Legal Pro Bono Consultation, February-May, 2016

Pro bono provider: Alliance Group Holding

Beneficiary: The Social Enterprise “Sobisi Youth Cooperative”.

Village Sobisi is located in Gori district, near the border with conflict zone, in 3 kilometers from the territory controlled by Russia. There is practically no possibility for employment or small business development in the village; the situation is complicated by the fact that the population lives under the constant risk, so that young people leave the village and it gradually becomes empty. Women are in the least favorable situation: following the usual early marriage they rarely find an opportunity to realize themselves in the village.

Social Enterprise “Sobisi Youth Cooperative” was created in 2012 by the non-commercial organization “Ethic Finance” with the purpose to:

• Employ youth and women living in the village Sobisi;
• Help youth and women to develop and master the entrepreneur skills and acquire various professional knowledge and skills, which would assist them in their further employment.

Enterprise purchases the raw materials from local residents thus providing them with essential income. The main product of the enterprise is the apple juice, which is prepared with special technology to maintain the natural qualities of an apple. Apart from this, Sobisi is producing the cider vinegar, apple jam, dried apples, marinades and other fruit juices.

Problem Description:

Legal Consultation on Renewed Enterprise Statute Development. The founder and the 100% owner of the Sobisi Youth Cooperative is the non-commercial organization “Ethic Finance”, which helped Cooperative in management and accounting. As a result of the Enterprise strengthening and development, the need to delegate the ownership and management of the enterprise to youth and women residing in the village has occurred. Accordingly, it has become necessary to introduce certain changes to the Statute of the enterprise. In order to respond to these needs the pro bono legal consultation process was planned and initiated.

Pro Bono Consultants: Team of 2 lawyers from Alliance Group Holding.

Services Delivered:

Consulting process has lasted for 4 months (February – May 2016) and involved 2 meetings between lawyers and representatives of the beneficiary organization; besides that, lawyers have been independently working on the recommendations with regard to the Statute renewal.

Result of Pro Bono Mediation:

As a result of consultancy, the draft of the new Statute was developed, which included elaboration of the principles of transferring the cooperative shares to the employees of the enterprise, as well as principles of shares’ distribution in situations when existing employees are leaving the enterprise, or new ones are coming. Consultants have also recommended specific steps for implementing the changes at the Enterprise.

Mediator:

Pro Bono consultation is mediated by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia.