Fintech PR
New Survey Finds Aspiring Business Students Embrace Learning to Think Strategically–with Help from AI
GMAC’s latest global survey of business school candidates also finds increasing importance of ROI as the tech sector’s lure fades.
RESTON, Va., April 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Individuals looking to enter business schools overwhelmingly say they want to learn how to think strategically and problem solve, according to the latest annual survey of global prospective students to business school released today by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). And with nearly half of prospective students reporting artificial intelligence (AI) as part of their ideal curriculum, candidates are expecting hands-on experience utilizing AI for strategy and decision-making.
“Employers have consistently informed us that they value hallmark skills like strategic thinking and problem-solving. Once again, we found that prospective students are on the same page with their future employers,” says Joy Jones, CEO at GMAC. “Employers have also identified socio-emotional skills as critical to becoming a business leader, presenting a great opportunity for business schools to encourage their current and future students to take advantage of the embedded opportunities to hone and highlight teamwork, adaptability, and emotional intelligence in their educational and career journeys.”
MBA reigns supreme with interest in business master’s on the rise.
As more business schools launch new and increasingly specialized master’s programs, candidates have taken notice. Compared to the previous year, there has been a significant jump in the share of candidates who prefer business master’s degrees. Even though preference for the MBA dipped slightly, roughly half of global business candidates still consider it their top choice. A deeper dive into the shift reveals that pre-experience candidates as well as those aged 30 and over are more inclined to apply for business master’s programs than before.
“For the more seasoned professionals seeking to pivot their career or college students contemplating becoming an accountant or marketeer, a relatively shorter and specialized business program could be an ideal educational path,” says Martin Boehm, executive vice president and global dean of undergraduate programs at Hult International Business School and a GMAC board director.
The survey also showed that more people are expressing preference for in-person business education programs—either full-time or part-time in format—reversing a multi-year trend of growing popularity of hybrid and flexible programs since the inception of the pandemic.
Labor market uncertainty impacts ROI considerations, desired industries.
Cost remains a top barrier for candidates to get graduate business degrees no matter where they are located or how advanced they are in their career. Today’s economic and employment outlook has heightened people’s awareness around opportunity cost and return of their investment. In fact, ROI remains prospective students’ most considered factor when researching GME, with a noticeable increase in how many survey respondents say this is among their most important aspects of choosing a business school.
The uncertainty also reflects in the industry they are looking to enter upon graduation. While consulting, financial services, and technology still top the list, there has been a small but statistically significant dip in candidate interest in the tech sector. This is likely related to a challenging year for major tech companies, where recent layoffs hit hard not just the technical engineer positions but also more business-oriented roles in marketing and talent recruitment.
Global economy and geopolitical intricacies influence study destinations.
Study destination preferences of global candidates have remained steady over the past five years, with the United States and Western Europe continuing to occupy the top spots for students intending to study abroad. At the same time, affordability and being closer to home are deciding factors among candidates who want to study in regions like Asia, the Middle East, and Africa—where rising inflation and fluctuating currency exchange rates have dominated recent headlines.
“As the global economy becomes increasingly uncertain, we’re seeing candidates from around the world seeking out the value for money, unique perspectives, and hands-on experience with complex problems they can gain by studying in regions with young populations and fast-growing, dynamic markets,” says Catherine Duggan, director (dean) of the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and chair-elect of the GMAC Board.
About the Prospective Student Survey
With 15 years of survey responses representing all world regions, the GMAC Prospective Students Survey has provided the world’s graduate business schools with critical insights into the decision-making processes of people currently considering applying to a graduate management education program. This year’s summary report analyzes 2024 data from 4,912 respondents across 147 countries—45 percent female and 67 percent Gen Z—offering insights into evolving candidate decision-making to guide business school strategies. The full report with additional findings is available on gmac.com.
About GMAC
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry as well as resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.
