Georgia companies have not taken full advantage of the alliance between Delta Air Lines and South African Airlines providing daily, nonstop codeshare service between Atlanta and Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, for conducting business in Africa, Stephen Hayes, president of the Corporate Council on Africa, told GlobalFax last week.
Mr. Hayes is one of several speakers scheduled to provide an economic and business assessment of Africa at the “Second Annual Africa Seminar” of the Southern Center for International Studies (SCIS) to be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza downtown on Friday, Dec. 1.
“Atlanta should be capitalizing on this special relationship between the airlines,” he said during a telephone interview from the council’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. With some 180 members including Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, D. J. Miller & Associates and Goodworks International, the council is the leading U.S. business forum bringing American and African firms together.
Mr. Hayes particularly encouraged small- to medium-sized firms to seek out opportunities there, including “all forms of manufacturing, canning, health and medicine, and small-scale telecommunications projects.”
A distinct advantage that Atlanta has over other U.S. cities for doing business in Africa, he added, is former Mayor and Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, who is well known among African leaders. Nevertheless, he said, few Atlanta companies have sought to do business there.
For more information on the seminar, call Holly Balent at (404) 261-5763 or e-mail scis@souctr.org
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