Team

Nino Zambakhidze

Tamar Toria

Rati Kochlamazashvili

Natia Ninikelashvili

Tamta Mamulaidze

Saba Meskhi

Ana Tsverianashvili

Anna Nizharadze

Ilia Kunchulia

Natia Grigolia

David Mamulashvili

Natia Mskhiladze

Nikoloz Meskhishvili

Anka Babunashvili

Ketevan Gogotchuri

Natia Gelashvili

Tekla Gurgenidze

Ekaterine Lominashvili

Ana Kobalia

Kakhi Jashi

Tea Japaridze

Ketevan Kadagidze

Koba Zhorzhikashvili

Simon Tsikarishvili

Nino Zambakhidze

Nino Zambakhidze is a Chairwoman of Georgian Farmers’ Association. Since 2013 she has been holding the position of agricultural advisor at Partnership Fund. Since 2008 she has been an Executive Director of Agro Complex LTD “Georgian Business Zone”. In 2010 Nino founded “Regional Development Association”. She was awarded with a national business-prize “Merkury 2011” where she received an honorable title of “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year”. She was the first woman chosen as a coordinator of “Invest in Future” organization created in 2012 under the patronage of Hilary Clinton. In 2017 Nino was nominated as a Young Global Leader at World Economic Forum. Nino has a dual Master’s Degree with distinction in the field of Business Administration from Grenoble Graduate School (Grenoble, France) and Caucasus University (Tbilisi, Georgia). Also, Nino graduated from Tbilisi Technical University, where she studied English Language and Literature.

In 2016 Nino was named as Entrepreneur of the Year by Grenoble Graduate School of Business. She has a Certificate of Completion of Public Policy in Private Sector Development Course from Stanford University Leadership Academy for Development. Currently, Nino is a master’s degree student of a distance learning program in the field of entrepreneurship at Cambridge International College.

Nino has a Certificate of Food Safety Manager, SAI GLOBAL (Development, implementation and internal audit of food safety management system based on the requirements of ISO 22000:2005), a Certificate of Training in Food Safety, Consumers’ Federation of Georgia within the framework of “Farmers to Markets” Project initiated and funded by BP and its partners, and a Certificate “ACCA” (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

Tamar Toria

Tamar Toria has been holding the position of Executive Director at the Georgian Farmers’ Association (GFA) since January 2015. She is responsible for general operations of the organization, its advocacy mandate, as well as fundraising and overall supervision of donor-funded projects within GFA. She represents GFA and its member farmers at different working groups and boards and carries forward key messages respectively.

Prior to joining the Association, Tamar has worked on economic development and agriculture programs in the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia and with different donor organizations such as DfID, MCC, USAID, and others.

Tamar graduated from Tbilisi I. Chavchavadze State Institute of Foreign Languages and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Georgian-American Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA). She has obtained numerous certificates from various courses both at home and abroad and is currently pursuing Mastery of Management Graduate Diploma program in Corporate Strategy & Planning at International Cambridge College.

Rati Kochlamazashvili

Rati [Irakli] Kochlamazashvili joined the Georgian Farmers’ Association (GFA) as a Deputy Chairman in March, 2020. Before he served as an advisory board member of GFA during 2018-2019 years. Last six years (2014-2019), Rati was a Deputy Head of the Agricultural Policy Research Center at the ISET Policy Institute, where as a project manager and lead researcher, he implemented over 20 projects covering most of the agricultural value chains of Georgia. During 2012-2013 years, Rati was a junior scientist at the University of Minnesota (USA).

In addition, Rati serves as a deputy head of Sheep Breeders Association of Georgia (since 2014); co-founder and executive director of Tusheti Development Fund (since 2015); advisory board member of the Association of Georgian Agro Journalists (since 2018), etc.

Rati holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Tbilisi State University. During his master’s studies, he spent a semester at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) working on the master’s thesis (2011). After graduation, he studied applied and agricultural economics at the University of Minnesota in the United States (2012-2013). He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Tbilisi State University. In addition, he has attended the Teaching Fellow course in Czech Republic (2015) and the MASHAV course in Israel (2018). Since 2015, Rati is an invited lecturer of Economics at University of Georgia (2015-2017) and Ilia State University (since 2017). He is fluent in Georgian and English.