More than 13 million prospective students a year trust GMAC’s websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master’s programs. BusinessBecause and GMAC Tours are subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
To learn more about our work, please visit www.gmac.com
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HANGZHOU, China, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Hikvision has announced its full-year financial results for 2024 and first-quarter results for 2025. In 2024, the company reported total revenue of RMB 92.496 billion, marking a 3.53% year‑over‑year (YoY) growth. In the first quarter of 2025, the company reported revenue of RMB 18.532 billion, up 4.01% YoY. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached RMB 2.039 billion, reflecting a 6.41% YoY increase.
Over the past two decades, Hikvision has established itself as a global security leader, developing a robust AIoT ecosystem encompassing over 30,000 products. Today, the company remains committed to steady and solid progress, navigating uncertainties with a positive and prudent approach. It maintained its leading position in the domestic security market while seeking growth from overseas markets and innovative businesses. With profitability as a central focus, the company is driving organizational transformation and refining management practices to support long-term, sustainable growth. Notably, Hikvision is at the forefront of leveraging breakthroughs in large-scale AI model technologies to accelerate scenario-based digitalization across diverse industries.
Throughout the past year, the company strengthened its overseas presence, with main business revenue from international markets rising to RMB 25.989 billion, accounting for 28.10% of total revenue and reflecting an 8.39% YoY growth. Hikvision’s overseas revenue spans over 180 countries and regions, with developing markets contributing more than 70% of that total. The steady increase of overseas business revenue has emerged as an important driver of the company’s overall profit growth. Meanwhile, Hikvision’s innovation businesses continued to grow rapidly, with revenue reaching RMB 22.484 billion.
In 2024, Hikvision continued to prioritize research and development, investing RMB 11.864 billion in R&D, accounting for 12.83% of its total revenue. Over the years, the company has built a multi-level R&D system with the headquarters’ R&D capabilities at the core, radiating to key regions both domestically and internationally.
In its latest developments, Hikvision is actively advancing AIoT technologies, with its Guanlan Large-Scale AI Models integrating vision, language, and multimodal capabilities, among others. These innovations have significantly enhanced both perception and cognition abilities of Hikvision’s products and solutions. For instance, in perimeter protection, the large vision model can achieve a 90% reduction in false alarms.
Looking ahead, Hikvision is committed to a strategy of high-quality growth, with a stronger focus on driving innovation, enhancing efficiency and ensuring long-term sustainability.
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- $135M Capital Raise, Comprised of Private Placement and In-Kind Contributions, Aims at Increasing iMENA’s Shareholding in Existing Businesses
- Company completes restructuring into a Saudi company, iMENA Holding
- Transformation part of evolution into regional digital powerhouse.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — iMENA Group (“iMENA”), a regional leader in digital platforms in the MENA region, has raised $135 million from Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned company by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), FJ Labs, a global venture capital firm known for backing category-leading marketplace and network-effect platforms, and Saygin Yalcin, the founder and CEO of SellAnyCar, and a number of other leading Saudi investors.
The capital raise is compromised of a private placement and in-kind contributions and is the first tranche of a pre-IPO funding round. The new funding round will be used to increase iMENA’s shareholding in its three high-performing businesses: OpenSooq, SellAnyCar, and Jeeny; to drive vertical and geographic expansion; and to improve synergies across its platforms.
iMENA confirmed that it has now restructured into a Saudi Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC) under the name of iMENA Holding. This transformation marks a major milestone in the company’s evolution into a regional digital powerhouse, ahead of a potential public listing. Furthermore Saygin Yalcin will also join iMENA’s Board of Directors and management committee to help drive strategic direction for the company.
