E-commerce for all with Ketevan Vachiberidze from B2C.ge
Ketevan created an affordable e-commerce platform that helps all types of businesses to enter the digital era.
Ice-breakers ❄️
What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking. For me, it’s being intellectually free risk-taker for the realization of own ambitions.
If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?
As if playing jazz…
Introductions 👋
Who are you and what business did you start?
I am Ketevan Vachiberidze, a woman entrepreneur inspired by innovation and technologies, and strive to take on new challenges. I created an e-commerce platform B2C.ge, that helps entrepreneurs in digitalization and brings their business to the next level!
About the business 💼
How did you come up with your business idea?
2 years ago, I joined an IT-development company. During running the business, it became clear that there was high demand in e-commerce but not many companies could afford it. And here, with an entrepreneurial mindset and an experienced team I saw the challenges and brought me to the right solution –we made e-commerce accessible for everyone!
Can you tell me a story about a customer using your product?
There is one medical center, Women and health. The center is one of the leading and most successful dermato-cosmetological clinics in the country. After more than 10 years of successful operations in this sector, the company decided to produce organic skincare products, and this not only for their loyal customers but for all. So, they founded the brand Botanic and decided to use e-commerce to reach a bigger market. For market penetration, they built an online shop through B2C.ge.
After starting using our platform, Botanic launched in only one week and with 0$ initial investment. Currently, they are selling the product not only in Georgia but also abroad.
What makes a good business opportunity?
Understanding the variable needs, flexibility, quick adoption to innovations, fast decision-making process.
How will your product change the market?
We have already managed to make e-commerce accessible to everyone. Therefore, our product will increase the share of online retail sales in the region (and this is just a beginning).
Personal 💁
What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
I was always striving to create something valuable for other people, that would make me part of the 21st-century innovation technology revolution. For that, you need to be free in actions and take a risk.
What do you do on a daily basis to grow as an entrepreneur?
I am getting out of my comfort zone daily. It’s like paying the game to win against yourself.
How do you define success?
Very simple and banal: achieving the set goal and preparing the ground for new ones.
What’s your greatest entrepreneurial achievement to be proud of?
Becoming a successful Women Entrepreneur in Tech. Leading the company in the stereotypically masculine field.
What’s your least favorite part about being an entrepreneur?
You don’t have the luxury of being sometimes lazy… And attending or participating in the events that have zero impact and result, but still, you have to be presented there… 😊 We are losing so much time …
Resources & Creative Process 💡
Who do you talk to about your business?
Everyone.
What entrepreneurs do you admire and why?
Elon Musk, a person who creates and sets only the expectation that is worth a billion dollars. Really deserves to be admired.
How do you generate new ideas?
Talking with my people. More specifically, starting the conversation, giving the topic and let them talk as much as possible, asking questions to filter my thoughts about new ideas
How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
I don’t have much time to stick with an idea, either start trying – win or lose or good valuable argument against the idea and … let’s move on to the next one.
What was the most valuable business advice you got?
Very timely question😊”Don’t stick with anything, moving fast is today’s biggest challenge“. That was 6 years ago with my very first business idea. No one believed but I still wanted to keep trying. Thanks for not letting me waste my time and effort 😊
When everything fails, what keeps you going?
Responsibilities to my people
Apart from mistakes, what are other sources for learning you would recommend to entrepreneurs who are just beginning?
People. It’s important to surround yourself with the right people and take from them as much as possible.
Growing your business 🌱
How did you land your first customer?
I drafted a perfect matching customer profile, found him on the market, and met him personally to offer my product.
Name one thing you did absolutely right for your business
Think big! From the beginning, we start competing with global market leaders and we were trying to equal global companies such as Shopify and WooCommerce. This strategic decision helped us to develop the platform, that meets the highest standards. In that way, we easily overcame competition with local companies and have managed to pull ahead of our global competitors in Georgia.
What was the worst mistake you made while growing your business?
We started developing and perfecting out a platform for creating online shops and here we didn’t take into account the huge potential of the platform in tourism, especially the HoReCa sector. After some months we saw high demand from hotels (they were addressing us directly with the requests), who were in need of a platform tailored to their business. So we did huge additional work to fully satisfy the tourism market demand.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Sharing successful customer stories to attract new ones.
Constantly talking with customers and fully supporting them, and improving the platform to retain customers.
Amusing Questions 🤣
If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why? What would you ask?
Nikola Tesla, I would like to show him today’s world and ask him to visualize our future.
Who would be in your advisor’s board if you could choose from any character, real or fictional? Why?
Salvador Dali, Charlie Chaplin, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg
Dare to answer 😏
What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Time.
What if 3 or 5 years down the road your board thinks you’re not the right person to continue running your company—how would you address that?
I always manage to be valuable, wherever I am. So, I would prevent this thought at the very core.
About Georgia 🇬🇪
How does your business contribute to the local community?
We support local business in digitalization and growing process.
What do you think about the startup scene in Georgia?
There are a lot of different opportunities, programs, projects for startups starting from the very beginning, idea, and development to scale up, and go global.
What are the pros and cons of setting up a business in Georgia?
Pros: The market is in the development phase and not saturated. So, there are some many opportunities to implement different innovative things and there is perfect environment to start business. Cons: Small market.
How do you see Georgia in 10 years?
One of the leading hubs in innovative technologies.
Final 🧐
Where can we go to learn more from you and your company?
You can check out B2C.ge or its Facebook Fanpage. You can find me at my LinkedIn profile and reach out through Facebook.