Natia Ninikelashvili

Natia joined GFA team in 2018 as Projects Manager. She has not only extensive 15 years of financial experience, but also an experience in entrepreneurial business

Natia is the founder of Georgian innovative platform “Soplidan.ge”. She is MBA graduate of Caucasus University.

Tamta Mamulaidze

Tamta joined GFA team in 2017. She holds the position of Project Manager of Mobile Application “Agronavti”. Tamta is engaged in the following activities: managing, controlling and developing the application, web-site and electronic platform. Tamta has working experience in public sector and 8 years’ experience in managerial position. Tamta is a certificated coach who trains people in different professional fields.

Tamta has a Master’s degree from Ilia State University. Tamta is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree at Technical University.

Saba Meskhi

Saba joined GFA team in 2017. Before becoming a Senior Certification Specialist in 2018, he held the position of FASSI (Food and Agriculture SME Supportive Initiative) Project Coordinator. In 2012-2017 Saba worked at National Food Agency at the Department of International Relations.

Saba has a BA in International Relations of Georgian-American Humanitarian University. Besides, he has a Master’s degree in the field of Food Technology from the Agricultural University of Georgia.

Ana Tsverianashvili

Ana joined GFA team in 2014 as a financial officer. She has several years of financial experience in audit company “Royal Audit”. She holds a BA degree in Public Administration of Technical University. She took financial courses in Georgian Professional Accountants and Audits Federation.

Anna Nizharadze

Anna joined GFA team in 2017 as an intern. She worked as an assistant in the project “Work-Based Learning”. Since 2018 Anna has been working for the project “EU4YOUTH – SAY YES Skills for jobs” – Strategic Actions for Youth – A Programme for Youth Employability and Skill Development, as a project coordinator. From 2020 Anna got involved in the project “Work Based Learning” on the position of Sector Skills Organization –“Agriduo” as a Secretary Assistant.

EDUCATION – GIPA – Georgian Institute of Public Affairs – The degree of Bachelor of Social Sciences with specialization in Public Administration.

Ilia Kunchulia

Ilia is a Master of Agronomy (Agricultural University of Georgia) and PhD student of Agricultural Technologies at Georgian Technical University (GTU). Since 2018 he works in GFA as a certification specialist and environmental manager (2019). He cooperates with international organizations and is involved in scientific-research projects in the fields of agriculture and environment studies. Ilia has participated in various training courses, conferences and events in Singapore, Holland, Poland, Canada, Germany and South Africa.

Natia Grigolia

Natia has been working on the position of accountant since 2012. She graduated from Tbilisi Technical University.

David Mamulashvili

David has been working on the position of the financial officer since 2016. He has several years of experience in finances. In 2016-2017 he worked as an audit in various companies. David is a certified audit and founder of one of the audit companies.

Natia Mskhiladze

Natia joined GFA team in 2018 as a Communication Manager. She holds a BA degree in the field of journalism from Technical University. She also has a diploma in the field of PR and marketing.

Nikoloz Meskhishvili

Nikoloz joined GFA team in 2016 as a Vocational Education and Training (VET) Expert. In the process of educational reform, he coordinates the implementation of the project “Worked-Based Learning“ in Agriculture. Nikoloz is responsible for establishing a public-private partnership to deliver VET programs based on a dual approach for target groups.

Prior to joining the Association, Nikoloz had worked in the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia as the Head of Social Support Partnership Division at Vocational Education Development Department. Nikoloz is an affiliate member of Cambridge International College and holds double Master’s degrees in International Service Management from London Metropolitan University (UK) and Stenden University (The Netherlands). Nikoloz graduated from Tbilisi State Institute of Economic Relations, where he obtained a diploma in the field of International Economic Relations. In addition, he holds diplomas in Business Management Administration and Sales & Marketing from Cambridge International College. Nikoloz has numerous local and international certificates. He wrote publications in Tourism, Public-Private Partnership, Geo-Information Systems Nikoloz published book “Georgian Language for Beginners”.

