Business & Money | Wednesday 26 October, 2016 5:45 pm |

For the first time ever in the GCC and the Arab World, Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA), in association with ADNAR Group, will be hosting the International Final for the 2016/2017 edition of the world’s largest simulation-based strategy and management competition, the ‘Global Management Challenge’ (GMC), in Doha. The Final will be played over two days in April, with the winning teams of each of the participating countries competing against one another.

The opening event will take place on April 10th 2017, under the patronage of Qatar’s Minister of Finance H.E. Mr. Ali Shareef Al Emadi, and the awards ceremony and gala dinner will be held under the auspices of the Deputy Governor of Qatar Central Bank H.E. Sheikh Fahad Faisal Al Thani.

Commenting on the unprecedented achievement, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Horr, CEO at QFBA, said:

“It is QFBA’s absolute honor to bring the International Final of the world-renowned ‘Global Management Challenge’, in partnership with ADNAR Group, to Qatar and the Arab World for the first time ever in the competition’s 36-year history. Not only will we witness the skillfulness and talents of some of tomorrow’s brightest business minds during the competing teams participation in the Finals, including the National Winner that will be representing Qatar, but we are also helping raise the status of Qatar as a strong regional supporter of skill-development and human capacity building initiatives and events, in line with the country’s National Vision for the year 2030, and in harmony with the Academy’s vision, mission, and core values. QFBA is determined to deliver a world-class event that matches, if not exceeds, previous GMC International Finals that were held in some of the world’s biggest capital cities, and we can’t wait to welcome the winning national teams to Doha next April.”

Echoing Dr. Al Horr’s remarks, Ms. Randa Haidar, Managing Director of ADNAR Group, said:

“As the Official Organizer of GMC in Qatar, ADNAR Group continues to be an active partner in raising the bar for professional talent development and promotion in the country and the region. This year, we are pleased to be collaborating once again with QFBA to mark a new milestone in this arena, as we prepare to welcome the International Final of the globally-acclaimed competition to Doha for the first time. As an establishment that with an extensive understanding of the various aspects of multinational and local business requirements and needs, ADNAR Group will do its absolute best to turn this extraordinary event into an extraordinary success.”

On his part, Mr. João Matoso Henriques, the Managing Director of the Global Management Challenge – International, commented:

“Since the concept of the competition emerged back in 1980 in Portugal, the Global Management Challenge has grown to be the world’s most highly respected and anticipated event of its kind. Over the years, we have tweaked, updated and perfected the competition to constantly reflect real-world trading conditions and business risks in order to present competitors with very realistic and complex business scenarios, with varied challenges and problems. This year, the GMC is bigger and better than ever before and auspiciously marks the debut of our International Final in the GCC, Arab World and the entire MENA region, and we are confident that we, in collaboration with QFBA and ADNAR Group, will bring professionals all over the world a first-class event that continues to play a vital role in promoting business and managerial talents as well as supporting human capacity building initiatives and efforts in this part of the world.”

Since its kick-off in 1980, the GMC has witnessed the participation of more than 500,000 contestants across 5 continents, with more than 40 countries participating the GMC finals every year, becoming the world’s biggest simulation-based Strategic & Management competition along the way.

At the core of the competition is an innovative platform built around simulation and strategy-based training models, where each of the teams competing in the National GMC manage a virtual company with the objective of achieving the highest investment performance for their company in a simulated stock exchange.

Conducted under conditions that mimic real-life global economic dynamics, the competition empowers participants with deep insights and an understanding of real marketplace changes, as well as firsthand experience in creating a practical corporate strategy, planning for contingency and a range of other key financial, operational and managerial decisions. An intelligent, sophisticated simulator then analyzes each team’s decisions and assigns a financial and operational score for the virtual company.

The team achieving the highest investment performance in their group, become eligible to move to the next round. Each of the first and semi-final rounds take five weeks to complete, before the National Winner is announced during the one-day National GMC Final. The National team that scores the highest investment performance during the two-day International Final is then crowned as the International GMC Winner of the Year.

Throughout its history, the GMC has been hosted in many of the world’s leading countries including Portugal, France, Poland, Czech Republic, and Russia. With Qatar hosting the 2016/2017 edition of the competition’s International Final, through QFBA and ADNAR Group, the month of April will mark GMC’s premiere in the GCC, Arab World and the entire MENA region.