Bidzina Ivanishvili, a 56-year-old computer salesman who became a billionaire and later gained popularity by constantly donating, was recently elected the Prime Minster of Georgia on October 2.

The former Soviet Republic of Georgia is suffering from  unemployment, poverty, and political unrest. Ivanishvili led the opposition Georgia’s Dream Party, and became the nation’s new Prime Mister last week.

According to the Agency French Press (AFP), Ivanishvili, whose father worked in a manganese factory, started his career as a steel mill worker. He got a chance to make a lot of money in the 1990’s by selling U.S. computers. Once he got money, he did not let go of it. He made even more money by running various businesses in areas such as real estate, farming, and the mining business. Forbes Magazine listed him as the 153rd richest person in the world in 2012. His 6.5-billion-dollars fortune is almost half of Georgia’s GDP (14 billion dollars).

Ivanishvili became popular in Georgia thanks to his hobby of collecting unique animals and art pieces. Many people, however, started to idolize the successful businessman after he donated large amounts of money to the nation of Georgia. His money was used for rebuilding Georgia’s historical sites, building museums, schools, cinemas and churches in the nation. Many art and science studies also benefited from his money. His money was even used to change the uniforms of the army and police, to help their motivation. Lawmakers’ incomes were raised in the period to prevent political corruption.

Even though he became popular through his donations, he did not want to be seen in public.

It was reported that Ivanishvili was doing the charitable work in order to help his friend Mikheil Saakashili, who is leading Georgia’s former ruling party. Saakashili has tried to solve Georgia’s rampant problems, such as the economic recession, and the high unemployment rate. However, his efforts have not yielded visible results for a long time. In 2008, when Georgia had to deal with the damages of the territorial dispute with Russia, Saakashili and his party seemed to lose most of their public support.

As the ruling party of Georgia became less popular, the Georgian people saw Ivanishvili as an alternative who could save Georgia from the crisis.

Ivanishvili has participated in politics since October of last year, and thanks to public support, it only took one year for him to become the Prime Minster.

Image Courtesy of  milkybarkid78

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About the author

Tae-jun Kang
Tae-jun Kang graduated from Korea University with a business degree as well as a minor in Russian language and literature. He had worked as a riot police in Korea for 2 years before he started his degree. This gave him an opportunity to focus on the social issues which he overlooked before, and spiked his interest in the field of journalism. In 2011, he worked for Voice of America Seoul News Center for nine months as an intern, building his goal to become an international journalist. You can reach him by sending an email to taejun.kang@toonarimedia.com

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1 Comment for Georgian Philanthropist Becomes Prime Minister

Toonces the Cat

You might want to use spell-check or ask a proofreader for help. Your article is rank with embarrassing misspellings – ‘Prime Mister,’ ‘Mikheil Saakashili’ (it’s Mikhail Saakashvili!) e.g.

Also, you may want to take a look around at more information about the post-Soviet Union, which would help you discover that under Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia has made massive progress in the areas of corruption and security/personal safety, which many fear will now be regressive as Ivanishvili is one of those who made his fortune during the reign of bribery and corruption, where everything was run by the Georgian mafia. That era is about to resume, it is feared, and transparency in government, currently a fact, will be obscured. Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream is funded primarily by a core set of corrupt businessmen and enjoys strong support from Vladimir Putin, which is not a good thing for an independent and strong Georgia.

The fact that Georgia is suffering from high unemployment is nothing unusual among the ex-Soviet republics now independent. What is unusual is that much of this unemployment is actually fomented by Russian anti-Georgian policies stemming from the fact that under Saakashvili, Georgia has made overtures and movements towards greater independence from Russia and more attachment to the European Union, which has rankled Putin & Co.

Putin, as a matter of well-documented fact, is currently engaged in rebuilding the former Soviet empire of vassal states by forcing many of the nominally-independent former parts of the USSR into a restrictive and dangerous ‘customs union’ under threat of cutting off oil and gas supplies to them.

A little deeper research into sources other than mainstream media might be a good hint for you in future, along with better attention to detail. Spelling counts, especially for aspiring journalists.

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