You could move your headquarters or expand your operations anywhere you want. Here is why the State of Georgia is worth a serious look.

The nation’s No.1 Business Climate and No.1 Most Competitive State. The fastest-growing port in America. The busiest and most efficient airport in the world. A highly skilled and competitive workforce. It is no wonder why companies like JCB, GlaxoSmith Kline, Drax Biomass and InterContinental Hotels Group call Georgia home.

With a population of 9.99 million, Georgia’s global presence is both significant and real. More than 3000 international companies own and maintain facilities and offices in the state. 72 nations operate consulates, trade offices and bi-national chambers of commerce in Georgia, including the British-American Business Group in Atlanta, and the state’s Department of Economic Development has 11 offices located throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas.

Seventeen Fortune 500 headquarters call Georgia home, including the Coca-Cola Company, the Home Depot, UPS, Delta Air Lines, AFLAC, Southern Company, SunTrust Bank, NCR and Newell Rubbermaid.

CONNECTIONS
You can get there – anywhere – from here. Access to new markets is exceptional. Companies in Georgia can reach more than 75 countries and 150 US cities every day from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. More than 80 per cent of US markets are within a two-hour flight and two-days or less by truck.

Georgia has two deep-water ports, Savannah and Brunswick, which serve all major ocean carriers and 100-plus trucking companies. Savannah is the fourth largest and fastest-growing container port in the US for the past 10 years – and is a major reason Georgia now ranks No.2 nationally in exports. With 5000 miles of rail track, Georgia also has the largest rail network in the south eastern United States.

KNOWLEDGE
Georgia’s Department of Economic Development has in-house experts in more than a dozen industries who provide an outside perspective on expansion strategies and growth opportunities. They will also provide you with a wealth of data on wages, tax breaks, incentives and business costs. Think of each as an industry concierge serving your company. Georgia’s Centres of Innovation help provide growing companies direct access to university research, commercialisation resources, matching grants and potential investors in six industry clusters.

WORKFORCE
Georgia has an abundance of high-quality, affordable labour. The state has the second-lowest union membership rate in the US – 4 per cent of employed – and Georgia is a right-to-work state. Georgia Quick Start is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top-ranked workforce development programmes.

Quick Start provides customised training free-of-charge to qualified companies and major corporations from Kia to Caterpillar have reaped its benefits.

Take a closer look at Georgia. Seeing is believing. So we invite you to see Georgia and all that it can do for your company.