From Founder to Fraud Victim
Natia Janashia — Founder & Legitimate Director, BGA & BIST
“Since BGA and BIST's inception, I have remained steadfast in my dedication to providing unparalleled education to our students. I am resolute in my determination to uphold the values and aims set forth by our schools — and to defend them from those who would exploit them for financial gain.”
Natia Janashia — Founder & Legitimate Director, BGA & BIST
When the war started, I had to leave Sokhumi. I was fifteen. That loss never faded — but it taught me something that has shaped everything since: that the only answer to having something taken from you is to build something that matters, something lasting, something real.
I pursued that belief across two continents. On a US government Muskie Scholarship I completed a Master's degree in Higher Education Administration at Vanderbilt University, then continued doctoral studies at Boston College. The knowledge I gained gave me a clear vision: “A good school is not just a building and lessons. It is a space where a child finds themselves — where they gain the belief that even the most ambitious dreams can come true.”
In 2006, my husband Davit Tsetskhladze and I founded the British-Georgian Academy in Tbilisi. In 2011 we founded the British International School of Tbilisi. That same year, Nika Gilauri's government illegally stripped us of educational institutions we had built. We did not stop. In 2015, while expecting our fourth child, we invested everything into building a new BGA campus. It became a second home for over 1,100 children from more than 50 nationalities.
These schools were never just institutions to us. All five of our children grew up inside their walls. When Georgia Capital seized the schools in February 2025, they didn't just bar us as founders and directors — they barred us as parents. Two of our daughters had to be moved to boarding school in the UK. Our youngest son stopped going to school altogether.
In 2018, we received an offer from Georgia Capital. We were not looking for investors. The schools were at the peak of their success. Our fear was simple: could a profit-driven company share the long-term educational values and deep sense of responsibility a school requires? In the end, promises of expansion, investment, and genuine partnership convinced us. Those promises were never kept.
Now Irakli Gilauri — the brother of the same Nika Gilauri whose government took our institutions in 2011 — is using the same instruments: influence, corrupt connections, and financial leverage to take what we built over two decades. The same family. The same playbook. Two decades apart.
The girl who had to leave Sokhumi at fifteen grew up to become a woman who builds homes for others. The past taught me not the fear of loss, but the fierce protection of what is truly valuable. I will defend the schools I created to the end.
