UAE’s Albatha creates corporate training history in the Middle East
The Albatha Group, one of UAE’s largest conglomerates with interests in diversified business sectors has created corporate training history in the Middle East. The group conducted more than 100 training sessions in 3 days for over 6,100 employees across the group companies during the annual Albatha Learning Festival 2015 (ALF) at the Expo Centre in Sharjah. There were 3,700 blue collared employees of the group who visited ALF on the first day. The sessions ranged from safety, creativity and innovation, to management and leadership programs covering all levels of employees in the group.
Group’s Managing Director Mr. Ishaque Noor said, “We work in a sophisticated and international environment in UAE and the region and in order to succeed we must professionalize ourselves and our businesses.
The Albatha Learning Festival is a great event to show importance of learning and inculcate the culture of learning. It is the acquisition of knowledge and learning that will give us and our businesses an edge in the market”.
The event was supported by over 20 external training consultancies and partners such – ACNielsen, IAS Digital, Ideas Management, Manipal University, edmanagement Consulting, Interman Training, Navigate Consulting and Dr.Kabaly from Arab Open University, Oman and supported by 200 volunteers.
“No organization can improve without learning something new. Solving a problem, introducing a product, and reengineering a process all of this requires seeing the world in a whole new light and acting accordingly. In the absence of learning, organizations-and individuals-simply repeat old practices. Change then only remains cosmetic, and improvements are either fortuitous or short-lived. Albatha is thus is a ‘Learning Organisation’ that is moving towards the best in class, adapting and establishing best practices and continually improving its leadership, processes, IT and human resources. The Group as a whole aims to provide learning opportunity to every employee at least once a year – to raise the standards of the whole group – through internal workshops, as well as external partners and institutions,” added Mr. Noor.
The company added another feather to its cap when it received the ‘Best Training, Learning and Development Award’ at the ‘HR Leaders Forum and Awards’ conference held by the Dubai World Trade Centre in 2012 for this initiative. Alongside an Albatha exhibition is held wherein 30 companies display their products and services which speaks in itself about the group diversity.
“Albatha’s underlying principle is ‘Business with Values’ hence in addition to knowledge transfer, our training includes courses in ethical conduct and living our core values so that we are a responsible member of the society,” added Mr Noor.
“We go beyond conventional boundaries to create new opportunities through learning and innovation. In 2014, we had sessions on adding humor to workshops and included ‘Interactive Learning’ which has been a big hit. To further the Group’s mission of promoting a learning culture, we have also launched a unique project called ‘Learning on Wheels’. This learning bus that is well equipped with the state of the art facility resembling a training room with a U-shaped seating arrangement helps to reach out to employees at remote locations and further promote learning and development within the Group,” said Sabiha Kazi, Group Learning & Development Manager.
In 2014, the Learning Bus conducted 44 sessions of training programs ranging from health and safety, merchandising skills, motivational programs, team building, women empowerment to breast cancer awareness covering 1,215 employees across various project sites and warehouse facilities that the Group has thus providing the participants with a unique learning experience when the bus is parked on the beach side, in a park wherein training takes place inside the bus and practical sessions, team building activities are held on the beach or in the park.
“Albatha is an organization that demonstrates transparency by sharing knowledge and responsibility to create a culture where everyone is able to contribute freely. Open and honest, adding value to others, being ethical in whatever it does. Practical risk-taking is encouraged and mistakes are seen as an inevitable part of the creative process, concluded Sabiha.
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