Issue 1, 2013 February-March - Investor.ge

In the eight months since theinauguration of the new Houseof Parliament, Kutaisi has notseen much of a surge in business,according to Daan Harmsen, financialmanager of GeoCapital, a microfinanceorganization based in Kutaisi.“I know of one restaurant thatopened... I don’t know of a lot of otherplaces. There are some new places indowntown Kutaisi that I’m not sureare actually related to Parliament. Ihaven’t seen a big boom in businessactivity because of Parliament,” hesaid.A few chain stores and restaurants- such as Whisky House, Beermania,and Caffe Vergnano 1882 - haveexpanded from Tbilisi into Kutaisirecently, but other notable national andinternational chains, such as Populi,Mirzaani, and McDonald’s, had alreadypaved the way, demonstrating theireconomic viability in Kutaisi beforeParliament arrived. The renovationof several Kutaisi tourist sites, likethe city center, Prometheus caves, andBagrati Cathedral, also deserve creditfor bringing new businesses (and newtourists) into town.Harmsen says that while Parliamenthas not caused an increase in the rateof people seeking out loans to start asmall business, GeoCapital has issuedloans used to renovate homes in hopesof attracting Parliamentary rent money.“What we’ve seen a couple of times isthat people actually fix up their houses,because they expect Parliamentariansand people working in Parliament tocome in and want to rent houses,” henoted. For these Kutaisi residents,unfortunately, the Parliament’s moveback to Tbilisi could mean fewerrenters, potential trouble recoupingthe cost of renovations, and difficultypaying back loans.On the other hand, lower rentscould benefit Kutaisi’s growingindustrial sector by helping companiesattract skilled labor to Kutaisi. MikheilTigishvili, Director of GeorgianInternational Holdings, says Parliamenthas meant recruiting trouble for themanufacturers operating in the KutaisiFree Industrial Zone (FIZ) that hiscompany organized. “When thegovernment built the Parliament the