In the latest Tech Talks Business session, Donnie Beamer Jr., senior technology advisor for the City of Atlanta, joined forces with Eldrid Jordaan, South Africa’s GovChat founder, to explore the intersection of civic technology, entrepreneurship, and social impact.
Dean Anuj Mehrotra centered the conversation on how cities like Atlanta can become thriving tech hubs by fostering public-private partnerships that support local talent and increase purpose-driven innovation investment.
Building Atlanta’s Tech Future
Beamer, a Georgia Tech alumnus and former tech entrepreneur, shared his journey from Wall Street to civic innovation. His mission in the mayor’s office is clear: Make Atlanta a place where technology is not only used to improve city services but also built by local entrepreneurs motivated to make these improvements across the entire city.
Speaking to the Georgia Tech students in the audience, Beamer emphasized, “You are the talent that we want to keep here. You can help solve the brain drain by creating opportunities for innovation right in our backyard.”
He highlighted initiatives like Velocity, Georgia Tech’s new startup accelerator, designed to propel deep-tech innovation and change the culture around entrepreneurship.
“Velocity can help someone take an idea from the back of a napkin to a stage where they can engage with VC funding,” Beamer said. “We hope that the historic Biltmore building that houses Velocity will be crawling with entrepreneurs in the coming months.”
GovChat: A Story of Purpose and Resilience
Jordaan shared a powerful story of perseverance. After the shutdown of Africa’s pioneering messaging platform Mxit in 2016, he founded GovChat to bridge the gap between citizens and government. Despite facing personal and financial hardship, he secured a $1 million investment that transformed GovChat into Africa’s largest civic engagement platform, serving over 15 million users during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three pillars drove Jordaan’s work to ensure GovChat’s success:
- Co-creation and partnerships with government and civil society
- Accessibility-first design, integrating with platforms like WhatsApp
- Trust and data privacy, ensuring citizens’ information was protected
Jordaan’s journey underscored the importance of purpose-driven entrepreneurship. “I understood my purpose from the beginning,” he shared. “Many tech companies and many entrepreneurs do it for money. I would like to change that narrative. Don’t chase money. Chase your purpose. That was my success story.”
AI and the Future of Work
Dean Mehrotra guided the conversation to the impact of AI on jobs and government services. Beamer and Jordaan agreed that while AI may disrupt certain roles, it also offers opportunities to streamline services, improve access, and create new jobs.
Beamer encouraged the audience to fill the gaps created where automation and service quality meet. “These types of disruptions have occurred and will continue to occur,” he explained. “The ATM is an example of a technology that many thought would eliminate the need for a bank teller. Instead, ATMs allow the teller to do more important, high-value work.”
Jordaan emphasized AI’s role in unifying fragmented government systems. “Traditionally, government systems have operated in silos,” he said. “What we were able to achieve with the help of AI was to integrate these fragmented systems, giving us a unified view of each citizen. Now, through a digital ID, a citizen can access their health records, apply for a passport or driver’s license, enroll their children in school, and more – all from a single platform.
AI can play a crucial role in helping governments make sense of complex data by mapping out institutional processes and challenges, so that data becomes more accessible and actionable. AI is not here to replace the workforce.”
Final Takeaway
The event concluded with a call to action to invest in people, build with purpose, and use technology to uplift communities. “Public, private partnerships can create pathways to innovation and success,” Beamer said. “Atlanta’s tech future is a group project, and we’re all in it together.”