Koba Nakopia

Koba Nakopia
Member of the Parliament of Georgia
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 November 2016
In office 7 June 2008 – 18 November 2016
Constituency	Bolnisi
Personal details
Born	(1969-02-22) 22 February 1969 Gali (Abkhazia, Georgia)
Political party	United National Movement
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University Diplomatic Academy of Russia

Koba Nakopia (Georgian: კობა ნაყოფია; born 22 February 1969) is a Georgian entrepreneur, investor, and political leader who has consistently championed the values of liberty and the deepening of Georgia and Ukraine’s ties with the United States and the West.

Following Georgia’s Rose Revolution in 2003, Nakopia returned to join his fellow reformers in revitalizing the country. He played a key role in modernizing Georgia’s natural resources sector and expanding investment across Georgia, Armenia, and the wider region. Today, Nakopia remains closely connected to leading business, technology, and political elites across the Caucasus, Ukraine, and the Black Sea, with a particular focus on strategic industries such as rare earth minerals.

Nakopia’s political career began in 2008 when he was elected to Parliament under the United National Movement led by President Mikheil Saakashvili. He remains a vocal supporter of Saakashvili and Georgia’s pro-Western path. Today, Nakopia is an outspoken advocate for Georgia’s ongoing struggle for liberty and democratic alignment with the United States and Europe, firmly opposing the country’s current pro-China, pro-Russia government.

Beyond business, Nakopia has been a strong champion of cultural diplomacy. He co-produced the Hollywood feature film 5 Days of War (2011), directed by Renny Harlin and starring Andy Garcia, Rupert Friend, Val Kilmer, and Dean Cain. The film spotlighted Georgia’s 2008 war with Russia, raising international awareness of the country’s fight for sovereignty. Nakopia actively supports leading Georgian artists, and proudly follows his daughter, Natalie Nakopia, in her rising career as an international jazz musician. A lifelong jazz enthusiast, he views music as a powerful bridge between nations.

Early life and education

Koba Nakopia was born on 22 February 1969 in Gali, a town at the time in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia. Graduating from the Third Secondary School of Gali, he has to this day a house in the town, although it is located in the separatist republic of Abkhazia, under Russian military occupation.

Earlier in his career, during the post-Soviet transition, Nakopia gained valuable economic experience in Moscow, then the region’s principal commercial hub. He holds degrees in statistics and law from Tbilisi State University and pursued advanced studies in international relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Russia. Although he did not have the chance to study in the United States, he has financed dozens of Georgian students to pursue higher education at leading U.S. institutions across diplomacy, arts, and technology.

Koba Nakopia has two sons. His oldest, Nikoloz, has been closely associated with his father's companies and is married to model and Miss Georgia 2009 winner Nanuka Gogichaishvili.

Private sector

In 2003 he joined the Supervisory Board of the Zestaponi Ferroalloy Factory at a time when the plant was undergoing a restructuring. In 2004, the firm purchased the state-owned Madneuli goldmine in Georgia, of which Nakopia became General Director and Board chairman until 2008. He would maintain large shares in the company until the fall of 2011. Also in 2004, he became Chairman of Quartzite LLC.

Nakopia's largest investments have remained in the mining industry. He founded Bioneli Limited in 2008, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and a majority shareholder of the RMG Gold company.

Koba Nakopia's portfolio has also largely involved the entertainment and media industries. In 2009 he was a producer of the movie 5 Days of War, a Hollywood production portraying the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. His family owns 50% of LTD Sakartvelo, itself a majority shareholder of the Rustavi 2 television channel until the European Court of Human Rights authorized the Georgian government's decision to transfer its ownership in 2019. After this, Sakartvelo became a founding investor of Mtavari TV, a leading opposition-leaning television channel in Georgia.

Political career

As Bolnisi Majoritarian

During the 2008 parliamentary election, Koba Nakopia was nominated by President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) to run in the Bolnisi Majoritarian District, replacing incumbent Sophio Lartsuliani who had previously announced her intention to run for reelection. He would easily win in the first round with 83% of the vote and became one of Saakashvili's closest confidants, while he remained heavily involved in the private sector. He was awarded the Order of Excellence in 2010 for "patriotism and the introduction of new standards in Georgian business".

Nakopia was nominated for reelection in Bolnisi during the 2012 parliamentary election, facing Georgian Dream's Darejan Ckhetiani in a close campaign that saw Speaker Davit Bakradze stump for him in Bolnisi. He won with close to 68% of the vote in the first round, although UNM lost nationwide, making him an opposition leader.

On 15 October 2017 Koba Nakopia was prevented from entering Ukraine and subsequently banned for a period of three years, a short time after a political fallout between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Saakashvili that led to the deportation of several high-ranking Georgian-born Ukrainian officials. His entry ban was lifted after the election of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Nakopia visited Ukraine in May 2021 along with UNM chairman Nika Melia and once again in April 2022 with former Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili to show support for Kyiv facing the Russian invasion, visiting Bucha, meeting with Ukrainian officials, and with members of the Georgian Legion.

In the 2020 parliamentary election he was placed in 5th position on the UNM electoral list and won a fourth term, although massive voter fraud allegations led Nakopia and 48 other MPs to refuse to recognize the electoral results and boycott their seats in Parliament. He was staunchly critical of the authorities after the subsequent arrest of Nika Melia, calling charges against him "politically motivated" and visiting him in jail. In the midst of negotiations between Georgian Dream and the opposition facilitated by Western ambassadors, he met on a personal basis with the facilitators but was originally opposed to UNM joining the negotiating sides as long as long as its chairman remained in jail. Nakopia accepted his parliamentary seat in May 2021 after the sides struck a short-lived agreement. Political tensions reemerged when former President Saakashvili returned to Georgia and was arrested in October 2021, with Nakopia calling for his release, visiting him several times in prison and criticizing the restrictions imposed on Saakashvili's mail delivery, the ban on his phone calls, and the removal of windows from his cell.

UNM Leadership

Koba Nakopia was elected to the Political Council of UNM following the European Georgia split in January 2017. On 25 March 2019, he was elected as Executive Secretary of the party. On 10 January 2022, he became Chairman of the Political Council of the party, a post traditionally held by the party's chairman. At the helm of the Political Council, he has been in charge of organizing the special election for the party's chairmanship scheduled for January 2023, in which he has endorsed Nika Melia for reelection.

Following the election of Levan Khabeishvili as chair of UNM on 30 January 2023, Nakopia announced he would not seek reelection as chair of the party's political council, but stated he would remain a member of the party "as long as Mikheil Saakashvili remains in prison". Though selected by the new party leadership to sit on the party's new Political Council, he refused to take his mandate, in opposition to the new chairman.