HoReCa
Full-scope CFO leadership across hospitality operations — revenue management, cost control, multi-property reporting.
Available for strategic engagements · Tbilisi, Georgia
Papuna Gikorashvili. CFO & Strategic Finance Leader
I help organizations transform complex financial data into actionable strategies — leading FP&A, automating reporting, and building executive-level insights across HoReCa, manufacturing, energy, banking, fintech, and consulting.
7+
Years finance
20
Direct reports
40%
Reporting cycle cut
4
Universities taught
About
Finance with a technological mindset.
I'm a finance executive with seven plus years across banking, energy, manufacturing, hospitality and consulting. As CFO at EBIT Group, I oversee full-scope financial management for hospitality and manufacturing companies, leading roughly twenty direct reports and driving process automation across portfolio operations.
My work sits at the intersection of finance and technology — building Power BI dashboards, automating reporting workflows, deploying AI-powered analytics, and applying IFRS frameworks to multi-million dollar decisions. I cut SOCAR Georgia Gas reporting cycles by forty percent and led financial modelling for valuations across diverse sectors.
Beyond corporate work, I teach at four Georgian universities and run Mr. Shark Academy — a practical training platform turning professionals into Excel, Power BI and AI-ready operators.
Expertise
Industries & core competencies.
A multi-sector portfolio of hands-on finance leadership — from energy regulators to fintech, from hospitality to industrial manufacturing.
Manufacturing
Subsidiary finance team management, working capital optimization, production cost modelling and variance analysis.
Project Management
End-to-end financial project lead — from conception to execution, viability assessment, risk evaluation, return forecasting.
Fintech
Financial modelling for loan pricing, profitability analysis, and product economics in digital finance environments.
Banking
Senior finance role at Halyk Bank Georgia — IFRS & Basel III reporting, Power BI dashboards, internal controls.
Energy Sector
Reporting Manager at SOCAR Georgia Gas — budgeting, consolidation, performance dashboards for strategic planning.
Regulator Engagement
Hands-on experience working with sector regulators — compliance reporting, regulatory submissions, audit coordination.
IFRS Deep Expertise
Years of IFRS reporting, group consolidation, due diligence — both as preparer and as educator at top universities.
AI & Automation
Process automation reducing reporting cycles 40%. Power BI, Python, Claude Code for finance workflows.
Services
What I build, automate & advise on.
Hands-on engagements where finance, technology and AI converge — turning manual workflows into scalable systems that leadership actually trusts.
AI Automation for Business
Custom AI agents and end-to-end workflows for the four operations that eat up the most time — sales & marketing, finance, HR, and email communications. Built on Claude, GPT and n8n, integrated with your existing systems.
Marketing & Sales
- AI sales assistants — Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram DM
- Content generation and ad copy at scale
- Lead qualification and nurture flows
- Customer engagement bots with handoff to humans
Finance & Operations
- Invoice processing and document extraction (OCR + LLM)
- Bank reconciliation and ledger automation
- Automated reporting pipelines from raw data to dashboards
- Slack / Teams finance bots for executive queries
HR & People
- Recruitment pipelines — CV parsing, screening, candidate scoring
- Onboarding workflows — document collection, system access, e-signatures
- Leave, attendance and timesheet automation
- HR analytics dashboards — headcount, turnover, performance KPIs
Email & Communications
- Drip campaigns and lifecycle email sequences
- Transactional emails — registrations, confirmations, receipts
- AI-powered personalization and dynamic content blocks
- SMTP, SendGrid, Resend, Gmail API integrations
Power BI Reporting Implementation
End-to-end Power BI deployment — from raw data sources to live executive dashboards with automated refresh and row-level security.
- Star Schema design and Power Query ETL pipelines
- Custom DAX models, time intelligence, KPI calculations
- Interactive dashboards with RLS for multi-stakeholder access
- Auto-refresh, scheduled distribution, mobile layouts
Financial Reporting Automation
IFRS-grade reporting systems that cut closing cycles, eliminate Excel chaos, and give leadership the numbers they need — on time, every time.
- IFRS-compliant reporting templates and group consolidation
- Budget vs actual, variance analysis, rolling forecasts
- Cash flow modeling and scenario planning frameworks
- Audit-ready documentation and internal controls
Mr. Shark Academy.
Practical, Georgian-language training in Excel, Power BI, financial analysis, and AI automation — the toolkit I wish I'd had earlier in my own career, designed for working professionals and accelerated learners.
Excel Basics
299 ₾
Excel Advanced + Power Query
499 ₾
Power BI
599 ₾
Financial Analysis
549 ₾
Claude Code for Finance
699 ₾
Claude Code for Power BI
799 ₾
Full AI & Data Stack
1,200 ₾
VIP 1-on-1 Mentoring
2,399 ₾
Start a project
Have a project in mind? Let's scope it.
AI automation, chatbots, Power BI reporting, financial reporting automation, HR or email workflows — share your context and I'll come back within 48 hours with a clear next step.
I work directly with founders, CFOs, marketing leads, and operations teams who need finance and automation built right the first time.
Typical engagements start with a 30-minute discovery call. From there: a written scope, fixed milestones, and weekly check-ins. No fluff.
- Reply within 48 hours, business days
- Discovery call + written scope before any work
- Tbilisi-based, available worldwide (EN / KA / RU)
- NDA on request, all client data stays confidential
Career
Selected experience.
A decade of building, leading and automating finance functions across Georgia's most demanding companies.
