The FINANCIAL — Temur Ubilava, President of Badagoni answers the questions by FINANCIAL.
The FINANCIAL — Golden Brand 2007 named Badagoni favourite wine brand of the year. The company has allocated USD 2 million for the local and international promotion of the brand in 2008. How important is the award for a relatively young company on Georgian market with such rich wine traditions? Temur Ubilava, President of Badagoni answers the questions by FINANCIAL.
“ It’s an honour for us to be winner of the Favourite Wine Brand nomination in the country, the history of which estimates centuries of wine production traditions. Badagoni is grateful to all the jury members, experts and the population for expressing such a huge credit of confidence in the company. At the same time we give our word that we will stick to our mainstream policy and remain the high quality manufacturer of Georgian wines that we are today.
Golden Brand 2007 awards is a highly important event contributing to the further development of local businesses in Georgia. The event is the next best means for inciting private sector representatives to keep on building up their success stories. Eventually this gets reflected in the country’s better economic development in general.
Q. How did you come to the idea of launching your own wine business in Georgia and how difficult is it for new brands to establish themselves in the country, one regarded the ‘cradle of wine’?
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Market Shares: 22%
Stakeholders: Gracorro Traiding LTD (Italy)
Number of employees: 458
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A. It was in early 2001 when the idea of launching a wine business in Georgia came to mind. Since I was not capable of carrying out the initiative in my native city Sokhumi, Abkhazia, Badagoni was launched without access to that sunny region of Georgia. As soon as there’s an opportunity though, the company will grab the chance immediately and fulfil my dream regarding wine production in that fertile land.
As for the difficulties a young wine-maker faces in Georgia, it all depends on the primary development strategy you choose. Since Badagoni is a company that has always employed highly qualified professionals in the field, I can say that there were never any challenges we weren’t able to handle.
Q. Please, deliver a brief story on how your affiliation with your Italian partners started and what major issues were considered in regards to launching Badagoni in Georgia?
A. Our Italian partners are well-aware of the unique features of Georgian wines. Hence they were more than welcome to support our initiative and contribute to the very useful business development in the country.
Badagoni is a heart driven business and that’s the main issue the Italians considered before becoming involved in wine production in Georgia. It’s a company where each and every position is occupied by highly qualified professionals. That’s why I feel comfort in managing both the private and business sectors of my life.
Q. How rich was your prior experience of being a businessman before starting up Badagoni wine production?
A. I have long-time experience in running businesses in different directions and sectors. Currently I’m engaged in construction business in Russia.
In terms of future perspectives I intend to launch new businesses in Georgia as well. Supposedly, all the new initiatives I might implement in the local market will be related to the wine sector.
As for my family, we all spend the major part of our lives in Russia. My children are still too young to have any concrete plans set for their future careers, though I hope my son will become interested in wine production.
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"We will be exporting our wine to Europe, the United States as well as ex-Soviet countries, but I'm sure we'll return to the Russian market one day" Ubilava said at a grandiose plant opening ceremony in Kakheti region on 10 October 2006, 6 months after Russia banned Georgian Wine import.
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Q. Badagoni faced an unpleasant incident at the very beginning of the company’s opening in the country. How did you manage to get over the scandal and moreover, build up an impressive success story in Georgia?
A. It’s always better to look at things in a positive light, no matter how terrifying they might seem at first glance.
Certainly the incident was not a welcome one, but on the other hand, it was a kind of incite for the company to keep up a more intensive and aggressive branding awareness campaign in the country. As for today, the incident has been left far behind and the recent developments of Badagoni are associated only with a number of success stories, and still more are ahead of us!
Q. How competitive is the local market and what were the advantages of Badagoni in 2007?
A. The Georgian market is highly competitive as it is a country with long-established wine traditions. I have a great respect for all companies engaged in the business in the country. Each wine-maker has its own development strategy and all of them have concrete goals set to achieve.
As for Badagoni, we have a completely different approach and the basic advantage of the company is its preference for quality over quantity.
In 2008 the company has quite ambitious plans in terms of the expansion of our distribution network in the local market, minding quality maintenance issues. As for the international policy, in 2007 we made a great effort toward expanding to the U.S. and European markets and this year the company is expected to see very concrete feedback in this respect.
Q. You spend a considerable amount of both your business and private life in Russia. How loyal have people remained to Georgian wines there since the announcement of the embargo and how promising are your expectations of the reopening of the Russian market to Georgian produce?
A. What I can say for certain is that Russians are looking forward to the return of Georgian wines.
Russia is one of the priority export markets for Badagoni. Each country has specific standard and quality requirements, whether it’s a huge market like France or Italy or the relatively small local Georgian market. What matters most is to have an obvious picture of the particular market’s demand and thus provide proper supplies. Badagoni is a company highly attuned in this respect.
Written by Kate Tabatadze
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