Aieti Kukava’s 20-year entrepreneurial journey stands out due to his vision and commitment to Georgia’s economic development. After graduating from Clark University, he chose to return home and focus on building key industries.
From launching business information and credit bureaus to microfinance and venture capital, his work has shaped Georgia’s business landscape.
Aieti Kukava’s entrepreneurial journey is interesting because of its unique approach and frame of mind.
He graduated from Clark University, Massachusetts, US in 2002. He resisted the temptation to stay in the US, the well-established and biggest economy in the world. By repeating the ambitious saying of the Roman emperor Julius Cesar: I had rather be first in a village, than second at Rome.
And set to actively participate in developing strategic industries of the economy of Georgia. He established a diversified investments management company, which has a clear mission since 2002 which is still relevant and has not changed since 2002. Our mission is to do business, by developing strategic economic industries in the country.
Before returning to the home country, he set up an ambitious plan to start and develop several key industries for the country, business information and credit bureaus, microfinance, leasing, M&A, Investment banking, private equity and venture capital, IT technologies, education, and energy.
The first project was establishing a business information company, BIA, which has been the country’s dominant database of all active businesses since 2002. It has over 70,000 active company profiles in Georgia and has been the leading provider of business and analytical information to local and foreign organizations for 22 years.
BIA Forums – was the first to start international, investment, industry forums, and exhibitions since 2004.
In 2005 Getting a sovereign rating for the Government of Georgia was initiated by AGH subsidiary in cooperation with US Partner company GIA Advisors Inc.
Creating the first credit bureau, which was launched together with four leading banks, this brought the name and fame. A similar approach worked in Kazakhstan, with 11 banks joining the credit bureau, this opened the road for the Ukraine and Cape Verde projects. This made the Icelandic CreditInfo Group a famous brand, which is represented in 30 countries now. Creditinfo Georgia still is the leading and only credit bureau in the country.
AGC –the first M&A company in the country since 2005, facilitated M&A, fundraising deals of over $600 million. It facilitated the biggest finance transaction in the telecom industry laying a seawater cable from Varna, Bulgaria to Poti, Georgia, by laying 658 nautical miles of cable. This brought European internet speed to Georgia and facilitated internet and telecommunication development in the country and region.
AGC raised over $40 million in 2005 for a big corporate client, oriented on government contracts. This company successfully used the funding to significantly increase its capacity and assist the government of Georgia in repaying Turkmenistan Gas debt of USD 400 million.
In 2005, Alliance Group established the first licensed private microfinance company, in the country. Aieti became the first elected chairman of the Association of Microfinance Companies. The company was sold in 2014.
The next step was launching an independent leasing company in the country, creating a leasing association, and Aieti becoming the first chairman. Alliance Group Leasing is a unique company, as it is the only financial institution to remain profitable for 15 years, no bank of any other financial institution in the country was able to achieve.
In 2008 Alliance Group invested in a contactless technology project which developed the first contactless payment system processing company, sold in 2009.
Started the first virtual real estate valuation platform, in 2014 which was later adopted by the banking system, which made real estate transactions very fast, efficient, and less costly and significantly contributed to developing the sector.
He built the first private hydropower station via a 1.2 km tunnel, during construction no trees were cut and environmental damage to the environment was minimal. The station was later sold to Italian investors, within two years of its operations.
In 2017 Georgian Venture Capital Association was established, it participated in numerous legislative issues, promoting Venture Capital and private equity, investment funds, and capital markets development in the country.
The first Finnish International School was established in 2019, it brought the world-leading Finnish international school education system to Georgia. The project aims to make Georgia the leading K12 education system in the region.
In 2023 Chamber of Commerce of India was launched, which aims to develop India Georgia trade activity, but also to facilitate cultural relationships and activate tourism development between two countries.
In 2010 the Charity organization ARDZA was established with three major goals to support the preservation of the environment, to assist in the rehabilitation and maintenance of the cultural heritage, and to support education of the young leaders with ethical business practices. After successful operations, the fund obtained charity status from the Ministry of Justice.
An important differentiating factor to all of the companies developed by Aieti and Alliance Group during these years is that all of the companies’ annual budgets for PR, marketing, and advertising are far less than 1%.