands of books to the local teenagers.

Liberty partnered with Tsageri Historical Museum on a project in the schools of Tsageri municipality. The project features celebrity figures — writers, scientists and so on — who deliver lectures to the schoolchildren about the medieval epic poem “Vepkhistkaosani” (“The Knight in the Panther’s Skin”).

Promoting education for young people across Georgia is one of the main priorities of corporate sustainability. Only educated youth can improve their reality and the reality of others.

Along with promoting quality education, what other sustainable development goals have you prioritized?

Since our corporate sustainability strategy prioritizes promoting quality education, this goal is aligned with other related SDGs in our development strategy: providing decent working conditions and supporting economic growth. We strive to create opportunities for people that will improve their quality of life. A very important area for Liberty Bank is Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Most of our projects promoting social sustainability are implemented in cooperation with partners. Liberty Bank enjoys collaborating with many partner companies; working with them is very important and valuable for us. In addition, part of our priority SDGs is to develop Georgian business companies and start-ups and support their product sales.

Why did you decide to join the UN Global Compact?

We are glad to have joined the UN Global Compact last year and actively engage in its activities. Indeed, our corporate sustainability strategy fully shares the importance of the goals that the United Nations is working towards to create a better world. Our motivation is to become a more responsible business company, provide benefits and contribute to the country’s sustainable development and economic growth. This does not happen autonomously, and people’s welfare plays a crucial role in this process. Therefore, all projects implemented by Liberty Bank to promote corporate sustainability serve the well-being and education of people. Promoting education, sharing knowledge and raising awareness ensures that individuals have more opportunities to succeed independently.

Why is it important for the private sector to join forces to create a better world?

People often think that their home ends just outside their front door. That is why they often keep their homes tidy but do not care about what is happening outside. People believe that if they have a house built with good materials and it is orderly, they will be safe and live a happy life. However, in reality, our personal lives rely on global goals. We are indeed a small country facing many local challenges, but it is the duty of each of us to see ahead and understand that we are a part of the world. If each citizen of our small country feels responsible for developing this or that direction, the world will radically change for the better. The Sustainable Development Goals allow us to contemplate that the problems in the modern world are precisely the same in our country and our personal lives. Therefore, the responsibility that companies take is also the responsibility of each employee. Behind each corporation are the employees whose collective efforts make it possible to work on specific topics, implement diverse projects and create better opportunities for the people.

What would you advise the start-up companies? Why should they define their business strategies to reflect the principles of corporate sustainability?

I would advise the start-ups that it doesn’t matter if the company is big or small. Still, they can choose one goal from the SDGs that resonates with their activities. By focusing on one goal, they can make a meaningful contribution in a particular area and take a step towards achieving sustainable goals. Understanding this will increase their motivation, as the goals of our country are also part of the global SDGs.

What does a responsible company mean to you, and why should the private sector take responsibility for the harm caused by its activities?

Nowadays, there are numerous cases worldwide when fairly large companies, including companies working on environmental and social issues, damage the environment and people’s lives with their harmful practices. Therefore, it is crucial for these companies to analyze and utilize their capabilities and consider how to prevent harm, become more helpful and benefit the people. 

What are Liberty Bank’s plans?

Our corporate sustainability projects will be entirely dedicated to promoting quality education. We are still focused on this area and believe that with our partners, the Global Compact Network Georgia, we will carry out significant projects that will contribute to the community’s welfare. 

Education for freedom is the cornerstone of our corporate sustainability strategy. It excludes stagnation in the same way as the dynamic process of education and knowledge acquisition, and the path to freedom prevents it.