Nasir Alsharif, Chairman of iMENA Holding said: “This transaction marks an important inflection point for iMENA in its journey to IPO-readiness by taking advantage of the great opportunities provided by the Kingdom’s Vision (2030) and in cooperation with the largest investment entities. We are shaping the future of the region’s digital economy as a platform of internet marketplaces driving innovation at pace and at scale. The high growth and profitability of our businesses, in sectors and markets within which we have high conviction, provides material value creation opportunities and an exciting pathway for us to accelerate forward.“
A spokesperson at Sanabil Investments added: “We are excited to invest in iMENA Holding, a digital platform with proven scalability and profitability. Leveraging our own experience in internet marketplaces, we understand their unique strategy and are committed to bringing our expertise to support their growth and future IPO aspirations on the Saudi Exchange.“
Acting as financial advisor to iMENA Holding on the private placement, Hossam AlBasrawi, CEO of Al Rajhi Capital commented “Al Rajhi Capital is proud to support iMENA’s transformation and potential IPO journey. The group’s integrated model and strategic vision make it a standout in the region’s digital landscape“.
Closing of the capital raise remains subject to standard closing conditions and the approval of the authorities in Saudi Arabia.
iMENA Holding’s new Board of Directors will comprise the following regional leaders and sector veterans:
- Nasir Alsharif, Chairman of iMENA, Board Member at AWJ Holding Company and Executive Chairman of Sackville Capital
- Khaldoon Tabaza, Co-founder & Managing Director of iMENA
- Adey Salamin, Co-founder of iMENA and CEO of OpenSooq
- Saygin Yalcin, Founder & CEO of SellAnyCar
- Mazin AlDawood, CEO of Osool & Bakheet Investment
- Usman Sikandar, Head of Investment Banking at Al Rajhi Capital
- Marco Somalvico, Vice President M&A of E&
Sanabil Investments will also appoint a member to the Board of Directors of iMENA Holding in due course.
iMENA’s businesses, OpenSooq, SellAnyCar, and Jeeny, are regional leaders in horizontal and vertical marketplaces across the largest sectors in the region, including real estate, automotive, and mobility, with operations in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, and the broader Middle East region. iMENA’s businesses are profitable and growing rapidly, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 55%. Almost 40% of the aggregate revenues of iMENA’s businesses come from Saudi Arabia, with another 40% from the UAE, making them iMENA’s two core strategic markets. iMENA’s businesses aim to serve as a compelling proxy for the digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa region, giving investors direct exposure to the region’s fastest-growing online sectors.
About iMENA Holding:
iMENA was founded in 2012, and has evolved into a regional internet champion, building and scaling high-growth internet businesses across the Middle East and North Africa region. The company was co-founded by Nasir Alsharif, Khaldoon Tabaza, and Adey Salamin, joined as part of this restructuring by Saygin Yalcin, plan to leverage their expertise in technology and investment to continue building and operating digital marketplaces. Over the years, iMENA has launched, acquired, scaled, and successfully exited from a number of successful regional platforms, thereby becoming a strategic consolidator in the digital economy.
- Nasir Alsharif, iMENA’s Chairman, is an experienced investor and builder of investment businesses across venture capital, technology and broader private markets, with current roles including Board Member at AWJ Holding Company and Executive Chairman of Sackville Capital.
- Khaldoon Tabaza, Managing Director of iMENA Holding and Chairman of Opensooq, is a pioneer in the region’s technology and venture capital ecosystem with more than 30 years of experience in building and investing in digital ventures across MENA, including founding the first venture-backed online business in the MENA region more than 25 years ago.
- Adey Salamin is a marketplace expert and the CEO of OpenSooq, known for scaling the platform into one of the region’s most visited websites and mobile applications. Adey has over 20 years of experience as a founder, operator, investor, and advisor of growth businesses.
- Saygin Yalcin is a serial entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of SellAnyCar, one of the most prominent digital automotive brands in the Middle East. Previously, he was Founder and CEO of Sukar.com and Vice President of Souq.com following a merger forming the Middle East’s largest E-commerce group that was later acquired by Amazon.
For more information on OpenSooq, please visit: www.opensooq.com
For more information on SellAnyCar, please visit: www.sellanycar.com
For more information on Jeeny, please visit: www.jeeny.me
Contact:
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Fintech PR
CGTN: Unboxing economic policy tools: What’s behind China’s latest CPC leadership meeting?
