Jaipur, India - It was over as soon as I caught a glimpse of the colorfully painted elephant on a merry romp down the street: I was hooked on Jaipur.
Like any developing area, the city is dusty - watch out for the occasional runaway cow or camel - but what it lacks in neatness it more than makes up in character.
I had never heard of Jaipur, so I had no inkling of what it would be like. That ignorance served me well. As floating palaces, hillside forts and turbaned tribesmen flashed outside my window, I became that Disney-world dad who just couldn't keep his finger off the shutter button.
There was plenty to capture. In nearby villages, artisans crafted rugs and shoes by hand. The farther outside the city, the brighter the women's sashes and scarves became. Back in town, clusters of sandstone buildings made it clear how the Pink City got its name. A gleaming new world trade complex seemed anachronistic in view of the bustling bazaar down the street.
I was floored, partly because I didn't have anything invested in my own opinion of what Jaipur should be. In short, I gave the city a chance to surprise me, and it ...
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Jaipur, India - Some experts lament what they see as India's failure to instill innovation through education. Vestiges of 200 years of British colonization still linger in the form of rote learning, especially at the primary school level.
Even there, the picture is bleak. A Times of India article Tuesday revealed the country's paltry showing in a recent test measuring reading, science and math literacy in 74 countries. India ranked second to last, just above Kyrgyzstan.
But on the streets and C-suites of some major companies, it's easy to see that innovation, though slow to catch on in theory, is vibrantly practiced at the grassroots level. Shopkeepers spin new yarns about the benefits of their pashminas. Landlords push developers to build high-rises on their crumbling blocks. People get things done because they have to – whether it's modifying a cart to carry more laundry or revamping a company's entire business model.
Westerners can get frustrated by India's bureaucracy, but GlobalAtlanta spoke with one businessman who (half) joked that the government imposes it to sharpen the wits of its citizens. Business here is about making a way when there seems to be none, sometimes choosing a destination before the path is clear ...
Read more >>Soon after touching down in India, it's evident that things here move at their own pace.
After breezing through customs, a scrum of travelers huddled around baggage carousel No. 3, where we waited nearly an hour for all the bags to emerge.
The parking deck was a similar scene – cars crammed like sardines into a tiny exit ramp, drivers honking as if the sound of their horns could magically widen the passage. Another half an hour later, we'd inched and squeezed down from the deck's second level and into the dusty late-night streets of Mumbai.
Perhaps the rest of the trip will be different, but my gut feeling is that these were simply small glimpses of larger bottlenecks facing a country set to overtake China for the world's population crown.
To be fair, though, visitors quickly see evidence of efforts to deal with the city's famous gridlock.
Just beyond the parking deck, construction giant Larsen & Toubro is building a massive new airport terminal that will enable Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to handle 40 million passengers a year. Just down the road, raised concrete supports – reminiscent of MARTA's east-west line - are signs of a new metro system that will cut ...
Read more >>Georgia is looking to attract more Brazilian tourists - and the cash they're increasingly unloading on consumer goods in the U.S.
Rising prices in Brazil and a stronger real against the dollar have made the U.S. an attractive destination for Brazilian bargain hunters.
About 1.2 million Brazilians, a record number and 34 percent more than the previous year, visited the U.S. in 2010. More than 80 percent were leisure travelers, and they averaged a six-figure income in dollar terms. Nine out of 10 shopped and dined in restaurants, according to Commerce Department statistics.
In Georgia, Brazilians spent $27.6 million. They shelled out twice as much on the top category - clothing and jewelry stores ($4.6 million) - as they did on lodging. They also frequented electronics stores, supermarkets and department stores, according to Visa Vue data.
Increasing Brazilians' 6 percent market share in Georgia could be an economic boon for the state, and it doesn't necessarily even require in-country marketing.
The cornerstone of the state's strategy is luring Brazilians up from Florida. Miami, which is closer to Brazil and has a large Brazilian population, and Orlando, with its plentiful theme parks, are both major draws.
Joseph Walker, business development ...
Read more >>South Korea's consul general threw a strike for the first pitch of the Aug. 15 Atlanta Braves game, and business groups are hoping a prediction he made during the contest will also be right on the mark.
Hae-jin Chun, the country's top diplomat for the Southeast, said that for the first time, a long-awaited free-trade agreement between his country and the U.S. should soon clear the hurdle that has kept it from coming into force: Congress.
Both legislative houses know it's “absolutely necessary for Korea and the United States to have this trade agreement to strengthen economic ties. Also, the agreement is mutually beneficial for both countries, so I am convinced that it will be passed very soon,” Mr. Chun told GlobalAtlanta.
The deal, which the U.S. has said will boost American exports to Korea by at least $10 billion a year, has been awaiting ratification since June 2007, long before Mr. Chun arrived at his post. Four years apart, two Korean ambassadors have visited Atlanta to lobby for the pact's approval.
Disagreements over market access in Korea for American cars and beef have been the major sticking points. Both sides said those issues were ironed out when they ...
Read more >>It's a mouthful just to say, but imagine having to define what internationalization means for a new college where the student body has more than doubled in five years.
That's the task for Anthony Pinder, the first director of internationalization at Georgia Gwinnett College, the newest four-year college in the University System of Georgia.
Established in 2005, Georgia Gwinnett sought to integrate global education into its curriculum and student life from the outset.
Being new has its benefits and challenges in this regard, Mr. Pinder told a meeting of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce's Global Business Council.
Starting from scratch means learning from successes and failures at other schools. But it also means lacking the branding power of well-established institutions like Morehouse College, Georgia Tech, Georgia State or the University of Georgia, making it harder to recruit foreign students and faculty, he said.
