The Southern Center for International Studies Young Professionals are stepping out from their role in hosting monthly speakers to organize an all-day conference focusing on global emerging economies.
The young professionals are a group of Southern Center members in their 20s and 30s, but the Globalization & Emerging Economies Conference is open to businesspeople of all ages at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School May 17.
The group organizes a monthly speaker series at the center that has hosted businesspeople and government officials including former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil and Lee Tae-Sik, South Korea’s ambassador to the U.S.
Members of the committee organizing the conference told GlobalAtlanta that it is to be the young professionals’ largest project, and their first conference, to date.
“There are a lot of conferences in Atlanta on one country or another, but not on the topic of emerging markets in general,” said Phillip Morley, the conference committee’s marketing director.
The conference is to focus on six countries emerging as economic leaders in their respective regions: Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.
Conference Chair Anitha Vadavatha said that those countries provide the strongest examples of growing economies worldwide.
“Emerging markets are increasingly competing head-on with developed nations and playing a role in global economics,” she said.
Ms. Vadavatha said that the program is designed to give both a broad perspective of emerging markets and practical knowledge on doing business in the target countries.
“We want attendees to get an understanding of both the macroeconomic factors and the due diligence if they want to enter that market,” she said.
Mr. Morley said that the young professionals chose to study emerging markets and increasing globalization because they see them as having the greatest future impact on their business careers.
“How do you compete in a global economy? That’s something everyone’s dealing with on a daily basis,” he said.
Ms. Vadavatha said that committee members collaborated on inviting speakers to the conference, including company executives, academics, binational chambers of commerce representatives and government officials.
Keynote speakers are Dennis Lockhart, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Jagdish Sheth, professor of marketing at Atlanta’s Goizueta Business School and founder of the India, China and America Institute, an organization promoting two of the highlighted countries.
Visit the young professionals’ Web site below to register for the full day or an evening program.