2025/10 — Present
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
EBIT Group
Overseeing full-scope financial management across hospitality and manufacturing portfolio. Leading in-house and subsidiary finance teams (~20 reports). Driving strategic planning, M&A evaluation, capital management, cash flow, and process automation across companies.
2025/05 — 2025/10
FP&A Specialist
York Towers
Drove financial excellence through comprehensive planning, sales analysis, marketing ROI optimisation, project forecasting, and end-to-end budgeting.
2022/08 — 2025/06
Reporting Manager
SOCAR Georgia Gas
Led Budgeting and Analysis Division. Group consolidation, interactive Power BI dashboards, variance analysis for strategic decision-making — reducing reporting cycles by 40%.
2023/08 — 2024/07
Head of BI & Analytics
Business Insider Georgia
Led data extraction and insights team for an online business media platform — translating company performance into strategic decision-making content.
2021/04 — 2022/08
Senior Finance Manager
Halyk Bank Georgia
IFRS & Basel III reporting, financial models for loan pricing and profitability, interactive Power BI dashboards, internal controls and team management.
2019/09 — 2021/04
Associate
JSC SavvY
Business plans, financial models, budgets, IFRS-compliant reports. Financial due diligence, market research and process automation strategies for consulting clients.
Academic
Educator at top Georgian universities.
East-West University
Assistant Professor (Powered by Arizona State University) — 2025 to present.
The University of Georgia
Invited Lecturer — Advanced Financial Modeling Using Excel. 2024 to present.
Ilia State University
Invited Lecturer — Financial Accounting, Financial Management, Financial Analysis. 2023 to present.
Alte University
Invited Lecturer — Financial Reporting and Analysis. 2023 — 2025.
Current role
EBIT Group — strategic finance partner.
EBIT Group is a diversified holding active across hospitality and manufacturing — sectors where tight financial controls, automation and timely insights make the difference between margin erosion and sustainable growth.
As CFO, I lead the finance function end-to-end: strategic planning, M&A evaluation, internal controls, risk management, capital allocation, forecasting, and the automation initiatives that let leadership see what's really happening — fast.
The mandate: turn finance from a reporting backwater into a decision-making engine.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
ხშირად დასმული კითხვები — სერვისების, Mr. Shark Academy-ის, კონსულტაციების, და თანამშრომლობის შესახებ. Common questions about services, the academy, languages, and engagement scope.
ENWhat services does Papuna offer?
Three main service areas: AI automation for business (marketing, finance, HR, email workflows powered by Claude, GPT, and n8n); Power BI reporting implementation (end-to-end deployment with star schema, DAX, RLS, auto-refresh); and Financial reporting automation (IFRS-grade consolidation, variance analysis, cash flow modelling).
KAრა სერვისებს გთავაზობთ?
სამი მთავარი მიმართულება: AI ავტომატიზაცია ბიზნესისთვის — Claude, GPT და n8n-ზე აგებული აგენტები მარკეტინგის, ფინანსების, HR-ისა და ემეილ-კომუნიკაციებისთვის; Power BI რეპორტინგის სისტემის სრული დანერგვა — Star Schema, DAX, RLS, ავტო-რეფრეშით; ფინანსური რეპორტინგის ავტომატიზაცია — IFRS, ჯგუფური კონსოლიდაცია, ფინანსური მოდელირება.
ENWhat is Mr. Shark Academy?
Mr. Shark Academy is the Georgian-language professional training platform I founded. It teaches Excel, Power BI, financial analysis, and AI automation through live cohort courses, masterclasses, webinars, and 1-on-1 VIP mentoring. Prices range from 100 GEL webinars to 2,399 GEL personalized mentoring.
KAრა არის Mr. Shark Academy?
Mr. Shark Academy არის ჩემი დაარსებული ქართულენოვანი პროფესიული ტრენინგ-პლატფორმა — ვასწავლით Excel-ს, Power BI-ს, ფინანსურ ანალიზსა და AI ავტომატიზაციას. ცოცხალი ჯგუფური კურსები, მასტერკლასები, ვებინარები და VIP 1-on-1 მენტორინგი 100 ლარიდან 2,399 ლარამდე.
ENWhat industries have you worked in?
Seven plus years across banking (Halyk Bank Georgia), energy (SOCAR Georgia Gas), hospitality and manufacturing (EBIT Group), strategic consulting (JSC SavvY), business media (Business Insider Georgia), and fintech. Hands-on with sector regulators, IFRS reporting, and Basel III.
ENDo you teach at universities?
Yes — Assistant Professor at East-West University (powered by Arizona State University). Invited Lecturer at The University of Georgia (Advanced Financial Modeling Using Excel) and Ilia State University (Financial Accounting, Management, Analysis). Previously taught at Alte University.
ENWhat languages do you work in?
Georgian (native), English (professional), Russian (professional). Mr. Shark Academy courses are delivered in Georgian. Consulting engagements run in Georgian or English depending on the client.
ENHow do I get in touch?
Email pgikorashvili@gmail.com, phone +995 568 555 665, or LinkedIn /in/papuna-gikorashvili. Based in Tbilisi, available for engagements in Georgia and internationally.
ENWhat is your educational background?
PhD candidate in Business Administration at Caucasus International University (in progress, 2022–present). MBA from Ilia State University, English program (2020–2022). BBA in Management from Ilia State University (2016–2020).
Education
Formal training.
2022 — Present
PhD, Business Administration
Caucasus International University · In progress
2020 — 2022
MBA, English Program
Ilia State University
2016 — 2020
BBA, Management
Ilia State University
Contact
Let's connect.
Strategic engagements, mentoring, university collaborations, speaking — happy to hear from you.