ABE Impact Report

OUR IMPACT IN 2024 Developing skills for business, entrepreneurialism & leadership.

We measure success by the difference we make.

ABE Global is an internationally renowned awarding organisation that has been at the forefront of developing business education since we were founded as the Association of Business Executives, in 1973.

We are not-for-profit and our mission is to empower people to transform their lives and communities through gaining high-quality business, leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

Our vision is of a world where everyone has inclusive access to economic opportunity, and everyone benefits from responsible globalization and trade. We offer qualifications and courses in the further education and higher education sectors. Over the last five decades, we have built a network of international partners across four continents to help us deliver our mission. Together we develop skills that support businesses, empower individuals, reduce gender inequality and tackle extreme poverty.

Our work with schools develops business and entrepreneurial know-how in children whilst our network of high-quality accredited TVET centres, enables adults to become professionally qualified business practitioners at any age or stage in their career, frequently providing a pathway to a university degree for people to whom it would not otherwise have been accessible. Since we started, around 1.5-million people globally have gained an ABE professional business qualification.

We also provide bespoke capacity-building programmes and produce leading-edge research and policy recommendations which support the communities we serve by helping to shape and strengthen education systems and creating the best conditions for businesses to flourish.

In 2023 we became an independent subsidiary of The Institute of Leadership (IoL) a charity founded in 1947 dedicated to unlocking leadership potential. This has enabled us to increase our impact further by providing our communities with access to the latest thinking in leadership best practice, mentorship and career support.

Our mission is to empower people to transform their lives and communities through gaining high-quality business, leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

We produce leading-edge research and policy recommendations which support the communities we serve.

Our guiding principles.

ABE believes business should be a force for good, and innovation closely aligned to economic success and wider prosperity. With over fifty years of focus on business skills and education, plus countless personal testimonies, we know first-hand how business and entrepreneurship can change lives, lift people out of poverty and improve the economic outlook for communities and countries.

As an organisation, ABE cares about an open inclusive market economy where everyone can benefit from responsible globalisation and trade. To support this we have codified the principles of our business and our wider community of stakeholders and called it The ABE way.

Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals is central to our guiding mission. Aligned to this, we have created an Environmental and Social Impact Pledge, which commits ABE as an organisation to best practice for our people and our planet. We are leveraging the power and commitment of our global delivery partners by inviting them to join forces with us as Social and Environmental Impact Partners. Working together, we can increase our impact and help to deliver real positive change.

In the following pages, you will see how ABE is not just an organisation that provides qualifications. We are working for the communities we serve to develop skills that will enable individuals and communities to thrive and ultimately create a safer more prosperous future for everyone.

The ABE Way is a sense of pride in your community and a promise to transform lives, creating a more prosperous future fur all. It’s a refusal to change your plans... and having a plan to change our world. #ABEway

Supporting better futures for children in rural South Africa.

KHULA Education works in schools in an area of rural South Africa which suffers from high unemployment.

A key challenge is an education system which focuses heavily on academic learning for traditional career pathways, whilst growing evidence highlights the importance of entrepreneurship skills when jobs are scarce. In poorer rural areas where resources are stretched, vital skills such as critical thinking, presentation, and communication are not developed, leaving these students disadvantaged.

KHULA selected ABE to address this challenge with the KidsMBA initiative.

Based on the subjects of an MBA qualification, KidsMBA is a 16-week programme that makes business principles accessible and equips students as young as 12, with the entrepreneurial skills and qualities needed to compete effectively in business.

After receiving weekly coaching from KHULA teachers, with additional support from the University of KZN’s School of Accounting, Economics, and Finance, students team up to develop their own small business ideas, culminating in their final presentations to a ‘Shark Tank’ or ‘Dragons’ Den’ style panel of judges, which acts as a summative assessment. The winning team from each school receives R2,000 to launch their idea in the real world.

KHULA reports that children displayed a clear increase in self-confidence, critical thinking, teamwork skills and creativity. The quality and variety of ideas from the students, has been impressive, especially considering that most are learning about business and economics for the first time. KHULA has also reported that participants are applying their learning to make significant improvements in other subject areas.

ABE Business and Entrepreneurship Clubs supporting economic development.

To support our belief that every child should have access to entrepreneurial education, we have set up free business and entrepreneurship clubs. These introduce children to the concept of generating their own income and developing the adaptable entrepreneurial mindset that supports economic prosperity. ABE clubs were launched in 2024 through schools across Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. By December, 6,000 young people had engaged with them.

In Kenya, we have worked with local government to offer ABE holiday clubs as part of an initiative aimed at addressing specific problems associated with the extended holiday break for teenagers. These include not returning to school after the holiday and increased instances of teenage pregnancies.

