UAE’s national role models from PwC, Emirates Foundation, and Abu Dhabi Investment Company will join Emiratisation and HR experts to address local students at the Emirati Youth Forum, as part of the Emiratisation Summit 2015 which takes place 2nd of February at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

The Emirati Youth Forum is one of a kind here in the UAE, and gathers over 100 Emirati students from across the Nation's top universities and academies to meet and interact with potential employers.  

Fatma Ahmed Ramadhan Juma, Senior Associate, Assurance, PwC, who is one of the role models addressing the young Emirati students at the Forum, said, “Choosing to work in the private sector has given me the opportunity to develop not only my personal skills but also my business and technical skills. Pursuing the ICAEW ACA qualification, through the ICAEW Emirati Scholarship Scheme (IESS), while working has helped me improve my accounting and finance skills and allowed me to be challenged and achieve professional milestones by being exposed to a multinational environment. I am now much more confident doing business with people from different cultures and very pleased with the long lasting relationships I was able to develop working in the private sector.”

Fatma is an example of how successful Emiratisation programmes can be if implemented properly, something that a large number of multinational organisations in the country are undertaking.

It is estimated that the UAE will see enough economic growth to accommodate all the available supply of Emirati and expat talent in 2015, according to a recent report by UAE based research firm The Talent Enterprise. The study also revealed that this hike is expected to continue, generating more jobs to meet the growing supply of talent until 2050.

Hessa Al Ghurair, Head of Human Resources at Tanfeeth, stressed the importance of developing the nation’s students and youth to the success of Emiratisation. “Speaking of the GCC, nationalisation is critical for the overall regional development. Unless we work hand-in-hand and ensure that we develop our younger brothers and sisters, we will not be able to achieve the vision that the ruler of the UAE is looking forward to,” she said.

In addition to the growing economy, the pool of Emirati talent is also expanding with UAE nationals migrating from the less populated parts of the country to the larger Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. In addition, the young Emirati men that will be finished with their military service represent a yet another talent pool. There is also the middle-aged workforce that is about to retire from the public sector; too young to assume the role of senior citizens, these individuals represent another area of talent that will be looking for employment opportunities in the private sector.

David Jones, Founder and Managing Director of the Talent Enterprise, highlights some of the misconceptions about Emiratisation. “Some of the stereotypes that we hear about the challenges of Emiratisation are actually outdated perceptions that are based on the previous generations. The trend now is no longer about employers focusing on hiring a certain number of Emiratis to reach the quota. Instead, we see employers trying to unlock the available talent, giving Emiratis the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities,” he said.

Jones and Ghurair, among others, will be addressing all these challenges at the Emiratisation Summit, taking part in Tawdheef – the leading national career fair from 2 – 4 February at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company. Running for the 4th consecutive year, the Emiratisation Summit is the most comprehensive national workforce recruitment, talent management, and career development conference. It will provide an essential educational and industry networking platform for the community to discuss practical strategies for attracting, retaining, and engaging top Emirati talent. The summit agenda will cover the entire HR lifecycle that is specific to national workforce planning, featuring more interactive sessions that will foster discussion and debate.

The Emiratisation Summit is supported by Etihad Airways and Tanfeeth (Gold Sponsors), ICAEW and Etihad Airways (Emirati Youth Forum Sponsors) The Talent Enterprise and Pera Training (Innovation Partners) and ManpowerGroup (Exhibitor).

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