Kakha Bendukidze

Kakha Bendukidze (Georgian: კახა ბენდუქიძე, (20 April 1956, Tbilisi,USSR – 13 November 2014) was a Georgian statesman and businessman.

Kakha Bendukhidze is a founder of the Knowledge Fund, the founding organization of the Free University of Tbilisi and Agricultural University of Georgia.

After the Rose Revolution, he served as Georgian Minister of Economy (June–December 2004), Minister for Reform Coordination (December 2004 – January 2008) and Head of the Chancellery of Government of Georgia(February 2008 – February 2009).

Studies

Bendukidze graduated from the Department of Biology of Tbilisi State University in 1977 and from the Postgraduate School of the Moscow State University in 1980. From 1981 to 1985, he worked for the Institute of Biology and Physiology of Micro-organisms in Puschino. From 1985 to 1988, he worked as the head of the Laboratory for Molecular Genetics at the Institute of Biotechnology.

Businessman in Russia

With the onset of Perestroika, Bendukidze created a small business called Bioprocess. In 1993, during the Voucher Privatization, campaign he bought stock in Uralmash. Bendukidze became a board member and later, Director-General of this company. After merging Uralmash with Izhora Plants in 1996, Bendukidze became chairman and CEO (Director-General) of the merged company, Objedinennie Mashinostroitelnie Zavody (OMZ). Under Bendukidze, OMZ became one of Russia's largest heavy engineering companies and he one of the top twenty business leaders with an influential voice on economic policy.

By 2004 Vladimir Putin's regime tightened its grip on strategic industries. According to Boris Berezovsky: Bendukidze does not belong to Putin's circle of friends and he understood sooner than everyone else that everything would be taken away from him... Bendukidze by far hasn't exhausted his potential but right now the Russian authorities do not need such talented people..Thus, he decided to move to his native Georgia. In March 2004, he left the position of Chairman of the OMZ and later sold his interest in the company. On 2 June 2004, he became Minister for Economics of Georgia.

Georgian public figure

Bendukidze returned to Georgia after the Rose Revolution victory, having been appointed Minister of Economy in the new Saakashvili cabinet. Since 14 December 2004 to 31 January 2008, he was State Minister for Reform Co-ordination, coordinating government efforts to liberalize the economy.

The Economist said of Bendukidze: "Mr Bendukidze made his name and fortune as an industrialist in neighboring Russia, putting together the country's biggest heavy-engineering group, OMZ, before returning to his native Georgia in June of this year with a mandate to reverse more than a decade of post-Soviet decay. He insists that he was taken by surprise when Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, and Prime Minister, Zurab Zhvania, nobbled him for a chat in the course of a private visit he made to Tbilisi in May, and then offered him a ministerial job the same evening. But having said yes, he is cracking ahead, doing everything that businessmen must dream of making governments do. He says that Georgia should be ready to sell 'everything that can be sold, except its conscience, and that is just the start.'"

He is known as a committed libertarian and strong supporter of market economy, deregulation and privatization, stating that the Georgian government should sell everything except its honor. During 2004–2007, under his leadership, Georgia became the top-reforming country in the world, according to the World Bank's Doing Business report. In particular, Georgia jumped from 137th to 11th on the ease of doing business scale, ahead of Germany and France.

Bendukidze was pivotal in the libertarian reforms launched under Saakashvili, including one of the least restrictive labour codes, the lowest flat income tax rates (12%) and some of the lowest customs rates worldwide, along with the drastic reduction of licenses and permits for business.

In the January 2008 cabinet reshuffle, Bendukidze became Head of the State Chancellery. During his tenure, he was considered one of the most influential Georgian politicians, although he was not popular amongst opposition in the administration. He was criticized for repealing anti-monopoly legislation and introducing a liberal labor code. The opposition accused him of trying to sell off each of Georgia's strategic assets; such as sea ports, entire railway system, gas supply network, forests, etc.

On 1 February 2009 Bendukidze retired from the public service to focus on tertiary education in Georgia, through the Knowledge Fund – a non-profit, charitable organization.

Ukrainian public figure

In September 2014 the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko created the National Reforms Council to support state reforms and strategic development process. Kakha Bendukidze acts as a member of National Reforms Council ’s Advisory Board along with the leading reformers of East European countries: Valdis Dombrovskis - former Prime Minister of Latvia, Leszek Balcerowicz- former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland and Ivan Mikloš - former Finance Minister of Slovakia.The main task of the Advisory Board is to provide efficient proposals on the implementation of reforms in Ukraine based on the international experience. Advisory board closely cooperates with the Executive Board of the Council which includes Prime Minister of Ukraine, Speaker of the Parliament and the Head of the National Bank. 

Somewhat earlier, in May 2014 Bendukidze also accepted the invitation of the President of Ukraine to become a member of the Economic Advisory Council. In an interview shortly after his appointment, Bendukidze said that Ukraine "has to take courageous steps to transform the economy.” Proposed reforms included changes in tax system and a tough fight against corruption.

Knowledge Fund

The Knowledge Fund (KF), which is a non-profit, charitable organization, was founded by Kakha Bendukidze in 2007. KF is the largest endowment in tertiary education in Georgia. The Knowledge Fund is the founding organization of the Free University of Tbilisi and Agricultural University of Georgia. KF's purpose is to ensure the provision of world quality tertiary education to Georgia's young generation and encourage high quality research in the country. With this aim in mind KF invests in the future generations of Georgia, including; investment in study and research infrastructure of the Free University of Tbilisi and Agricultural University of Georgia; and research and development and student scholarships.

Between 2007 and 2012 KF invested over 50 million USD, this being an unprecedented volume of private investment in tertiary education in Georgia.

On 11 October 2014 the KF won a Court case against the Ministry of Economics of Georgia. The decision of the court highlighted the "fulfilment of Investment Obligations by the Foundation towards the Ministry."