The FINANCIAL — “Due to the unstable and rapidly changing marketplace of recent years it would be difficult for many companies to remain loyal to their initial concept and offer a product which would fully deserve the trust of customers. There are some exceptions though, and Healthy Water is the best example of one,” said Viktoria Zhizhko, PR Manager at Margebeli Holding.
The story began in the last century, about 17 years ago.
In 1997 Swiss and Georgian partners established a company which offered Georgian market Bakhmaro and Nabeghlavi production. “By now it is the leader of the local mineral water market. Our company is leader as customers are always very loyal towards our brand. Customer loyalty and love towards it is due to the untiring work of the team which manages the company. Despite the unstable environment our team is always oriented on development. However, we never forget about the brand’s traditions. In the Georgian reality it is difficult to achieve this goal, but the Healthy Water team did it,” said Zhizhko.
The story of Nabeghlavi starts in 1905, when a source of new mineral water was discovered in the territory of Guria, in Western Georgia. Local inhabitants of the region noticed that buffalos were especially attracted to one of the water sources, says the legend. The very same source later turned out to have a special taste and curative properties.
The bottling of Nabeghlavi mineral water was initiated in 1958, following the establishment of a health resort in the ecologically pure environment of the village Nabeghlavi, which in turn was determined by revealing the water’s unique curative properties. At that time the water production output and distribution area was considerably smaller. Later, in 1997, Healthy Water started leading the production.
“We should mention that before Healthy Water continued producing Nabeghlavi its production was interrupted for a certain period of time. Besides, the production’s distribution area was limited and its awareness was low in Georgia. Taking into consideration these challenges, I consider that the company managed to gain customers’ loyalty and leading positions on the market in a very short period of time. At the same time this happened due to the fact that we are trying to provide customers with high quality products,” said Zhizhko.
Healthy Water did not stop at producing Nabeghlavi, and introduced Bakhmaro Spring water in 2002. The production facilities include an elaborate system of pipelines connecting several bore wells and the bottling plant, situated in the village Nabeghlavi, near to the sources. The plant is equipped with state-of-the-art European automatic bottling lines from KRONES, with a capacity of 30,000 bottles per hour.
The highest quality of Healthy Water production is proven by a Certificate of Conformity with EU standards and ISO 9001:2000. In addition, Healthy Water has just become the winner of Golden Brand for several times.
Particular attention is devoted to the study of the development of water deposits and their care, in which the company has invested millions of Georgian Lari.
Nabeghlavi is exported to 20 countries including Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Baltic states, USA, Canada, Turkey, Eastern European countries, Kazakhstan, etc.
The sources of the mineral water are located at the foothills of the Caucasus, an ecologically clean zone in Western Georgia. Nabeghlavi mineral water is extracted from several bore wells of 180-1,200 meter depth, and Bakhmaro Spring Water flows 1.5 km through a pipeline directly to the bottling plant, where both waters undergo precise filtering and are produced in diverse PET and glass bottles.
An initial study of the chemical composition of the water was performed in 1921 by Latvian scientist Robert Kuptsis, who spent most of his life in Georgia. Later hydro-geological research was led by famous Georgian and other Soviet scientists during the 1930s.
Within this period, the chemical properties of the water were scientifically developed and the water was stated to have a hydrocarbonate calcium-sodium composition as well as carbon dioxide.
“The advantage of Nabeghlavi is precisely its natural perfection. It is distinguished by its calcium-sodium composition from all other mineral waters. As for Bakhmaro, it fast became a favourite water of customers since its appearance on the market. The convenient packaging and affordable price is a combination that encourages customers to choose Bakhmaro. The actual Bakhmaro resort is a favourite place of most Georgians. Customers feel safe when they know that Bakhmaro and Nabeghlavi waters are extracted from ecologically pure untouched environments,” she said.
Since its establishment, Healthy Water and now Margebeli Holding (uniting Healthy Water, Marneuli Food Factory, Marneuli Agro and distribution company Engadi) has been involved in CSR activities.
“One of the most important aspects of our business is employing local people. Nowadays, in the sales department of Nabeghlavi and Marneuli Food Factory a total of 965 people are employed. In terms of charity Margebeli Holding pays particular attention to caring about the local populations’ social needs. Healthy Water was a sponsor of the Chess Olympic Team and a partner of the Georgian Olympic Team,” said Zhizko.
“We should consider Healthy Water’s project For an Educated Future as one of the most important initiatives of recent years. The project aims to increase educational activities in the regions of Georgia. Nowadays, Healthy Water is caring about the development of the pupils of Chokhatauri municipality. This project started in 2013 for the first time. Three pupils, the winners of the national Olympics, were sent to Britain to attend a two-week language course with all expenses being covered by the company. This project is being continued this year as well. We are also planning many other activities for the future,” said Zhizhko.
Discussion about this post