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Sometimes flying halfway around the world can be the best way to deepen local business connections.
That’s the lesson from the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce’s more than 15 years of leading overseas trips, from investment recruitment missions to reward trips to Rome and Dublin to the recently launched Embark program.
Billed as “an experiential travel program designed to foster cultural enrichment and relationship-building among executives,” Gwinnett had planned Embark to take off in early 2022, but a COVID spike in India and a drone strike in the United Arab Emirates derailed those plans.
This February, the trip that the chamber envisioned for its Chairman’s Club members was finally a go.
“What we were trying to create was a bucket-list trip,” Gwinnett Chamber CEO Nick Masino said in a March interview.
The itinerary mixed the glitz of Dubai’s futuristic architecture and shopping with desert dune-bashing and camel rides, complemented by cultural experiences like a visit to Abu Dhabi’s largest mosque.
India, the second leg of the trip, included an excursion to the Taj Mahal in Agra, fulfilling a lifelong dream for one family who joined, the Keitts of ARK Temporary Staffing. Read their story from the trip here
Many remarked on the contrasts of the ultra-modern UAE with India, an ancient civilization that is already estimated with the world’s largest population and huge economic momentum amid geopolitical shifts.
In both locales (Dubai and Delhi) the group met with U.S. diplomats to get an on-the-ground view on local business opportunities and policy matters.
Embark was not cheap — the $6,550 starting price came on top of the $5,000 in dues that Chairman’s Club members pay the chamber annually. Many also sit on the chamber’s 150-strong board, which requires its own set of annual dues.
These members could easily travel on their own, but joining the chamber trip was a natural step given how central it has been to their business life, Mr. Masino said.
Experience — as well as surveys conducted after strategic leadership visits to other U.S. cities — has taught the CEO that the biggest draw for chamber trips is not the destination, but the networking it fosters.
“In all the surveys, people say, ‘I want to go to a cool place, I want to learn, but it’s about the people on the trip,’” Mr. Masino said.
Travel provides a shortcut to getting acquainted with influential members of the community, especially the Strategic Leadership Visits the chamber leads to other cities around the U.S.
“When you’re having breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days with the county chair, the superintendent and all the who’s who in business, you know everybody,” he said. “Then people get a little addicted to it and are like, ‘What’s next?’”
The chamber delegates did squeeze in some business promotion. While in India, Mr. Masino signed a memorandum of understanding with the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce that will see the group bring showcases of textiles and other products to Gwinnett for the next five years.
The chamber is also hoping to foster tourism ties with India, from which the county has a large diaspora population. Prabha “Pabs” Raghava of Gwinnett-based Tours Ltd. handled the on-the-ground arrangements for the group.
After returning, the chamber led a large group to Barcelona in April and then took a small delegation to explore water technologies and research collaborations in the Netherlands.
Next year, the chamber is eyeing South America for Embark but Mr. Masino said the 2024 destination is not yet finalized.
“What we’ve learned is, all you need is a good Delta flight, a good hotel, and a good on-the-ground person to help you with the excursions.”
Learn more about Embark at www.GwinnettChamber.org/ChairmansClub
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