Gia Gvichia Businessman Date of Birth: 18.06.1962 Country: Georgia

Businessman
The name of the Georgian businessman Gia Gvichia (Gvichia Gia Margovich) is firmly associated with the Russian brewing business, as well as with the name of Stepan Razin. He joined the "Stepan Razin Brewery" in 1988, immediately after graduating from the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute. Quickly advancing in his career and taking advantage of personnel changes, Gvichia soon became the general director of the brewery, and later became its co-owner. Nevertheless, it soon became apparent that the young director was "in his place".

Low prices and quality
In 1998, during the economic crisis, Gia Gvichia made a wise bet on low prices, while maintaining the traditional quality of the brewery's products. There were no scandals associated with mandatory certification violations, which were common at the time (mandatory beer certification was introduced in Russia in 1993). Despite the difficulties surrounding the company, Gvichia firmly held onto the idea of not selling the plant. As Gvichia later repeatedly stated, "Stepan Razin" was not just about money for him. "He is dear to me. That's why I can't overcome myself and sell the plant," said the businessman, who did not yet know how complex and ambiguous the economic situation surrounding the entrusted enterprise would be.

Sale of the brewery
Soon, despite the efforts of the management and shareholders to "stay afloat," the company began to incur losses, and eventually "Stepan Razin" was put up for sale. Despite the fact that "Razin" was actively consumed in St. Petersburg (the "Stepan Razin" beer was traditionally of excellent quality, including taste characteristics and a sanitary-epidemiological conclusion), and its positions according to analysts' assessments had good chances of survival, the company had to be sold. Like many competitors who had already come under the wing of foreigners, "Stepan Razin," renamed by that time to "Zavod soloda i piva," was sold to the Dutch beer production company "Heineken" in 2005. Thus, together with the sale of "Stepan Razin," Russian brewers, squeezed from all sides by foreign brewing giants, had no chances of survival left. "It was very difficult for me to part with 'Stepan Razin,' and I made this decision since 2002. Three years of doubts, anguish, and worries have passed. And when I realized that I really couldn't do anything, that's when I took this final step," commented Gia Gvichia on the situation.

Taking responsibility for quality
It is noteworthy that Gia Gvichia never shied away from responsibility and was always ready to answer for the quality of the beer produced at the plant. For example, in response to accusations from a sanitary doctor about "intoxicating the youth" and the low quality of the beer products, Gvichia admitted in the press that he gives a few teaspoons of beer to his children. Undoubtedly, such a statement carries much more weight than any sanitary-epidemiological conclusion.