GaBiz Magazine is The Magazine for Georgia Business. The magazine is designed for Georgia C-Suite executives, business owners, entrepreneurs and those within Georgia’s economic development community. Georgia consistently ranks as the top state to do business and GaBiz was created to accentuate why Georgia remains a smart and strategic place to launch a business, grow a business or relocate a business. The magazine provides business leaders with relevant Georgia business news and resources, success stories of both small and large companies, while introducing those executives who play a key role in growing Georgia’s business ecosystem. GaBiz also serves as a calling card to any business looking to locate or expand to Georgia.
Why Georgia?
It’s really not meant to be a question so much as a rhetorical turn of phrase, an emphatic statement about Georgia’s record-setting pace of economic development announcements, its continued ranking as the number one state in which to do business, and the abundance of successful businesses, large and small, that call Georgia home.
For those of us who have chosen to live, work, and do business here, the reasons why are obvious—and many. The state boasts a diverse and well-trained workforce, access to the global markets via the Port of Savannah and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a world-class university system, and an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is the envy of other states, as well as an unmatched quality of life.
As we prepared to go to press with GaBiz, Governor Brian Kemp announced record-breaking economic development projects for the first half of fiscal year 2022, resulting in nearly 24,400 new jobs and $9.8 billion investment in Georgia. That pace continues, as new announcements roll out weekly.
Concurrently, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) delivered its annual State of the Port address. The numbers were staggering: During 2021, Georgia Ports moved a record 5.6 million TEUS (20-foot equivalent container units), capping 18 consecutive months of growth for GPA. Executive Director Griff Lynch also detailed plans that include expanding the port’s container capacity by 60 percent in coming years.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, along with strategic partners across the state, are working to ensure Georgia’s record pace for business expansion, relocation, and growth will continue unabated. Economic development is economic growth. Business investment in Georgia leads to increased, better paying jobs for all Georgians, in all parts of our state. Working together and serving as ambassadors for our great state will lead to us continuing our reign as the number one state to do business. In doing so, we are laying the foundation of prosperity for the next generation of Georgians.
We look forward to hearing your success stories and meeting business owners and workers who form the backbone of our state’s economy. While this first edition is an annual, GaBiz magazine has exciting plans for the future, and we’re eager to share this journey with you. Through gabizmagazine.com, our digital newsletter, social media channels, events, and much more, our team will continue to engage with the state’s business community. We’re excited to be the magazine for Georgia business.
Sean McGinnis, President & Publisher
It’s almost impossible to think of all the Georgia-based businesses I interact with on a regular basis, from the Peachtree Road Farmers Market where I stock up on veggies, to Mailchimp, which makes sure all the news finds my inbox, to Georgia Power, which keeps my lights on. In the months spent working on this inaugural issue of GaBiz, I’ve developed a deeper appreciation for both our state’s business-friendly culture and the leaders who call Georgia home. Starting a business takes courage, and the daily management of staff, vendors, funders, and a thousand other factors is a study in perseverance and resilience.
For every success story we’ve been able to report in this first issue, there were a dozen more placed in the queue for future editions. Each in their own way addresses the question posed in Michael Jacobs’s story, “Why Georgia?”. You’ll learn that the answers range from our state’s cutting-edge agriculture technology to sheer, radical entrepreneurial momentum to the pride of lineage that binds multigenerational family businesses.
Like so many of the companies that have stood the test of time in Georgia, GaBiz is here to stay—with endless stories yet to be told. We hope you’ll enjoy, whether you’re a business leader yourself, a customer of some of the more than 100 companies featured on these pages, or simply someone dreaming of all the possibilities Georgia holds for you.
Jennifer Bradley Franklin, Editor in Chief
