For 10 years Tyler Nunnally honed his international business skills in the Czech Republic before getting a master’s degree in international business from one of Scotland’s leading business schools and then exploring options in the security and publishing fields.

Now he is back in Atlanta with a Spanish wife and two children, looking for new opportunities while maintaining his ties to his former endeavors.

Following his graduation from the University of Georgia in 1992 and with only a month of international experience as a Coca-Cola Co. employee answering the beck and call of VIPs at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, he set out for the Czech Republic while it still was Czechoslovakia.

His grandmother’s collection of Bohemian glass prompted him to try his hand at the import/export business and he incorporated Nunnally International Trade Inc. in the U.S. Then, with the help of the commercial service of the U.S. embassy in the Czech capital, Prague, he got a license to do business there.

While Prague today is a powerful magnet for tourists as well as U.S. businesses, Mr. Nunnally was in the first wave of entrepreneurs looking for opportunity. He quickly realized that he had a lot to learn about international business generally as well as operating in an economy just emerging from years of communist command-style planning.

Without any understanding of the Czech language and clutching a suitcase and a briefcase with a backpack hanging on his shoulders, he got off the train in Prague with no idea what would be his next step, he told GlobalAtlanta during a recent interview.

Fortunately, a matronly owner of a boarding house was at the station looking for entrepreneurs of his sort and he rented a room.

Soon afterwards, Mr. Nunnally was directed to Miroslav Studnicka, who spoke English and was well acquainted with the factories in the Bohemian region that had been making crystal glassware for more than half a century.

He was able to start exporting the Bohemian crystal with some success and was encouraged by the good reception it received at the AmericasMart in Atlanta.

But even while building a long-term relationship with Desna crystal, one of the top brands, he faced numerous challenges. “The politics change, but once you are raised a certain way, it is hard to change,” he said. “Many of the businesses would have preferred to do business in Russia.”

Nevertheless, he developed a wholesale showroom presence for Desna crystal in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and elsewhere, and created export markets in more than 15 countries.

In 2003, he yearned for a more formal business education and received a master’s in international business degree from the University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland.

His father, who is retired, agreed to help him continue managing the import/export business while he keeps on exploring new opportunities. Since his graduation from St. Andrews, he has assisted U.S. companies like Videolarm Inc., which is based in Atlanta, and other security systems manufacturers internationally as well as helping launch Oxford Risk Research & Analysis Ltd., a spin-off company of Oxford University concerned with business risk and decision analysis.

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