Libo Group is one of the largest distribution and marketing companies in Georgia, which covers the entire territory of the country and supplies the consumer network with the products of the world’s leading brands. Its purpose is to help partners and suppliers to establish effective communication with customers.
The company has been operating on the Georgian market for two decades, and at the same time, it is trying to expand its business outside the borders of the country. Otar Badagadze, co-founder and executive director of the company, spoke to Forbes Georgia about the scope of Libo Group’s business, its portfolio and future plans.
When was Libo Group established and what scale did the company reach during this period?
Libo Group LLC has been operating since 2003. Nowadays Libo Group is a Leading sales, marketing and distribution company in Georgia, having its own five branches across the country: Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori, Tbilisi, Telavi and covering all the territory of the country. The company serves more than 8000 points of sales, employing about 300 people and having tight cooperation with all chains existing in the market.
Tell us about Libo Group’s portfolio – which brands does it include? What distinguishes them?
Libo Group cooperates with various partner companies whose products are the leading brands. Among these are companies such as: Ontex Global, Sarantis Group, Ergopack, Dorco Global, Dabur, VGP JSC, Lilagroup, Flormar, Farmaceutici Dottor Ciccarelli and others. We’ve just recently signed the exclusive contract with Levent Kimya on two countries: Georgia and Armenia. The company is the market leader of Turkey in detergent segment.
Are there any plans to add any famous brand to this list in the near future?
Within the past few years we’ve grown our business portfolio significantly and we are going to keep the same pace. Our business expertise allows us to tailor the business portfolio to the needs of our customers, therefore, it’s no wonder that in most of the cases, the international brands that we bring to Georgian Market become the favorite brands for our consumers.
At what expense does Libo Group manage to compete with other distribution and marketing companies and maintain its leading position in the Georgian market?
There are several factors that give the competitive advantage to our business: First, consistency – dedicating ourselves to predefined goals, distributing the best products at the best price with great customer service. Second, we constantly thrive as an organization to innovate our processes and policies and strive to apply innovative thinking and creativity to everything we do. Last but not least, creating an environment which motivates employees to achieve the maximum sales potential and the job satisfaction.
At the moment, what are the positions of Libo Group in the international market? How satisfied are you with the company’s results?
Three years ago, Libo Group started operation in Armenia and the project turned out to be very successful. Today Libo Group has two branches across the country, one in Yerevan, second in Gumri, employing about 100 people and the revenue is about 30 million GEL with double digit increase of sales. We serve about 6000 points of sales in Armenia.
Totally, across two countries: Georgia and Armenia, Libo Group serves about 14 000 points of sales.
The Armenian market is quite promising as long as the FMCG sphere is still emerging and the Armenian economy has quite good positive indication.
Libo Group Armenia is in active process of adding new companies in its portfolio. We also plan to build up the logistic center in Armenia too in the near future.
What are your plans for the international market in the near future? Which countries are you planning to enter and expand into?
Yes, we do plan to extend our international business and this time we are planning to enter to the Uzbekistan market. As you may well know, Uzbekistan market is also quite interesting with many positive economical indication. Libo Group will be working on building strong distribution network which will enable us to cover all the territory of the country.
What challenges do you think you may face in this direction and how do you think of ways to deal with them?
We have developed the business plan for business operations in Uzbekistan. The biggest challenge was, of course, the international logistics and in order to address this issue, we worked with our partners abroad and developed an effective optimization plan. As a result, now we have the complete readiness to successfully launch our business in Uzbekistan.
Apart from expanding the business abroad, what other goals does the company have?
Warehouse is an important part of the logistics processes of almost any business, therefore Libo Group is currently building a 30 000 square-meter Class A warehouse in Tbilisi in order to facilitate the efficient operations of the supply chain. We are also planning to build the similar Class A warehouse in Erevan, according to the requirements of modern logistics standards and necessary equipment.
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