Anka Babunashvili

Anka joined GFA team in 2017 as an Assistant Manager of Agronavti mobile application project.

She is responsible for the development of a database and marketing strategies. Anka is a student of Public Governance Department at the Caucasus University.

Ketevan Gogotchuri

Ketevan joined GFA team in 2015 as a Project Manager.

She has experience in monitoring, research, management, and analysis.

Ketevan holds Bachelor of Economics degree from Tbilisi I. Javakhishvili State University (2013) and

Master of Economics degree from the International School of Economics (ISET, 2015).

At present, Ketevan is pursuing her Doctor of Science degree at Caucasus University.

Since 2015, Ketevan has been an invited lecturer at Ilia State University (Tbilisi) where she has been teaching Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

Natia Gelashvili

Natia joined GFA team in 2017 as an Analyst.

Prior to joining the GFA team, she had been a Senior Specialist at the State Statistics National Office. She has extensive experience in research, data analysis, and monitoring.

Natia has a Bachelor of Economics in Business degree from Tbilisi I.Javakhishvili State University and

Master’s degree in English language specialist programs at the International School of Economics (ISET). Currently, Natia is pursuing her Doctor of Science degree at the Caucasus School of Economics.

Since 2015 up to now she is an invited lecturer of Georgian National University in the Principles of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics.

Tekla Gurgenidze

Tekla joined GFA team in 2018 as a Certification Specialist.

Tekla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Georgian National Agrarian University.

She is the recipient of Mariam Kutelia Research Grant program financed by USAID/REAP Georgia.

Tekla participated in the educational exchange program in Italy, United Nations Development Project (UNDP) for professional education in the agricultural sphere in Georgia and in USAID/Georgia’s Restoring Efficiency to Agriculture Production (REAP) program.

Ekaterine Lominashvili

Ekaterine joined GFA team in 2012 as a Call Center manager.

Ekaterine is responsible for inbound and outbound calls. She also coordinates the work of call center operators providing them with information about upcoming activities necessary for farmers. She organizes meetings to update the Farmers’ Association database and makes sure of its correct operation.

In 2007-2012 she was an assistant to the Principal Deputy of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

Ekaterine holds a Specialist Diploma of an interpreter-translator from Technical University (Tbilisi, Georgia).

Ana Kobalia

Ana joined GFA team in 2015. She works as an Operator of the Call Center and an Administrative Assistant of Project Zrda Activity in Georgia.

Ana’s responsibility is to maintain the work of a call-center to ensure it runs smoothly and continuously.

She holds a Specialist degree in Russian Language and Literature from the Arts Department of Tbilisi I. Javakhishvili State University.

Kakhi Jashi

Kakhi joined GFA team in 2012 as a Financial Manager.

He has a 17- year experience in the sphere of finance and has worked in various public and private structures.

Kakhi holds a Master of Finance and Banking degree from Tbilisi I.Javakhishvili State University.

Tea Japaridze

Tea joined GFA team in 2017 as HR Manager. In 2007-2009 she worked for the EU Child Welfare Reform Project as a project coordinator. In 2009 she worked in the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. In 2010-2011 Tea worked in various EU projects.

Tea is BA graduate of Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Western-European Languages and Literature. She has Master`s Degree in Management of Human Resources (Cambridge International College) She also has several certificates – Introduction to Psychology (Yale University), Leadership in 21^st Century Organizations (CBS – Copenhagen Business School), NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Ketevan Kadagidze

Ketevan joined GFA team in 2012 as a Call Center Operator. Her job responsibility is to maintain the work of a call-center to ensure it runs smoothly and continuously.

Koba Zhorzhikashvili

Koba joined GFA team in 2016 as the Head of Logistics and Procurement Department.

Koba is responsible for planning and supervising transportation operations and procurement processes.

Simon Tsikarishvili

Simon joined GFA team in 2019 as a Project Assistant of “Farming Support Initiative”.

He has a BA degree in Finance (CIU). Simon took part in the Erasmus+ exchange program in

Madrid, Spain.