Rob May, CEO, ABE Global

ABE is guided by a simple idea. We believe that the world is a better place when everyone has access to economic opportunity. This includes people starting their career and professionals seeking to expand their horizons and boost their earning power.

Since 1973, we have helped thousands of people to build a productive and prosperous life as an entrepreneur or executive, through the power of education. From the beginning, our outlook has been truly international. We ran our first exams in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and from there have grown into a leader in international business education. To date, over 3 million ABE exams have been sat.

ABE never sleeps, we have expanded our operations across four continents with a global team working across different time zones, and who are always ready to support our students and centres. We have always channelled most of our efforts towards low-and-middle income countries, where self-belief and ambition is often at its lowest, and where access to high quality international education is prohibitively

expensive. It has been our mission to empower people everywhere to believe in their potential, by making business skills and meaningful credentials more widely available. Most of the countries we entered decades ago are now achieving greater global economic relevance, and despite recent setbacks, they are rebounding towards a durable recovery based on corporate sector growth. I’m proud to reflect that ABE may have played a small part in this journey. Whilst academic achievement can be measured in a moment, the impact of the ABE experience is deep and lasting. Over time, ABE graduates have added significant value to their local communities and economies.

Our efforts to make the world a better place do not stop at offering professional qualifications. Just as the future of education and economic activity is being re-shaped, ABE is consistently re-imagining the scope of our learning offer. We provide a widening range of education solutions designed to ignite a lifelong journey of curiosity and learning from the school room to the board room.

We also want our students to broaden how they perceive the world around them. That’s why we launched the ABE Way manifesto to inspire a community of practice and progress, where learners commit to positive social change and can turn risk and fear into opportunity and security, by changing the way they think, feel, and act. The serious challenges in the world today remind us that these abilities are needed now more than ever.

As we reflect on ABE’s remarkable heritage, it is right to also celebrate our partnerships. ABE would not be here without the hundreds of delivery partners and accredited ABE centres which have shared our vision and commitment. To our loyal supporters we owe a debt of gratitude. It has been an honour to serve and lead ABE through a remarkable journey to rediscover the pioneering spirit which makes us unique amongst British awarding organisations. The challenge before us now is to embrace innovative ways of building economic capacity in our host countries and in the UK, so that we

may continue to provide skills and agency to thousands more young people over the next 50 years.