The pharmaceutical and medical sector is one of the most sensitive sectors, one in which effective communication with customers and the cultivation of genuine confidence are decisive. Aversi, a company born alongside an independent Georgia, which today brings together more than 12,000 employees and serves over two million customers every month, has been setting the standard for that trust and quality for three decades. Maintaining a coherent internal corporate culture across an ecosystem of this scale, responding instantly to feedback and positioning the brand correctly demands enormous effort and constant transformation.
It is precisely these challenges and the invisible, emotional dimensions of the company that Lali Bregvadze, Head of Public Relations at “Aversi-Pharma”, speaks to us about. Her professional journey is bound up with the company’s own story of growth: she has been a member of the Aversi team for twenty-five years. Her vantage point offers a clear view of how a major holding manages its communications, why an uncompromising emphasis on quality always pays, and how technology is reshaping today’s pharmaceutical market.
Lali, your career in the medical and pharmaceutical sector began during a particularly challenging era. How did you come to work in a field that is, arguably, the most sensitive and responsible of all when it comes to customer communication?
My career path in the medical field is genuinely tied to an interesting, though dramatic, period. When I was finishing medical university, the country was in a state of severe crisis. Hospitals recorded an extreme shortage of inpatients; the system was practically paralysed. It was during those difficult times that I opened a small pharmacy in my husband’s village. I sourced the medicines for sale from Aversi, and that was my first direct contact with the company.
Later, in 2001, I learned that Aversi was assembling a new team of medical representatives. I applied, was selected, and became the Georgian representative for a well-known company, Byk Gulden. Here, I must single out my colleague Marekhi Barjadze. It was she who, at the time, showed me that Aversi was an organisation of enormous potential, still growing, and that its founder, Paata Kurtanidze, had a clear and ambitious vision. I trusted her professional instincts, and for the past quarter of a century, I have been part of this great family.
Aversi has been operating for more than thirty years. How has your role evolved over those years alongside the company’s growth, and how did you find your way to managing the brand’s communications?
After the Japanese company’s representation ceased operations in the post-Soviet space, Paata Kurtanidze created Georgia’s first 12-person medical marketing team, of which I was a founding member. It was a very dynamic process: we would go directly to physicians and bring them the latest information about medications. I remember that period with particular warmth and fondness to this day. After five years in that area, the company opened a vacancy for a brand manager position. Having passed the relevant examinations, I moved to that role, and later, again through an internal competition and examination process, I took up the position of Head of Public Relations, which I have led since 2008.
Some people are puzzled by the need for such a rigorous internal examination system for promotion. But I fully embrace this approach. In our work, constantly refreshing the mind, maintaining professional sharpness and staying energised are absolutely vital. My role became a logical, step-by-step reflection of the company’s own development.
Crisis Management and the Ecosystem of Empathy
The position you hold is often perceived from the outside as a state of permanent crisis management and high stress. What is your main personal challenge in this work, and where do you find your motivation?
Honestly, I would not call this work stressful at all. Recently, on International Children’s Day, we held four large-scale events in a row. I came home at eleven at night, physically and emotionally completely drained but extraordinarily happy. For me, this level of energy and pace is not stress; it is the greatest pleasure. Quite the opposite, I struggle to adapt to overly quiet, <> periods. I need constant movement.
As for the challenge, it is a continuous process of proving yourself. You have to justify the validity of your decisions to both customers and your internal team. The pharmaceutical industry is an extremely sensitive field. Beyond that, the public relations department is the one that spends the corporate budget rather than generating it, which means you are constantly having to persuade leadership that this expenditure builds reputational capital that returns to the brand in the long run in the form of trust.
The Aversi Holding employs more than 12,000 people. How do you manage internal corporate communication in a way that ensures the company’s core values and messages reach every link in the chain unchanged?
Our holding truly comprises enormous organisations: the Aversi clinic network, Aversi-Ratsionali with its state-of-the-art manufacturing standards, the insurance company Alpha, and the pharmacy network itself. Each division has its own public relations team, but Aversi-Pharma remains for me the <> of the entire structure because everything begins here, and we maintain close coordination with all the others.
Managing something of this scale is not easy, but we balance the complexity through a shared corporate culture. We regularly organize team-building events and sports activities, including rafting, where teams from different divisions compete with one another. This healthy sense of rivalry, friendly competition and the feeling of being together is precisely the axis that helps us preserve a unified spirit.
From the Chaos of the 1990s to a Civilised Standard
In the medical sector, communication is directly connected to human life and health. What are the inviolable guiding principles you never compromise when managing the brand’s reputation?
Our central value and our foundation is trust. Let us cast our minds back to the 1990s, when Aversi was founded: the healthcare system had completely collapsed, and medicines were being sold in the street, directly from open stalls in unknown conditions. It was Aversi that introduced and established in Georgia the high, civilised standard for the storage and sale of pharmaceutical products.
We maintain that trust to this day through continuous professional evolution. Our pharmacists undergo daily training and examinations; they are constantly developing their skills in effective customer communication and the latest pharmacology, and frequently travel abroad for professional development. The professionalism of our staff is the primary guarantee of our reputation.
