New life for scrap wood: how CENN helps green and social entrepreneurs

How the EU and CENN helps social entrepreneurs

This is a photo story about a young entrepreneur who, with the help of CENN, has given new life to scrap wood and turned his hobby into a source of income.

Thirty-four year old Avtandil (Avto) Chikadze from Akhmeta (A village in eastern Georgia, in Kakheti) could not have imagined just two years ago that one day he would have his own workshop.

Since childhood he’s been attracted to woodworking but, alas, never had the right conditions and equipment to pursue his interest at home.

Sixteen years ago, when he was eighteen, Avto started working in a furniture workshop in Tbilisi. It was an entry-level gig. Standard furniture, tables and doors made of laminate and medium-density fiberboard.

They also processed wood material. The scrap product – corners, trimmings, low-quality parts – were trashed.

One day, in his spare time, Avto took up some scrap wood and tinkered with it. In one piece he placed a clock mechanism, put it in an iron frame, and presto – he had a clock. He hung it right in the workshop.

A few days later, a young woman came to the workshop to order furniture. She thought the clock was for sale and asked how much it was.

“At first we thought it was a joke. I told her 140 lari. She said – I’ll take it. I was embarrassed and gave it to her for 100 lari. When I got home, I told my family about it and asked if we had any broken stuff. After that, when I returned to Akhmeta, I took old materials from there from the sawmill and I did different things in the workshop,” Avto recalls.

And so began his new life turning shavings into gold. It began with an idea and a will.

How the EU and CENN helps social entrepreneurs

In the spring of 2020, CENN, with the support of the European Union, announced a grant competition for social innovations in the Caucasus as part of the project EU4Youth: Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (SEED) for Green Growth.

EU4Youth: Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (SEED) for Green Growth project, which is implemented by CENN in partnership with KRDF in Georgia and Green Lane NGO in Armenia. The project aims to discover snd develop the entrepreneurial potential of young people in the South Caucasus region through social entrepreneurship and green innovation.

CENN is a regional development organisation working to protect our environment through fostering sustainable development and green growth throughout the South Caucasus

Avto’s wife, Iza Legashvili, accidentally found a CENN ad on the Internet. Avto and Iza filled out the application.

The competition commission liked their idea, and they invited the young couple in for an interview.

“At that time I worked in a bank and knew nothing but banking. I never thought that one day I would leave my job and take over the family business. We worked with mentors for ten months ⁠— from accounting to marketing, we learned everything,” recalls Iza.

The young couple learned how to turn a hobby into a business idea, how to write a project, a business plan, what marketing is, customer relations, what it means to create your own brand.

So woodworker Avto became a green entrepreneur, and loan officer Iza began to manage her own company.

Avto and Iza received two grants from CENN ⁠— one to start the business and one to expand it. The total both grants was 38,000 GEL.

With the money they opened a workshop and a showroom in Akhmeta. They converted their garage into a showroom and an old storage room into a workshop.

 “If someone had told me two years ago that we would have our own workshop, I wouldn’t have believed it. I didn’t even consider  it,” Avto says.

With the help of CENN, Iza turned her hobby into a business ⁠— she registered a company, came up with a brand name, and created a logo.

“When customers called Avto, he kept saying: “If you trust me, if you trust me…”, and so I came up with the idea to name the brand “Mende” (“Trust me”).

“We also created a logo – a tree with protruding branches, and chose a color close to the tree.”

The Mende shop is now operating at full capacity. Materials – scraps of wood and metal  which are needed for new crafts ⁠— he collects in Akhmeta. Avto has an agreement with woodworking and metalworking companies to provide him with unusable material. Some of it goes to him for free, some he buys.

Iza takes orders ⁠— working with clients is her business. Buyers are mainly in the age bracket of 25-45 years, those who understand the value of handicraft.

 Avto works on orders. He already has all the equipment for this in his own workshop.

Most of the time Mende produces wooden clocks, candlesticks, tasting trays, dishes and various accessories. For the holidays they create themed products ⁠— souvenirs for the New Year, Easter, etc.

Periodically, furniture is also made: poufs (a sort of support for elaborate hairstyles), dressers, and tables.

Mende products have even been sold in the USA and Germany, bought by Georgians living there.

Along with green entrepreneurship, another focus of Mende is social entrepreneurship. Avto and Iza work with Akhmeta’s youth. Avto teaches them woodworking.

After becoming a brand, Mende trained four socially disadvantaged young people.

One of them is already working in a carpentry workshop in Tbilisi. One of them helps Avto with woodworking, the other is in welding.

“My goal was to do something in Akhmeta, to set an example for others. If not for CENN and the financial support of the European Union, I could not even imagine that this dream would become a reality,” Avto says.

Mende plans to open its own store in Akhmeta. Avto and Iza believe that the Mende story is only just beginning.

How the EU and CENN helps social entrepreneurs