“You have to explain that an institution is just as credible that's only five years old,” Mr. Pinder said.
After a year in his position, Mr. Pinder is putting structures in place to make internationalization more than just a (long) buzzword on campus. Instead of just checking it off the list, the college is looking for an integrated ...
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Christopher W. Klaus
Christopher W. Klaus, the Atlanta entrepreneur who founded an Internet security system that he eventually sold to IBM Corp. and went on to found another company that has created a 3-D world on the Internet, thinks its time that the city get more serious about growing new companies.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the 2nd Annual USA India Business Summit, Mr. Klaus said that Internet startups should be launched in batches.
“We should be able to grow 10 companies over a three month period. The cost structure of starting a new company is dropping and with the Internet it’s easier to scale and reach customers. Some companies can even sell their products before they are developed,” he said at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center June 21.
Mr. Klaus said he was well aware of the “potholes” new companies face. But with the support of attorneys, intellectual property protection, angel investors and capital, he added, the problems should be more quickly identified.
As the founder and chief technology officer of Internet Security Systems Inc., which he launched as a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology and dropped out to focus on the growing company, he is an authority on Internet security ...
Read more >>John Rose doesn't wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to travel.
The former Marine sees past slick tourism ads and never takes safety for granted, even in seemingly innocuous destinations.
Having lived in Japan and Italy and visited nearly 100 countries, often to work with government intelligence units, he has long left behind a superficial view of the world.
As president of Travel Guard insurance's Business Traveler Services division, Mr. Rose now helps protect travelers from hidden dangers and their companies from costly lawsuits, unforeseen expenses and productivity drains.
Companies have a "duty of care" to their employees when sending them overseas on business, Mr. Rose told members of the Georgia Business Travel Association during the group's monthly luncheon on June 7.
And that duty goes beyond handing them an insurance card and saying, "Bon voyage!" They've got to be trained and prepared if something goes awry, and in travel, it inevitably will, he said.
"Bad things happen when people travel," Mr. Rose said, noting that 65 percent of international travelers report a health problem, mainly upset stomachs from unfamiliar food. Only 8 percent seek medical attention.
But things can get much worse than indigestion.
Keeping his audience rapt, Mr. Rose ...
Read more >>If statistics are any indication, Changzhou, China, is ready to attract more American investment.
Speaking at the "Changzhou Meets Atlanta" investment seminar at the InterContinental Buckhead Hotel on May 10, Changzhou Vice Mayor Han Jiuyun unleashed a barrage of numbers to show his city's openness to foreign companies and the eagerness of firms there to invest abroad.
Interpreters providing simultaneous translation had a tough time keeping up with the tallies during Mr. Han's speech, and you couldn't really blame them.
According to Mr. Han, Changzhou's gross domestic product grew by 13 percent to 297.6 billion renminbi (about $45.7 billion) last year, and the city of 4.6 million near Shanghai is home to 3,600 foreign enterprises, including operations of 53 Fortune 500 companies.
Not only did the city trade $3 billion worth of goods with the U.S. in 2010, but Changzhou companies have accounted for $33 million in direct U.S. investment to date, he said.
Gao Yanping, China's consul general in Houston, said such numbers show the value of the China-U.S. relationship, which she called the "most important in the world."
In English, Ms. Gao praised Changzhou and encouraged attendees to travel there "to ...
Read more >>Armed with a notepad and a sense of adventure, I touched down at Narita airport in January on a mission.
As editor of GlobalAtlanta, I travel the city and the world searching for stories that illustrate Georgia's growing global business ties.
Writing about the state's overseas connections introduces our readers to new places and provides contacts who serve as practical resources for businesses looking to trade or invest in these markets.
With this mission in mind, I've reported on the World Cup preparations in South Africa, Atlanta's ties with Nuremberg, Germany, and how Georgia-based developers are building up a Costa Rican province. Still, Japan promised to be one of my most intriguing assignments yet.
In some ways, the country needed no introduction. Nearly 400 Japanese companies already operate in Georgia, employing some 35,000 people.
In other ways, though, Japan and Georgia were somewhat like grade-school buddies: They have fond memories of each other but really needed to catch up. As Europeans and Canadians will tell you, the state's strongest business relationships are often pushed to the back burner as focus shifts to new partners with more perceived growth potential.
Whereas some trips leave me scrounging for editorial topics, the ...
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- India: The Secret of Staying Surprised
- India: Innovation by Necessity
- Touching Down in India
- Georgia Vying for Brazilian Tourists, Cash
- Consul General 'Convinced' Korea FTA Will Pass Soon
- Defining Internationalization: A New College's Attempt
- Georgia Tech Donor: Startups Should Be Faster, Easier in Atlanta
- Keeping Your Workers (and Company) Safe on Overseas Trips
- Changzhou Plus Atlanta Equals Investment?
- Telling the Story: How the Quake Revived Georgia-Japan Ties
- Gwinnett to Lead Mission to China, Korea
- Tunisia’s U.S. Ambassador in Atlanta Feb. 16
- Commentary: Europe, Greater Than Its Parts?
- Woodruff Arts Center Hosts World Chamber Meeting
- Germany’s Consul General to Give Euro Lecture at UGA
- TiE Charter Members to Mentor Entrepreneurs
- German Auto Parts Supplier to Set Up Plant in Laurens County
- Trade Missions to Canada and Panama Scheduled for March
- Morris Manning Picks Up Trade Group from Troutman Sanders
- 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' to Visit Atlanta in 2013
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