Five Countries, Three Continents: Global Atlanta Travels in 2024

Global Atlanta is a decidedly local news platform — with a unique wrinkle. Our news stories always have a Georgia connection, but we also require an international link as we seek to understand how our city and state are connected to (and affected by) the world. 

Mostly, that means simply keeping our heads up and observing the ripple effects of global trends around us. But when we’re lucky, we’re able to go abroad to understand at the source how Georgia companies are making their way in the world and how Atlanta’s international relationships are developing in real-time. 

In 2024, we were fortunate enough to do so in five countries on three continents, returning to the travel frequency we enjoyed before the pandemic. 

We’ve also formalized this into a product offering: our Global Atlanta Dispatches are special reports that partners and sponsors can commission, sending us as temporary correspondents to tell the story of Georgia’s links with particular places, whether for a trade mission or a more organic exploration.

Jump to: Taiwan | Africa – Three Countries | Ireland

Taiwan — Smart Cities

Michal Jensby of our team has a unique connection to Taiwan. Her grandmother, now living in Texas, hails from there, and she has leaned into that heritage throughout her career, studying Mandarin at university, teaching in Taipei and later completing a family documentary for her master’s degree at Georgia Tech that required her to travel to the island multiple times. 

When an opportunity arose to cover a smart-cities conference in Taipei that was to be attended by Georgia municipal leaders, we seized the chance to send her back. 

Supported by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta, Michal was joined by Maija Ehlinger from our editorial partners at Hypepotamus on the trip, and combined, our two publications produced six stories that were cross-published both sites, showing how the Taiwan Computer Association was fashioning its electronics sector into a strategic advantage. 

Michal interacted with the mayors of Woodstock and Warner Robins, who took home awards at the event, partly for projects undertaken with the Georgia-based Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, also represented on the trip. Michal also met up with the Georgia Tech alumni association of Taiwan and gained insight into how chip-maker TSMC is integrating a smart-city strategy into its Arizona investments. I offered writing support from Atlanta based on her solid reporting. 

Quite by accident, she had an impromptu demonstration of Taiwan’s capabilities in this sector when police used a network of public cameras to help locate her cell phone left in a cab on her first night in-country. 

• Read more on our Taiwan Channel

Africa — Three Countries

Following landmark developments this spring in Atlanta’s relationship with Africa, 2024 became an unavoidable moment time to bring Global Atlanta back to the continent for the first time in about a decade. 

Utilizing the air network of our partners at Ethiopian Airlines, we were able to visit three countries, two of which had selected Atlanta as a strategic gateway for their interactions with the U.S., with high-level gestures to back up their intentions to grow trade and investment links. 

In March, U.S. Ambassador Reuben Brigety II brought an influential delegation of business and government leaders from South Africa for Atlanta Phambili. Mr. Brigety’s brainchild, the program is designed to make Atlanta the “focal point” of U.S.-South Africa relations, which he saw as needing a positive anchor rooted in business and human rights as the countries diverged on geopolitical issues.

In May, Kenyan President William Ruto stopped in Atlanta first on a state visit that eventually took him to Washington. We covered his speech at the Carter Center emphasizing the empowerment of citizens in African democracies. 

The topic would prove ironic given the demonstrations that were set to break out in his country, in part due to outrage over expenditures over what many saw as an unnecessarily expensive trip. Kenya this summer was gripped by nationwide protests over the so-called finance bill, a tax package ostensibly aimed at cutting the national debt. Young Kenyans weren’t having it, though, feeling that Mr. Ruto and his cronies were enriching themselves even as job opportunities and investment became more scarce.

I found myself caught in the protests as I came back into Nairobi from Nyandarua County, a rural area two hours from the capital aiming to build a relationship with Georgia on the back of the president’s visit here.

On June 25, the day I flew out, 19 people were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters storming the parliament building. Mr. Ruto eventually replaced his entire cabinet in a bid to smooth things over, but protests continued for weeks after I left, and things remain tense. 

South Africa was a bit more tame, as I visited Johannesburg to check up on the Kaizer Chiefs soccer team, which has a historical connection to Atlanta through its founder. I also learned about a Georgia business that builds custom Land Rovers and exports them to buyers in the U.S. Lastly, I looked into various Morehouse College, Emory and Georgia State University links.    

In Cape Town, I learned how shoe brand Veldskoen was deepening its U.S. presence through Atlanta and how Wesgro, the Western Cape’s trade and investment agency, was partnering with the Atlanta Black Chambers. I also visited Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned 18 of the 27 years he spent behind bars, to better understand the sacrifices of the anti-apartheid struggle. It was moving, to say the least.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens would make a reciprocal visit to South Africa in December, hoping to solidify the initiative just before the departure of Mr. Brigety from his post as the new U.S. administration takes office in January. 

On the way in, I stopped over in Addis Ababa, taking advantage of an Ethiopian Airlines program for transfer travelers to add a third country to the trip. In one short day, I visited Unity Park on a tour, met up with the leader of Emory University’s Ethiopia office, and toured the factory of a leather entrepreneur who’d spent time in Atlanta as part of the Young African Leaders Initiative. I capped the night off with dinner at Yod Abyssinia cultural restaurant and retired to the airline’s posh Skylight Hotel. 

Ireland — Football Opens Doors

My final trip of the year was in August to Ireland, as Georgia Tech played its second football game in Dublin, returning eight years after its initial appearance in the Aer Lingus Football Classic to face Florida State. 

Demonstrating unbounded editorial impartiality (wink-wink), this University of Georgia graduate found himself rooting (just a bit) for Tech as it pulled off an upset to go 2-0 across the pond. 

More importantly, the match opened doors for business and educational collaborations. We covered a chamber of commerce meeting at the headquarters of fintech giant Stripe, sports tech companies highlighted by Enterprise Ireland, and a speech by Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera at Trinity College. 

I also traveled southeast by bus to Wexford, Savannah’s partner city, to better understand how its TradeBridge initiative is developing with help from Georgia Southern University and steadfast focus by the Savannah Economic Development Authority. 

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So, what’s in store for 2025? 

So far, we have one Dispatch planned to the Czech Republic in partnership with the honorary consulate here, and we’re planning a Jan. 30 event that will showcase opportunities for investment and engagement in the Central European country. 

But we’re open to doing a few more trips throughout the year with the right partners. Interested in sending us abroad to shine the light on a country of interest? Learn what our services, including our Dispatches, can do for you.

Until then, keep traveling.