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The Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA) adheres to the principle of “quality over quantity” when campaigning for the localisation of the country’s workforce, the academy chief executive offer has said. |
Dr Abdulaziz al-Horr was speaking to Euromoney Qatar Conference director Richard Banks yesterday during an interview at the event held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The official explained that “quality Qatarisation” was not about targeting a specific quota or achieving 15% to 20% localisation in the company but rather hiring Qataris who “possess the needed skills in the workplace.”
Al-Horr said QFBA contributes to economic development by promoting “quality Qatarisation,” which involves investing in training programmes that focus on character building aside from the technical aspects of the course.
“At the academy, we focus first on the students’ soft skills and by creating the right mindset,” al-Horr explained.
He added: “When Qataris have the right mindset, work values, and ethics then the technical skills are the easiest to develop. You don’t hire somebody just because he or she is Qatari but because the person is deserving and qualified.”
Al-Horr said the range of QFBA students vary with 65% coming from the finance industry while others belong to oil and gas, telecommunications, ministries, and private and semi-private companies.
While many corporates subsidise the training of top management or rank-and-file, al-Horr revealed that there was an increase in individuals that pay for their own professional development.
According to al-Horr, 2014 figures disclosed that corporates worldwide invested $224bn on professional growth and development training with $164bn spent in the US alone.
“However, there is a trend – that is people or professionals taking charge of their own future. They are not satisfied with the training and education invested on them by their respective companies. We’ve seen this kind of aggressiveness; they want more,” he said.
Responding to this trend, al-Horr said QFBA has offered customised programmes on top of those available in the academy’s open calendar with most organisations enrolling their managers in tailor-made courses “that are more relevant to their businesses.”
Asked by Banks how QFBA provides incentives to its students, al-Horr said: “Learning is the biggest incentive.”
“Today’s generation is difficult to incentivise with tangible or material rewards, which is why QFBA is investing heavily on content, selecting the best faculty, and communicating with participants, particularly the youth to learn about their needs,” he said.
He pointed out that being an underachiever in school was not an issue at QFBA: “At the academy, we encourage our students to start fresh so they could unleash their potential and help them see the bigger picture.”
“If you succeed in showing this generation the wider context, they will give you their commitment. That means they understand who they are, what they want in life, and the context they are living in to understand the vision of this country, and to understand what this country is striving to become,” al-Horr said.
