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An annual program designed to showcase Georgia firms breaking into new global markets has recognized 17 exporters from around the state.
The 2021 GLOBE Awards, issued by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, honored companies that collectively expanded to 50 countries in pandemic-plagued 2020, overcoming supply chain challenges and shortages of critical inputs to find opportunities amid trade turbulence.
This year’s awardees also included two winners of the newly created Global Grit Award, which recognizes those firms that have found new markets and taken home GLOBE Awards in the last five consecutive years. These included Hydro Dynamics Inc., which makes equipment for extracting flavor from beverages, and Richland Distilling Co. in Richland, Ga. The makers of Richland Rum operate the only single-origin rum distillery in the continental U.S., made with sugarcane grown on their Georgia farm.
More than 80 percent of the GLOBE winners were small businesses, with more than 70 percent having tapped into the services of the department’s trade division. The department offers market research, matching with potential customers and partners abroad and space at trade shows to help Georgia companies market their products and services overseas. Twelve Georgia offices in 11 countries give a closer view of what’s happening on the ground.
This year’s winners also included for the second time “Exporters of the Year” in small, medium and large categories.
InnoConcepts, doing business as Cocoatown, took home the small exporter of the year award, a category for companies with 1-20 employees. The company has sold equipment to “choco-preneurs” — those making craft chocolate for resale — in more than 100 countries. The company is based in Alpharetta.
In the medium category, the winner was Quantum Aviation Solutions, which gets more than 85 percent of its revenues from overseas clients. The Gwinnett-based company, which helps airport with technology implementation, also won the Atlanta Metro Export Challenge in 2020.
The large exporter of the year was CentricsIT, which has offices in six countries and contracts in more than 90.
Most winners came from the metro Atlanta area, but others from throughout the state include DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment in Macon, Storm Water Systems in Cleveland and The Seydel Companies in Woodstock.
The full list of GLOBE winners is as follows:
- AGRI International LLC, Marietta
- Americo Manufacturing Inc., Acworth
- CentricsIT, Peachtree Corners
- DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment, Inc., Macon
- Emrgy Inc., Atlanta
- Hydro Dynamics, Inc., Rome
- Inno Concepts Inc. dba CocoaTown, Alpharetta
- Osborne Wood Products Inc., Toccoa
- Petrolern, LLC, Brookhaven
- Plurium Technologies, LLC, Peachtree Corners
- Quantum Aviation Solutions, Inc., Duluth
- Storm Water Systems, Cleveland
- The Seydel Companies, Pendergrass
- Trans Globe, Woodstock
- United Spirit of America, Peachtree City
- Universal VAT Services, Atlanta
- ZCorum, Alpharetta
