Visual Stories of Female Entrepreneurs

IFTF#Success 2014
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IFTF Warsaw 2012
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IFTF Istanbul 2011

Individual Spotlight / Georgia

Text by Nino Zambakhidze

Text based on an Interview with Nino Zambakhidze by Tina Lee Odinsky-Zec: 18 March 2013
Artwork by Helena Habdija

Two Cows and Good Questions
Nino Zambakhidze’s dairy and distribution company in the Republic of Georgia started, like many great business ideas, from humble origins. In 2008, a friend bought two cows on a whim in Samskhe Javahketi, a poor, rural underserved region far south of the bustling capital, Tbilisi, where she grew up. She was raised not as a farmer, but as an educator and a business major, as she helped him figure how where to keep these new acquisitions. Together, they asked a lot of questions, leading them to owning land, buying more cows, buying feed, making feed, and paving the way for other small farmers to grow into a wider dairy cooperative. Nino, who spent a year living in the U.S. as a teen and had graduated with a degree in business and marketing at the Tbilisi Technical University, had always dreamt of starting her own company, and in fact, had already had some success with a company providing coffee and tea to hotels and restaurants. But having heard about the great dairy potential of the region, she knew that this new idea was destined to be successful. And thus, the Georgian Business Zone company was born.

Building a Dairy Brand

Under the brand name, Akhaltsikuri, Nino runs an extensive distribution network from farm to retailers and wholesalers servicing major grocery stores and hotel properties throughout Georgia. Georgia Business Zone currently produces about 400-500 kilos of cheese per day, but the company’s equipment has the capacity to double that amount as business grows. Most of the cheese is saved in a specially designed storage facility for sale in the winter, when the price for cheese increases by 80-100%. Milk collection season usually lasts from April to the beginning of October. In winter, there is no sufficient milk supply, so the company is closed. There are significant costs for purchasing milk and operating costs. Nevertheless, the company manages to make over $260,000 in annual profit. It also manages to cover a wide area in Georgia, selling its cheese in most of the country’s large supermarkets, such as Goodwill, Populi, Samart and Nikora.

Funding Community Investment

Buying two cows requires a certain investment, but running a successful business venture requires much more substantial funds. According to Ms. Zambakhidze, by July 2012, over $1 million dollars has already been invested in her business – primarily from grants given by various government and private development funds - and her plans to expand and introduce new directions in the sector will require even more funds. The company was initially supported by a $125,000 business development grant from the U.S.-funded Millennium Challenge Corporation, but other international organizations also contributed to a various extent, such as purchasing a refrigerated truck for transporting milk (MercyCorps) or helping to acquire milk collection centers (CARE International). Ms. Zambakhidze also has secured bank loans to finance her business.

Fresh Ideas Get Recognition and Breed More

Ms. Zambakhidze’s uncompromising energy for introducing new ideas and practices led to a project which is well-known by local and international donors, investors, and policy-makers. Ms. Zambakhidze won the 2011 Mercury Prize, Georgia’s National Business Award for most prominent business lady of the year. In 2012, thanks to her efforts to organize farmers all over the country, she became the first CEO of the Georgian Farmers Association, The association aims to create a healthy environment for agro-business through supporting science-based farming, new technologies, providing expertise and training, bringing farmers together for joint purchases of inputs and sale of outputs and developing proposals for policy and legislature changes in agriculture field. Not bad for a city girl.