The statistics are impressive. Aversi serves more than two million customers every month. How do you manage to process feedback at that colossal scale and take account of every individual’s needs?
Why do so many people choose Aversi? The answer is simple: they receive the most comfortable, accessible, and high-quality service here. And this is not merely a loud advertising slogan. Our HR department genuinely invests enormous effort in ensuring that every pharmacist has access to continuous education.
This is complemented by our pricing policy, behind which lies equally colossal analytical work. Paata Kurtanidze’s position on this question has been unwavering for decades: medicine must be as accessible as possible for the customer. Every day, we work to ensure that every person who walks into our space feels genuine support and consistent quality.
In the context of social responsibility, Aversi’s approach to older employees is particularly interesting. In a labour market where age barriers are frequently a serious problem, your network visibly employs older pharmacists. Is this a deliberate strategy or a simple coincidence?
It is absolutely not a coincidence; it is our considered corporate policy. Age should never be a barrier to self-fulfilment. We conduct annual internal surveys in which one question specifically measures customer attitudes towards older pharmacists.
An interesting dynamic has emerged: whereas a few years ago the emphasis was more strongly placed on younger generations, over the past three years the trend has shifted radically. Customers clearly and consistently state a preference for being served by an experienced, middle-aged or senior professional because in their eyes, such a pharmacist radiates significantly greater competence and trustworthiness. A person who has years of experience in the field naturally accumulates more knowledge. For this reason, we value every individual member of our staff and their accumulated experience with particular care.
Uncompromising Quality and Digital Transformation
From your vantage point, what has been the single decisive factor over these thirty years that brought Aversi to its current leadership position?
What proved decisive was one principle: under no circumstances, through no crisis, would we ever compromise on quality. This is the founder Paata Kurtanidze’s fundamental stance: the company must never economise on investment in the latest technologies and quality control.
I remember well the stories of foreign partners telling us, «Why are you making such a colossal investment in the latest-generation equipment? Georgia is a small market; you will never recoup this expenditure.» But our response and our vision were always unwavering: the Georgian population deserves only the best, world-class diagnostics and medical services. Time has shown that this ambitious vision was entirely vindicated. Customers consistently sense when they are receiving genuine quality and when their health is being diagnosed correctly.
The digital era is transforming the forms of communication at an extraordinary speed. What are the main trends you see in the pharmaceutical sector in the future, and how ready is the company for innovation?
Our primary strategic goal is to be the first to introduce any technological innovation in the world into Aversi’s space. The best example of this is our pharmacy robot, which delivers the required medication to the pharmacist in seconds at the touch of a button, significantly saving precious time for both our team and our customers.
To simplify processes, we have installed self-service payment terminals across our network. Using them, customers can independently purchase the full range of products in the pharmacy, without a pharmacist’s involvement. In parallel, we have introduced electronic price displays with QR codes, enabling customers to access a medication’s instructions in five different languages. This innovative approach also extends to our physical environment: our branches have dedicated interactive children’s zones, so that for young children, a visit to the pharmacy becomes an enjoyable experience, while specialist cleaning robots ensure the ideal cleanliness and sterility that our standards demand.
Corporate Spirit and the Team
As a team leader, I want to ask you about the people who create this day-to-day communication architecture. What is the structure of your department, and by what criteria do you select your staff?
In our field, selecting the right person is genuinely something of an art and a complex process. The primary requirement is, of course, a high level of professionalism, but that alone is not enough. A person must have an unbounded love for their work and, in general, for people. In our department, if you do not naturally possess empathy, the capacity to care and a genuine warmth towards others, you simply will not last. When you speak in the name of Aversi, the customer believes your capabilities are unlimited, every word carries weight, and a single poorly chosen formulation can undo years of reputational work built by the entire team.
There are not many of us in my department, approximately six or seven people managing the directions of marketing, social media and design. But I have an extraordinarily strong and cohesive team. Nunuka Sharvashvili, a person with whom I have had ten years of loyal collaboration and who is always at my side. Working with her is a great comfort; she is a professional who loves her work without limit. Our new marketing manager, Salome, stands out for remarkable professionalism and composure, both of which are exactly what our work demands. Our designer, Levan, has been with me for eighteen or nineteen years; I believe he is one of the fastest and most highly skilled specialists in the market. In the team, we also have a motion designer and a social media manager, relatively newer arrivals, but already very strong members of the team.
I want to single out my Facebook support operators separately, who maintain a constant, real-time connection with customers on digital platforms every second of the day. A great deal genuinely depends on them, and they bring extraordinary dedication to that responsibility. And of course, the exceptional editor of Aversi magazine, Mariam Ashughashvili, together with her eight-person team, who produce the finest educational content. I have been here for twenty-five years already. Time has flown by imperceptibly, but this company has such a strange and powerful gravitational pull that I have absolutely no intention of stopping.
And finally, where do you see yourself in five years?
Still at Aversi, of course. Together with my wonderful team, I am planning to realise many more ambitious and innovative projects.
