Cheese & Hope in Georgia
Sunday early evening, we’d gone to a bar to watch the football — during a discussion about Georgian food we noticed that the guy on the opposite table was following our conversation and took interest in what we were discussing, as he was sat alone we invited him over to join us. Over 70 and mild of manner we discovered that Steve was a cheese maker, a retired cheese maker. A cheese maker that wasn’t really retired because he takes part in USAID projects here in Georgia to teach cheese making skills.
What was fascinating about Steve’s work was that he volunteers; he comes to Georgia a few times a year to work with small and medium sized businesses, passing on his knowledge and educating them on all the relevant techniques he picked up in his 50+ year career making cheese in the US. As someone that appreciates a good cheese I was fascinated and also gratified to think that there are now programmes that utilise the wealth of experience retirees have to create value in developing economies. Indeed in Western economies much of this experience gets lost as older workers are discarded from the workforce. Georgia has a wonderful national cheese tradition, yet it is limited to a few types that are not so well known outside the region. Given the potential to develop quality dairy produce from cows, sheep and goats milk also involving Caucasian mountain grazing for the livestock that would be as specific as that found in The French, Swiss, Austrian and Italian Alps which are all known for their fantastic high quality cheeses there is much to look forward to.
Steve commented on the attitude of the people he works with “they’re fantastic people, they have a real thirst for knowledge and a desire to succeed. It’s great to see such passion for what they produce” this runs contrary to what many Georgians tell me about their perception of Georgian business people or employees — partly that’s why I find it important to underline the good things that are happening. Georgia is internally awash with fake political news, indeed there is an unhealthy culture of narcissistic navel-gazing that scandalises the tiniest little thing — which means that people are constantly distracted from what matters; namely believing in the values of hard work, quality and persistence to achieve goals. These things might seem second nature to readers from Western countries yet in unstable Post-Soviet economies this is not nearly as common because of the constant battles with nepotism, corruption, state-expropriation, lack of investment, difficulty in obtaining credit, problems accessing export markets and a whole host of other problems. It is understandable that many will feel too-deep a disappointment to embark on something new, something that, along with a lack of opportunities on the employment market, perhaps explains the excess of overqualified people driving Taxis rather than working in businesses that add value to the economy.
It’s difficult to think of a country with more potential for development than Georgia, particularly in the agricultural and food processing sector. The country once known as Colchis was renowned by the Ancient Greeks as a land of farmers, and indeed the varied soils (22 different types) and climate zones (13 in total) offer such a great variability of conditions that the country would offer ideal conditions for the production and processing of produce of all types. What is desperately needed is investment in production facilities. I believe maintaining traditional growing methods that eschew the use of pesticides would be a huge advantage, much of Georgian agricultural production could be certified as organic — because it is and always has been… There hasn’t been the money for expensive western agricultural products and in a world that is starting to grasp the fact that producing less but of a better quality is a good idea Georgia will be well positioned to do just that and provide produce to the local market and also into export markets by virtue of the EU Association agreement ratified mid 2014 which facilitates the export of Georgian produce into the 470 million people in the EU. For investors the news is good, whilst there may be a lack of technology the wage levels are low and the people want to work and secure a higher standard of living from hard-work. The above-described is a rational analysis based on the facts available. I haven’t even mentioned the hospitality and won derful wines one can experience here in the cradle of world Viticulture. So whilst the short-term outlook may be a little disheartening following significant devaluation of the local currency the mid to long term looks excellent — and I look forward to being a part of it.
