Don’t waste your energy

Tako Barsonidze’s grandfather, Nodar Gelbakhiani, was an exceptional man. Born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 1930, he was a mechanic and talented craftsman who had very little to his name – yet still believed in the greater good. He lived through years of strife and struggle in the period after the Soviet Union disbanded and the Georgian economy collapsed.

When he realised that the children in his neighbourhood, his granddaughter included, didn’t have anything to play with – no computers, games consoles or smart phones back in the 1990s – he decided to do what he could. He fashioned elaborate chess sets out of wood so that children from far and wide could come and play. As a result, there’d be championships and some of the local children became very good, going on to compete on a national level.

This was hugely influential for Tako, now 33, because it proved to her from an early age that “no matter how scarce your resources are, you can always make something great”. What her grandfather created had a hugely constructive impact on other people’s lives, she explains. “He made something positive, something fun, that ultimately made a real difference.”

Tako wrote about her grandfather in her application for the Laidlaw scholarship, having been offered a place on the Executive MBA at London Business School. She was excited to secure a place, but was concerned about how she’d cover the tuition fees of £119,900, coming as she did from a “lower socio-economic background”.

Her application was successful and the Laidlaw Women’s Leadership Fund covered 50% of the fees. Since it was set up three years ago with a £3.69 million gift from the Laidlaw Foundation, the fund has supported 60 women doing degrees at LBS.

It would have been almost impossible for Tako to take up the position without the scholarship. “I was raised by a single mother, who worked in Georgia as a cardiologist,” she explains. “It was a hard, stressful job and we struggled financially, but my mother always appreciated education and would eagerly invest in mine.”

Life-changing opportunity

The scholarship has been “life-changing”, Tako says. “I’m so grateful to Laidlaw for this opportunity. I hope to repay them one day – my dream is to be able to fund other women’s EMBAs in the future.”

While finding the remaining 50% of the fees was still challenging, she was confident that “attending London Business School would be the best investment of my life”.

A gifted student, Tako won a scholarship to study law at the prestigious Georgia Tbilisi State University, then worked as a lawyer before transferring to the prosecutor’s office. “Law in Georgia is complicated,” she explains. “I’d always dreamed of becoming a criminal lawyer, but when I graduated in 2010 my country had a zero-tolerance policy of criminals. This threw into question the independence of the judiciary. When there’s a 99.9% conviction rate, it doesn’t make much difference whether you’re a good or bad lawyer, it’s all the same.” She quit and looked for new opportunities.

After stints with an NGO, the Ministry of Justice (as an adviser to the Minister), the energy and water supply regulator, and the state-owned Energy Exchange of Georgia (“the first electricity exchange in Georgia, which we built from scratch), interspersed with a sabbatical to do a Master of Laws at the University of Sussex in the UK, she realised she needed a change.

Unique environment

It was at that point that she decided to do the EMBA at LBS; after which she intends to launch her own business in the energy sector. “The knowledge I’ve gained on the EMBA so far is enormous,” she says, adding that the people she’s learning alongside is what makes LBS unique. “My classmates are experts in their field. You might be debating ideas with someone who’s a leading businessperson in their country, getting incredible insights from the most intelligent people. And I’ve met people on the course who will be lifelong friends and seen others find potential business partners and mentors.”

Her year is composed of people from all over the world and from all walks of life, which has greatly expanded her interests and horizons: “For example, this March, a classmate invited our entire class to Saudi Arabia. It was the most incredible opportunity – something I’ll never forget.”

Tako is grateful for the investment she’s made in her career. “The extent to which an EMBA at LBS accelerates your thinking can’t be overestimated,” she says. Without this, she wouldn’t have had the confidence to launch her own renewable energy company.

The idea came to her one day in the classroom and she realised it was too good an opportunity to overlook: “It was during a lecture for Financial Accounting – we were looking at income statements. I was trying to implement in practice what the lecturer was explaining. To help me envision his point, I drew on my knowledge of the energy sector and imagined a capital-heavy company such as a power plant. We discussed returns on investment. I realised a micro power plant would have high ROI. I sketched out a business model and knew how to gain a competitive advantage on price.”

Fuelling the future

She is now seeking funding for her business plan. It’s fitting that she intends to apply to the Laidlaw Foundation for funding. “My vision is to launch micro power plants, which would be 100% renewable,” she says. “They wouldn’t require dams – often people oppose dams and the initial investment is very costly. It’s easier and more environmentally friendly to build micro power plants. Hydro is a number one power source for Georgia; one that isn’t very exploited.”

What also excites her about micro power plants is the location. They’re built where there’s a flow of water – usually the mountains. “I grew up in the countryside and love nature,” she says. “Mountains are close to my heart, which also gives me an advantage. I know how to talk to local people, to appeal to their needs, because I care about the same things.”

This ties into the notion of comparative and competitive advantage – another discovery she made at LBS. “I have a competitive advantage in the energy industry because I know that industry,” she explains. “I can bring about the new opportunities that legislation provides and merge it with financial analysis.”

Patagonia was used as a case study in the LBS classroom. The message was that, in business, you impact the environment in certain ways, even if you don’t cut down the trees, Tako says. If you build a power plant, it will undoubtedly affect the environment – so her intention “is to do as little damage as possible to the local area.”

People power

She also plans to share a percentage of the proceeds of the plant with the local community. She says, “It’s for the people to decide how they want to spend their share – what kind of corporate social responsibility it will be – building a stadium or an arts centre, or perhaps giving money to people who don’t have it. It’s up to them.”

One of the most important learnings from the EMBA is the way to achieve the highest profit when there are several options, and the need to optimise even when things are going well.

“For example,” she explains, “You might see the average profit, but due to the law of averages, you might fail to notice what’s happening in the event that extreme risks are realised. When you analyse scenarios properly, the picture is completely different and you end up making better decisions.

“Understanding even the basics of strategy was mind-blowing to me. I was able to see how much you can achieve if you are capable of thinking of synergies and applying blue-ocean strategy by creating new or updating existing products, for which the customer is willing to pay more.”

Tako will graduate next year and has already been offered an exciting and influential new job. “I unexpectedly got a job offer from the energy regulator,” she enthuses. “There’s a possibility of making a significant impact on the development of energy regulation in Georgia.” She is certain one of the reasons the regulator wants to hire her is because of the prestige of LBS.

In the role she will bring the knowledge acquired at the School to liberalise regulations and encourage natural monopolies to improve their quality of service, “which is one of the priorities of the national regulator.”

Career transformation

The advice she’d give to somebody thinking about doing an Executive MBA at LBS is to go for it. “It will transform your career,” she declares. “It will enlighten your thinking, accelerate your ambitions and give you dynamic ways to achieve your goals. Before I took on the EMBA, I was confused as to what I wanted to do. Now, I find it much easier to focus. I have a strategy and I can analyse data and make better decisions. I know without any doubt that it will be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”