The Entrepreneurship and Employability Skills Training programme is a collaborative effort between ABE and the County Government of Kilifi. It offers students comprehensive entrepreneurship education as part of a deliberate strategy to equip its young people for a future that values business creation and innovation, providing them with ample opportunities for economic development and social impact within the community.

Deputy County Governor, Flora Mbetsa Chibule, said the programme marks the beginning of a promising journey for our future leaders.

ABE Ambassadors supporting self belief and retention.

We identified self-doubt as a significant factor in limiting academic attainment and causing people to abandon higher education, especially girls and young women.

To address this, we created the ABE Ambassadors initiative. Our Ambassadors are alumni who have achieved success in their careers and are passionate about sharing their experiences and knowledge with others. They come from diverse backgrounds, have unique stories to tell and are at different career stages. They show new learners that people just like themselves can get qualifications and go on to get good jobs and financial independence.

As a group they share The ABE Way principle of giving back, achieving their potential and encouraging others to do the same. They freely give their time to inspire those who are at the beginning of their learning journey and they use their own experience to encourage others to believe in themselves and reach their true potential.

The ABE Ambassadors role includes attending special events and graduations and mentoring. The initiative is designed to reduce the number of young people abandoning study part way through, with learners feeling inspired to believe in their potential.

ABE club participants at Jaffrey Institute of Professional Studies, Kenya

Supporting education continuity in troubled times.

When the military coup took place in Myanmar in 2021, it led to civil unrest causing many UK awarding organisations to withdraw operations from the country. However, we believe our mission is to help young people gain the skills to build a better future wherever they are. And, in times of difficulty, this mission is more vital than ever.

We supported our centres and local team so they could continue delivering qualifications, switching to online when travel became too dangerous.

Through our partnership with the University of Hertfordshire, we facilitated access to a UK degree. Again, this was delivered online at a fraction of the usual cost making it more attainable in the face of severe currency devaluation.

Being able to complete education up to degree level provides young Burmese people with greater opportunity to support themselves, build a more prosperous future and the potential to get work in other countries.

We also work with local schools to encourage enterprise teaching, and have hosted an open seminar to discuss the issue. Schools in Myanmar embraced the opportunity to deliver entrepreneurship and have won the international Future Entrepreneur of the Year for two years running, with $1,000 seed fund money awarded to the young winner.

Helping to tackle data poverty in Malawi.

It is estimated that internet penetration in Malawi is around 28% and few people have access to home technology. This is putting learners in Malawi at a disadvantage.

Aside from difficulties around researching and writing assignments, if its young people didn’t have the opportunity to become computer literate, Malawi businesses would struggle to compete in the global economy.

To help address the problem, ABE donated a suite of computers to its accredited centres thereby increasing access to e-learning and technology. The donation will also support computer literacy and the Malawi government’s agenda to embrace digital transformation and build an economy that thrives on information technology.

ABE is committed to improving, promoting, and expanding access to economic opportunity around the world.

Holding ourselves accountable.

We hold ourselves accountable with annual surveys of learners and alumni.

These are an opportunity for learners to provide feedback and for us to ensure that we are continuing to meet the needs of our stakeholders.

We have active members in 44 countries, with centres located in 30. Our largest markets are in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Africa. Each market has its own characteristics. The biggest single age group is 21. Despite their young age, the majority of our learners are working with just 13% able to study full-time.

Going on to a Bachelors was the planned next step for 51%, We also have significant numbers of older learners (33% age 30 or older) who are studying ABE to enhance their career or become better at their job. This often includes people who have degrees in other areas but who feel the business management expertise developed by ABE qualifications would help them in their management role. The female gender bias is 67%.

2024 highlights High levels of satisfaction: Our learners are at all ages and stages of their career and our qualifications appeal to people in hugely varied circumstances, hence their international portability. Our 2024 student recommendation score is 97% , with learners and alumni saying ABE has made them more confident that they can achieve their long-term goals.

Growth in our global reach: New college accreditations have grown by 90% year-on-year. New operations have begun in Rwanda, India, Nepal, Singapore, Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia

New benefits for ABE learners: opportunities afforded by being part of the Institute of Leadership (IoL) were realised this year when we were able to offer free studying membership of IoL to all ABE students, plus a discounted offer for alumni who, on achieving ABE Level 5, automatically qualify for Member status.

UtilisingThe Institute of Leadership expertise, we were proud to launch the ABE Level 5 Diploma in Business Management and Leadership.

The qualification addresses the need for a contemporary skills-focused approach to modern leadership underpinned by a solid knowledge of business strategy.

Other new qualifications are in the final stages of development for launch in Q1 2025.

We have been at the forefront of business education for five decades.

www.abeuk.com

info@abeuk.com

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