EFMD With Support From GMAC to Hold Management Education Events in Beirut & Nairobi

RESTON, VA--(Marketwire - Sep 20, 2012) - EFMD, with the support of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), will hold two upcoming events with a focus on Management Education and its importance to the Middle East-North Africa region and across Africa.

The Africa Conference "Sustainable Business Education Appropriate for Africa," in Nairobi, Kenya, from 11-12 October 2012, will be co-hosted by the University of Nairobi School of Business and Strathmore Business School. Topics covered will include: the role of business schools in Africa, partnerships, management development powering development, income streams, governance and many more. Speakers will come from top African Business Schools and leading schools from across the EFMD global network, African companies and NGOs.

The MENA Conference "Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders" will be hosted by the American University of Beirut in Beirut, Lebanon, on 4-6 November, 2012. The conference will address topics such as the role of business schools in society, business education for employment, family business, entrepreneurship in the region and the role of women, managing country risk perception, research and executive education among others.

EFMD, the leading global network for business schools and companies, and GMAC, a council of the world's leading business schools and the owner of the GMAT® exam, have been at the forefront of raising the standards of management education and development around the world. These two events play a key role in the development of management education across a diverse and inspiring continent.

"The MENA region and Africa as a continent has great potential but also has many challenges. Better management, managers, graduates, business schools and companies can only help its development and the events bring together key stakeholders to network, share ideas and develop partnerships for the future," said Prof. Eric Cornuel, the CEO and director general of EFMD. "We are delighted to work with the host schools and GMAC in staging these important events."

"The MENA region and Africa as a whole are becoming extremely important markets for graduate management education. While there are challenges, tremendous opportunities already exist for both schools and students," remarked David Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. "As with other world regions, we hope these conferences will provide key stakeholders with an opportunity to work together to develop their potential and build the necessary foundations on which to grow strong programmes that will benefit graduate management education for generations to come."

For more information on the events please visit www.efmd.org/events or contact Ines Proença (ines.proenca@efmd.org) or Robin Hartley (robin.hartley@efmd.org). For further information on GMAC please contact Jane Delbene (jdelbene@gmac.com).

About EFMD

EFMD is an international membership organization, based in Brussels, Belgium. With more than 780 member organizations from academia, business, public service and consultancy in 82 countries, EFMD provides a unique forum for information, research, networking and debate on innovation and best practice in management development. EFMD is recognized globally as an accreditation body of quality in management education and has established accreditation services for business schools and business school programmes, corporate universities and technology-enhanced learning programmes.

About GMAC

The Graduate Management Admission Council (gmac.com) is a non-profit education organization of the world's leading graduate business schools and owner of the GMAT® exam, accepted by more than 5,400 graduate business and management programs worldwide. GMAC is based in Reston, Virginia, and has regional offices in London, New Delhi and Hong Kong. The GMAT exam -- the only worldwide standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programs -- is available more than 250 days a year at nearly 600 test centers in more than 110 countries. More information about the GMAT exam is available at mba.com. Go to gmac.com/newscenter and follow @GMACNewsCenter on Twitter.