Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA), in cooperation with Adnar Group, is hosting the 34th International Competition for the Global Management Challenge (GMC) in Doha.

The event which opened yesterday (April 10) will conclude tomorrow (April 12).

The opening ceremony was held under the patronage of the Minister of Finance Ali Shareef Al Emadi, and an awards ceremony will be held under the auspices of Sheikh Fahad Bin Faisal Al Thani, deputy governor of Qatar Central Bank, said a statement from QFBA.

The 2016 edition of GMC’s International Final will see strong competition between teams from countries including Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Kuwait, Macao, Mexico , Morocco, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Slovak Republic, Spain, and the UAE, it said.

The GMC was founded in Portugal in 1980 and today it is the world's largest strategy and management competition, hosted in more than 30 countries. The GMC was launched in Qatar in 2013 and was organised by Adnar Group in partnership with QFBA.

The competing teams have previously won the championship title in their homeland or regionally, and are now participating in Doha to compete for the international title. The winning team will be announced tomorrow (April 12).

During two days of intensive work, the competing teams - managers, students, and mixed teams (students and managers) - will make every effort to win the international title. On the first day, the semi-finals will take place, where the participating teams will be divided into four groups.

They will be given information about the company they will manage, and they should make five sets of decisions that day. In the final round, which starts the following day, the best two teams from each group will compete, and the best of the eight finalists will be crowned as the International GMC Winner of the Year.

This will be the first time for Qatar to host the GMC International Finals. In recent years, the winners of the international finals have been from Eastern European countries, especially Russia and Ukraine. While Macau won the prestigious title in the 2007 edition, the People's Republic of China claimed the title several times and is one of the strongest competitors.

Recent improvements to the competition have made it a more realistic simulation. Among the new decisions that have been introduced that affect the end result is stock issuance, raising interest in environmental impact, and increasing investment in HR training. Now the winner is selected according to new criteria; the best investment performance achieved at the end of the simulation.

Randa Haidar, managing director of Adnar Group, said: “This year, we are delighted to be collaborating with QFBA once again towards achieving a new milestone in this field as we prepare to host the international finals of the renowned global competition in Doha for the first time.”

“As an enterprise, we realise the different aspects of the requirements and needs of international and local businesses. Which is why, Adnar Group will make every effort to transform this exceptional event into an extraordinary success,” he said.

Dr Abdul Aziz Al Horr, CEO of QFBA (organizing partner), said: “Our organisation aims to deliver a global event that brings added value to the previous GMC International Finals that took place in some of the world's largest capitals, and we are very excited to welcome the winning national teams in Doha.”

The organisation of this event for the first time in the region is a great opportunity for the international organisation, having been previously held in Macao, Czech Republic, Russia, Romania, Ukraine and Poland.

Highlighting the importance of the competition in Qatar, Luis Alves Costa, the Global Management Challenge founder and responsible of the international organising committee said: “We are very interested in setting up the finals in Doha, which marks the first time this event has been held in an Arab country, and is something we are delighted about and proud of.”

“As the founders of the challenge, we are pleased to invite the winning national teams from 23 countries from around the world to compete in Doha,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service