Students of the University of Koblenz (Germany) founded the company “GeGeCandy” within the framework of the training course – “International Business Simulation” by Assistant Professor of the TSU Faculty of Economics and Business, Tamar Kbiladze and Dr. Laurent Borgmann. The project turned out to be so innovative and successful that the German media got interested in it. The name of the company, which was chosen by the students themselves, is deciphered as “German-Georgian-Candy.”
Within the framework of the training course, which involved both theoretical training and practical component, the students set as a goal to introduce Churchkhela, a traditional Georgian candy, to German vine growers in the Ahr Valley (Germany) and connect them with Georgian entrepreneurs. Students participating in the project met with representatives of wineries and restaurants. At this stage, the student project has already received the first positive feedback from vine growers and entrepreneurs who got interested in including Churchkhela in the list of their products and offers. The project envisages the launch of cooperation between German vine growers and the Georgian business sector.
“The training course combined both theoretical and practical parts. What we taught the students in the theoretical part was simultaneously introduced in practice. Accordingly, the students founded the company, created various positions where they employed personnel, drew up the company’s strategic, operational, marketing plans, attended business meetings that proved very interesting for them,” says Tamar Kbiladze, Assistant Professor of the Department of Finance and Banking at the TSU Faculty of Economics and Business. She also noted that along with German students, the project also involved students from Italy, India, Spain and South Korea.
TSU Assistant Professor Tamar Kbiladze visited the University of Koblenz as part of the Erasmus and DAAD programs. Kbiladze taught International Business and International Studies 2 during the fall semester. It was her second visit to the University of Koblenz. Earlier, she gave lectures at the same university in 2019.
The newspaper 'General Anzeiger Bonn' interviewed the TSU Assistant Professor regarding the training course and the project. The interview was divided into two parts and printed in two issues https://ga.de/region/ahr-und-rhein/remagen/remagener-studierende-wollen-georgische-suessigkeit-in-gastronomie-etablieren_aid-80266537. An article was also published in the newspaper Remagener.