CEO, ABE

Rob May has worked in the education and social impact sectors for 20 years. He is currently the CEO of ABE, a not-for-profit multinational skills development organisation specialising in business and entrepreneurship education. ABE combines rigorous learning content and assessment capabilities with deep knowledge and networks across emerging and frontier markets.

Rob has launched change programmes, business models, digital services, product/process roll-outs and thought leadership initiatives across the Global South. Rob was the driving force behind the Business Stay-Up Campaign, a research programme which illuminated the links between management training and small firm productivity. With a special interest in entrepreneurship in emerging economies, Rob has frequently advised on policy development and has appeared as an expert commentator in the media across Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.

Rob is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. In 2019, Rob was honoured as a Friend of UNESCO by Princess Victoria Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire of Nigeria for his work on actualising the UN Sustainable Development Goals.