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NEWS
@entrepreneur.ge Gamarjoba! I’m the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgian edition of Entrepreneur magazine and I’m here to share the top weekly Entrepreneurial news with you: Pulsar Al is the first start-up to have attracted Silicon Valley to invest $1,2 million, which will help the start-up establish itself in the American market. After completing the funding round successfully, the investors of the Georgian start-up are as famous as Ridge Ventures, Great Oaks VC, Mike Murphy and Ten Eighty Capital. Pulsar Al was founded by Dachi Coladze and Zaal Gachechiladze in 2016. In less than a year, they became the lead company on the Georgian Artificial Intelligence market, producing totally innovative technologies. In 2018, Pulsar Al got international recognition and was named among the winners of Payment Awards and in 2019, their audio technologies were named as the best mobile bank. ‘Round’ is the name of a sportswear start-up founded by four freshmen of the Caucasus University: Giorgi Topuridze, Sandro Zabakhidze, Kote Dikhaminjia, and Giorgi Didmamishvili, who set up production with an affordable Georgian manufacture while keeping high quality production. Now they have launched a Georgian brand of thermal t-shirts, sports pants, jackets, and hoodies. Their short-term plans are connected to establishing the start-up on the market, though they are already thinking about exporting. The Global Start-Up Fund, which was established by the partnership of Silicon Valley in Tbilisi and Israeli Silicon Wadi, has signed an unprecedented deal for Georgian start-up influence.ge for GEL 1,300,000. Founded by Ladi Gabunia and Giorgi Tushurashvili, influence.ge is an innovative, data-driven influencer marketing company. It unites influential people on social media and professionals who are connected to companies in Georgia. Customers choose influencers from the database who have prestige in the corresponding segment. Said influencers then create the appropriate content on social media, popularizing the customer’s product. Follow the Entrepreneur Georgia Instagram page to get the latest updates from Georgian Entrepreneurs. For doing business with Georgian Entrepreneurs, write us on business@entrepreneur.ge
GEORGIA TODAY
NOVEMBER 12 - 14, 2019
Ministry of Economy Plans to Develop the Tskaltubo Resort According to a 6-point Plan BY ANA DUMBADZE
O
n November 11, a public discussion of the Tskaltubo development project (a spa resort in west-central Georgia, Imereti region) took place at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel, Tbilisi. The presentation of the Tskaltubo development concept was attended by Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava, Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili, Deputy Director of Investment Department of JSC Partnership Fund Nino Cholokashvili, as well as representatives of the government, business sector, NGOs and media. “Today we start discussing the Tskaltubo Revival Project Plan, and we would like this process to be very available to the public and very transparent,” the Minister of Economy told media. “There is very high public interest surrounding it, and the project itself is so historic and large-scale that I want each step to be known to society. Within the framework of the discussion, we will introduce the role and functions of each actor in this project, including the State and the private sector. Of course, Bidzina Ivanishvili, with his charity initiative, is the person who brought new energy and power to the Tsktaltubo revival project, however, the project is so important for the economy and future of the country that it goes beyond the frames of one municipality. Accordingly, we would like to have
a detailed plan, divided among several participants, and we are presenting this action plan today.” As she noted during the public discussion of the Tskaltubo development project, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development plans to develop the resort according to a specially established 6-point plan, which includes: 1. Preparation of a general plan for the Tskaltubo resort; 2. Infrastructural development of the resort, infrastructural projects; 3. Offering alternative places of residence to IDPs currently living in former sanatoriums or buildings in the resort area; 4. Unified administration and management of the resort; 5. Preparing and implementing a multi-
year marketing plan; 6. Establishing and managing a unified model for the supply of the resort's main wealth, the healing water, to the private sector. “These are the six key points the state is responsible for in this large-scale process,” she said, explaining the meaning of each paragraph. “After Bidzina Ivanishvili's proposal, it became especially urgent that Tskaltubo should be developed not through separate chaotic initiatives, but as a unified complex, where each investor will know for sure how and when the resort will be developed. Tskaltubo itself was initially planned to be a spa resort, and the first plan for it was written 100 years ago. Continued on page 5