Interview with Nino Pertaia
Business Development Director
York Holding Group
The success story of York Holding began in 2016 when the company's investors entered the Georgian market under the name of the development brand "York Towers." Since then, the number of projects and satisfied customers has been increasing proportionally. The company started in Tbilisi, although it already operates in eight countries. YHG business development director Eino Pertaia will tell us how the company adapts to the multicultural and multi-ethnic environment.
What does it mean to be a member of YHG? How do you select a new market for future projects?
It's a privilege and quite a high responsibility to be a member of one of the fastest growing international companies in Georgia. York Holding Group is characterized by a desire for innovation, and year after year, the team achieves impressive results with the scale of new projects. This expansion includes not only the local but also the international development market.
Discovering and exploiting new development market opportunities is a complex process, but the pleasure of tagging York Hollingback on each new continent is well worth it.
At York Holding Group, the business development process begins with formulating a strategic vision and reviewing the prospects for expansion. After that, we define the main directions and set strategic goals. Then, from the strategic goals, we evaluate which markets have tremendous development potential and where the high demand comes from, and accordingly, we conduct a Feasibility Study. Finally, we create a concept and explore the Customer Journey. Subsequently, establishing the representative office and managing various organizational issues have already begun.
What are the three most important factors in evaluating a deal?
At all stages of development, customer satisfaction is important to us. Therefore we consider the requirements, specificity, standards, and customer expectations of the concrete market. Only after the studies mentioned earlier and based on them will we start working on the co-concept of a new project.
In addition, the selection process of partners is critical because the success of each new project is the result of working together with reliable partners. Years of experience in the development market allow us to assess the opportunities correctly.
When evaluating a new direction or project, attention is paid to many criteria. I highlight several essential factors: reliability, quality, profitability, sustainable development, demand and how ready the market is for such a project.
How did the company's history begin, and at what stage is the brand now?
The company's history began in 2016 with a team of 20 people; today, we have 450 employees and 11 representative offices. Since its establishment, the company has completed about 20 development projects. Today it's one of the fastest-growing groups in the Georgian real estate market. YHG currently operates on three continents and continues to increase.
We have ambitious growth and development plans, not only in the direction of new projects but also in covering the geographical area. This year we have already established three new representative offices outside Georgia. From next year, we will offer much more news and exciting projects to our customers. Soon, we will make a very ambitious statement, which will be a complete innovation in Georgia.
What are the expansion plans? Sometimes it's an advantage to expand quickly, and sometimes it's a mistake. What is your view on the growth rate?
The goal of every company is to grow and develop, but the pace of development dramatically affects the challenges that the company faces, both at the strategic and operational levels. Rapid development for a company is quite a complex process. We have many examples of companies whose pace of development was ahead of their capabilities. Unfortunately, this had a negative effect and in some cases, caused them to disappear from the market. In my experience, too many companies have struggled to sustain rapid growth, especially in the last few years, when the pandemic has changed the business environment, economic indicators, and consumer behavior and preferences. We cannot definitively say what development speed is best, but we can say that there is no universal formula for success, and every industry needs a specific approach. Therefore, the only correct way is a preliminary analysis. Strategic planning, development of feasibility study and improvement of operational processes, optimization and ensuring their profitability are of great importance; a sharp growth rate can be both an advantage and a negative perspective for the company. The correct management of the activities mentioned above allowed YHG to achieve one of the most significant growth rates during the pandemic. We are still maintaining and improving, and we have more ambitious plans.
How does YHG overcome the barriers created by the multicultural and multi continental environment?
Because we operate on multiple continents, we serve global citizens. Accordingly, we try to be Global Citizens. We take into account the factor of ethnocentrism, which is very important for companies operating in a multicultural environment. With this in mind, we make decisions acceptable to the ethnic groups of YHG employees or customers. Since ethnocentrism is a different perception of this or that event caused by cultural factors, we work on quite complex mechanisms to make any product or step acceptable to everyone.