BEIJING, April 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — CGTN published an article on China’s latest leadership meeting on the economic situation and work. Exploring the country’s economic policy tools, the article highlights the strong resilience and potential of the Chinese economy. It also takes a look at the meeting’s stress on enhanced efforts to accelerate the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies, as well as boosting services consumption to strengthen the overall role of consumption in driving economic growth.
China’s economy delivered a strong start in the first quarter of the year, demonstrating steady performance and resilience.
The country’s GDP grew 5.4 percent year on year to 31.8758 trillion yuan (about $4.42 trillion) in Q1 2025, ranking among the highest of the world’s major economies and positioning the country to better weather global uncertainties.
During a meeting held by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Friday, the Chinese leadership analyzed and studied the current economic situation and economic work.
Noting that the country has seen its economy improve this year, with public confidence continuously boosted and solid progress made in high-quality development, the meeting called for efforts to accelerate the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies and boost service consumption to strengthen the role of consumption in driving economic growth.
More proactive, effective macro policies
Besides the GDP, China has seen other economic indicators exceeding market expectations in the first quarter. For example, fixed-asset investment went up 4.2 percent year on year, with investment in infrastructure construction rising 5.8 percent and manufacturing investment increasing 9.1 percent.
Thanks to policy support, local-level responsiveness and the rapid buildup of innovation-driven momentum, the country’s economy showcases strong resilience and potential.
China has made thorough policy preparations to address external changes, as a series of targeted macro policies have already taken effect, and more incremental policies will be introduced as needed to mitigate external shocks.
Friday’s meeting called for efforts to make full use of a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, coordinate domestic economic work and endeavors in the international economic and trade field, unswervingly manage the country’s own affairs well, and keep employment, businesses, markets and expectations stable.
Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities, said efforts should be made to make good use of aggregate and structural policy tools, cut the reserve requirement ratios and interest rates when appropriate, and boost consumption and corporate investment demand.
A multi-pronged approach for struggling enterprises
To aid businesses facing challenges, the meeting urged a multi-pronged approach, including stronger financial support and accelerating integration between domestic and foreign trade development.
Stressing the need to ensure people’s livelihood, it said that for enterprises that suffered relatively bigger impacts from tariffs, the proportion of unemployment insurance funds returned to enterprises to keep payrolls stable will be increased.
Amid recent U.S. tariff hikes, China’s foreign trade enterprises are actively responding with innovative products, seizing orders and expanding markets.
The country has also taken swift and proactive measures to cope with tariff shocks – reaching out to broader overseas markets while bolstering domestic sales channels with upgraded products.
Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, urged the use of policies such as financial support and consumption coupon subsidies to further support foreign trade enterprises and continue to increase financial subsidies for export-to-domestic enterprises.
Boosting service consumption
Friday’s meeting also highlighted the need to boost service consumption, urging a swift removal of restrictive measures in the consumption sector and proposing to introduce a re-lending facility for service consumption and elderly care.
Service consumption has gradually become a new engine of economic growth and an important area for tapping consumption potential. In the first quarter of 2025, retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country’s consumption strength, gained 4.6 percent year on year.
Supported by targeted policies to boost consumption, service-related spending also picked up pace. In the first quarter, retail sales of services grew 5 percent year on year.
In addition, a series of documents to boost service consumption are implemented intensively. For instance, Chinese authorities have unveiled a work plan to boost service consumption in 2025 and released a series of new measures aimed at expanding and upgrading consumption in the domestic services sector as part of broader efforts to stimulate domestic demand.
A report released by a think tank, the China Institute for Reform and Development, forecasts that by 2030, the per capita services consumption of China’s urban and rural residents could exceed 20,000 yuan, accounting for more than half of total consumption.
Services consumption has become a propeller of goods consumption, and a “goods-like services” trend is gaining momentum across the country, said Chi Fulin, head of the think tank.
For more information, please click:
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