Private bussiness

Born on April 20, 1956 in Tbilisi. Graduated from the Faculty of Biology at Tbilisi State University (1977), and postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Biology at Moscow State University (1980). Since 1981 he worked at the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1985 to 1990, he headed the laboratory of molecular genetics at the Institute of Biotechnology of the Ministry of Medical Industry.

In the late 1980s he went into business. He created and headed the Bioprocess company, which was engaged in the production of biotechnologies. In 1990, he participated in the creation of the People's Petroleum Investment and Industrial Eurasian Corporation (NIPEC), was a member of the board of directors, then a manager. In 1992, he headed the board of directors of the Industrial and Commercial Bank. In 1996, he created and headed the Ural Machine-Building Plants OJSC, which included Uralmash, Izhora Plants and a number of other enterprises (in 2000 it was renamed the United Machine-Building Plants - OMZ). From 1998 to 2004 he was the general director of OMZ. He served on the boards of directors of a large number of industrial companies. He was also a member for entrepreneurship under the Government of the Russian Federation, a member of the bureau of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, first vice-president and chairman of the Board of General Directors of the Russian Union of Mechanical Engineers.

In June 2004, he left OMZ and, at the invitation of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, took up the post of Minister of Economy of Georgia. Since December 2004 - Minister for Structural and Economic Reforms. In November 2005, he sold his 25% stake in OMZ for $40 million. In January 2008, he headed the office of the Georgian government. In 2009, he left the civil service. He was involved in supporting education through the Knowledge Foundation he created in 2007. In March 2014, he was questioned by the Georgian prosecutor's office as a witness in the case of “embezzlement of state property.” In May, at the invitation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, he agreed to become a member of the international Council of Experts under the government of the country.

He died on November 13, 2014 in London after undergoing heart surgery.

Bendukidze Kakha Avtandilovich – Picture of the day – Kommersant