The FINANCIAL — JSC Healthy Water (Tskali Margebeli), the producer of mineral waters Nabeghlavi and Bakhmaro in Georgia, is planning to maintain stable growth throughout 2016, cementing its positions on the local as well as its 27 export markets. The company management aims to confirm the popularity of the Georgian spring water Nabeghlavi everywhere that it is currently available.
Nabeghlavi mineral water is now available in Armenia; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Cambodia; Canada; China; Cyprus; Estonia; Germany; Greece; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Italy; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Lithuania; Moldova; Poland; Russia; Tajikistan; Turkey; Turkmenistan; the United States (U.S.); Ukraine; the United Arab Emirates (UAE); and Uzbekistan.
While some Georgian exporters remain dependent on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, Nabeghlavi remains devoted to its long-term strategy – market diversification.
Currently JSC Healthy Water is cooperating with the United States Defence Logistics Agency and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to provide mineral water Nabeghlavi to NATO troops in Afghanistan.
“Conquering new markets every year is not our primary goal. This year we plan to develop on the existing markets and strengthen our positions in economically stable countries,” Avtandil Svimonishvili, General Director of Healthy Water, told The FINANCIAL.
“Despite the increased foreign exchange risks the company will continue constant investment in modern technologies. We will actively work on market diversification, in order to attract monetary reserves. We believe that the unique features and distinctive quality of Nabeghlavi will guarantee its further successful development in different countries,” he added.
JSC Healthy Water successfully managed to overcome the economic and currency crisis in 2015 and maintained its leading positions, competitiveness, sales volume, and customers’ loyalty in Georgia and export markets.
“The development strategy of Nabeghlavi and Bakhmaro were different in 2015 following the environment of the export countries. Export developed in those countries which maintained economic stability. Meanwhile, in the countries which suffered from currency crisis and an unstable political and economic situation, Nabeghlavi and Bakhmaro developed slower,” Svimonishvili said.
Healthy Water production is in high demand in CIS countries as of today, however Nabeghlavi is gaining popularity in European Union (EU) countries, Turkey and in the U.S. too.
“It takes a certain amount of time to develop on new markets, however we still enjoy some positive sales volumes,” Svimonishvili said.
While talking about the positive remarks on the market, Svimonishvili mentioned new players which “increase healthy competition”, and the strengthening of the Georgian national currency Lari against U.S. dollar and Euro.
Q. What activities do you have planned to develop Nabeghlavi and Bakhmaro brands further?
A. In the industry it is important to constantly renew and modernise equipment. Three years ago we started working on a new project which envisaged complete modernisation of our plant. We involved German, Austrian and Swiss professionals in this process. Together with the foreign experts we projected new technological lines for the plant, based on the latest standards of the European industry.
We started construction in autumn 2015 and will complete the works by the end of 2016. We can say there will be created a modern and universal plant in Georgia, distinguished by its high technologies. The plant will be able bottle any type of beverage – mineral water, spring water, lemonade, juice, ice tea, etc.
Besides, it will be the first Greenfield project in the region, meaning that it will use alternative energy for heating, cooling and ventilating.
The new plant will be located in Georgia’s Guria region, in the village Nabeghlavi on the old plant’s territory. It will be spread over 16,000 sq. m. Thanks to the new plant we will increase the variety of production and improve the brand’s image.
Q. How actively is the company involved in PR and marketing activities?
A. We support healthy lifestyle and always try to encourage the young generation, our future. We launch different activities whether it be in education or sports activities. For this purpose it was a big honour for us to support the Youth Olympic Games which were held in Tbilisi last year.
Besides, we often cooperate with students and help them organise different events.
Q. Nabeghlavi has very positive feedback on its Facebook page thanks to its admin who are attracting more and more followers every day. How is this positive feedback helping the company to attract not just followers but real customers?
A. We are very happy to see this positive feedback. Yes, we attracted more customers after making our Facebook page active. We try to make the page interactive, interesting and positive.
As for its administrator, we cooperate with the social media marketing company Socialsharks. Thanks to them we gained a positive attitude from internet users.
Q. Healthy Water has once again won a Golden Brand award. In your opinion, which activities of yours led to such recognition?
A. I think we are winning Golden Brand because we are a customer-oriented company. We are loyal towards our customers and try to take their interests and requests into account.
Our brand is distinguished by its stability and high quality, unique taste and positive attitude.
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