CEOs in new survey predict recession

C-suite executives from all around the world are concentrating on the upcoming year. This creates a valuable picture of how the corporate story will develop in 2023, which paves the way for creating strategies and plans that produce results.

According to a survey by the Conference Board, the majority of chief executive officers and other C-suite leaders around the world predict that their region will experience a recession by the end of 2023. We discuss some of the most important business-related economic, leadership, and executive search themes that will emerge over the next six to twelve months.

Edtech Sector

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Aparna Prasad, Founder, Knowledgeum Academy, says, “The year 2023 looks more promising for the ‘internationalization of education’. In an ever-changing world, global awareness and interconnectedness through educational internationalization play a significant role in shaping the next generations of learners. Whether it is adapting a globally acclaimed curriculum or improving a national curriculum to global standards, Indian educational institutions have ample opportunities.”

As the Indian education sector is expected to grow over $225 billion by 2025 and the National Education Policy 2020 aims to increase the GER to 100 per cent in preschool to secondary level by 2030; we need more empowered and equipped educators through intensive capacity-building programmes enabling a much-needed revolution in the education sector to shape these learners, he said.

In an attempt to accredit young minds with the autonomy to realise, assess and implement their prowess effectively, the Indian education system must incorporate the readiness to let students attempt, review and execute their learnings to excel. With international boards like International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge International programmes supplementing the NEP framework, the students of today will be better equipped to take on the world tomorrow!

Travel Sector

Elia San Martin, VP & GM of Asia Pacific at KAYAK says, “2023 will be a big year for Indian travellers which is suggested by search data from KAYAK.co.in, which has analysed flight searches for the 2023 travel period. The data shows flight searches from airports in India (between April-November 2022) have increased by about 204 per cent compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. For International flights, searches have increased by about 168 per cent and domestic flights searches have increased by about 257 per cent. Dubai remains the most searched outbound destination for travel in 2023, while Bangkok, Bali and Maldives also feature high on the list. Goa was the most searched domestic destination, followed by Andaman & Nicobar Islands and New Delhi. For hotels international hotel searches by Indian travellers have increased by about 82 per cent compared to 2019, with domestic hotel searches increasing by about 54 per cent.

Gaming Sector

Piyush Kumar, Founder & CEO, Rooter says, “Today, India is home to nearly 450 million gamers cutting across demographics and geographies. The market has grown exponentially owing to a younger population base, higher purchase propensity of gaming consumers, the introduction of new gaming genres, better internet infrastructure, and the emergence of decentralized and interoperable gameplay experiences underpinned by Web3 technology.”

Consequently, this has also birthed a strong content ecosystem driven by e-sports players, gaming content creators, and live streamers. In tandem, there is growing legitimacy for e-sports in India, comparable to traditional sports at grassroots (school and college championships) and global levels (wins at international events). With the introduction of more mobile-first gaming titles over the next year, the gaming population in the country is expected to get a further boost. Sitting at the macro trends of Gaming and Content creation, we, at Rooter, find ourselves poised to strongly ride this wave on the back of our focus on content, creator, and commerce. 2022 has been the year of many firsts - we strengthened our industry-leading creator tools, introduced multiple content formats (streams, videos on demand and reels) and became the first gaming content platform to monetize actively.”

In 2023, we expect to play the lead role in driving India’s gaming creator economy and are actively working on building out more content categories, developing a robust commerce ecosystem and expanding our brand partnership portfolio beyond the 100+ brands we’ve engaged with in the past. We strongly believe that 2023 is going to be a defining year for this sunrise industry and we’re in a pole position to steer it, he added.

HR Sector

Sumit Sabharwal, CEO of TeamLease HRtech, says, “I think the great resignation and record high attritions were the most challenging trends in the industry. Organizations understood the importance of employee engagement and retention. HR technology came out as a saviour during this tough time. As a result, the demands for cloud-based HCM, zero-touch ATS, One-touch payroll and employee engagement SaaS platforms skyrocketed on the back of remote and hybrid working models. We have successfully maintained a strong pace of growth by adding several clients to our portfolio. In 2023, AI, Meta, VR and ML will definitely play their roles in the evolution of HR tech.

Facebook’s $10 billion investment in the metaverse points toward an upcoming buzz in the VR space. We’ll see many HR tech companies leveraging the metaverse, AR, VR and overall employee well-being including wearable devices to deliver an unparalleled employee experience and engagement in the coming years, he said.