By Kristina Morris and Grant Wainscott
Fintech in Atlanta isn’t something new. It’s not some fad we decided to follow and claim expertise in. Our roots stretch back to 1969 when the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta partnered with the Georgia Institute of Technology on an electronic payments study. Out of that grew the market-defining Atlanta Automated Clearinghouse (ACH), and over the decades more and more payments and tech companies located here – today more than 170 fintech companies are either headquartered or have a significant presence in Georgia. Many of us living and working in Metro Atlanta and connected with the fintech industry have known this for years. We’ve worked to build a strong ecosystem, resulting in Atlanta quietly becoming a global hub for both payments and fintech.
Our time working in the shadows, however, is over, and the secret is out. Georgia is a top spot for corporate investment, talent pipeline and global opportunity in the fintech sector. It seems fitting then that on Tuesday October 6th, as part of the weeklong Fintech South event, our region will bring the world together to shine a spotlight on the Georgia fintech ecosystem and feature the best in fintech around the globe. The day will be organized into three world regions – EMEA, the Americas, and APAC – as we follow the sun for time zone-friendly participation by our international partners.
The morning will focus on Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the afternoon will feature both Latin America and Canada, and the evening moves the spotlight to Asia Pacific. Each segment opens with a series of interviews with representatives of our World Stage Partners from that region as they share what makes their fintech ecosystems vibrant and unique. From the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to the Fintech Association of Nigeria, to the Argentine Investment and International Trade Agency, to the Singapore FIntech Festival, our partners join us from all corners of the globe.
Each set of spotlight interviews are followed by three hours of amazing content featuring founders, CEOs and senior leaders from that region. While attendees take in this great content, they can also forge international fintech connections on our virtual event platform, including 1-on-1 networking at a virtual expo including booths for each of our World Stage Partners.
Amidst a global pandemic, when many of us would normally be traveling the world to physical conferences and one-on-one company meetings to help promote our businesses, effective opportunities to reach broad audiences are few and frankly difficult to navigate. The virtual format of this year’s Fintech South, however, provides a unique opportunity to engage a global audience like never before. Countries and regions are eager to build new ties, share their successes and challenges, highlight their companies and technology, and connect in new ways. This will only benefit metro Atlanta and Georgia’s reputation as a global connector and marketplace and allow for our fintech ecosystem to take center stage in one of the most important events of the year.
You can find out more about the October 6 World Stage, and about Fintech South overall, at https://www.fintechsouth.com/community/#theworld.
Kristina Morris is the Project Manager for FinTech Atlanta; Grant Wainscott is Vice President, Ecosystem Expansion at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. They serve as World Stage Co-Chairs for FinTech South.