Qtel hosted an awards ceremony for high-achieving employees this week, at a special ceremony held at La Cigale Hotel, Doha. The event – “The Qtel Awards: A Sense of Achievement” – is part of an ongoing programme of activities aimed at honouring employee achievement and celebrating professional success at Qtel. At the Qtel Awards, executives distributed Long Service Awards to employees celebrating 20 years of service; CEO Excellence Awards, to employees who made significant contributions to company operations; and for the first time, recognised employees who volunteered in Qatar classrooms on behalf of the company. Special guests in attendance at the Qtel event included previous Qtel general managers and CEOs Saleh Budawood, Mohd Ismaiel al-Emadi, Sheikh Hassan bin Khalid al-Thani, Hamad Abdullah al-Atia, and Nasser Marafih, now CEO of the Qtel Group. Qtel Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani presented each of these special guests with an award in recognition of their service to the company. Not present at the event but also honoured by the Qtel chairman was Ezat Rashied, a former Qtel CEO.Speaking to assembled employees and guests at the event, Waleed al-Sayed, chief operating officer, Qtel Qatar, said: “Qtel is an organisation that celebrates every employee’s contribution, and tonight’s awards recognise achievement throughout the business. Our long-serving employees continue to contribute their knowledge and experience to the growth of our company, while the winners of the CEO Excellence Award have made a demonstrable impact to our development.”
The CEO Excellence Award represents the highest form of commendation in the Qtel Awards and Recognition Programme. This year’s 31 recipients of the Qtel CEO Excellence Awards were recognised for their significant contributions to six projects, each representing a major accomplishment for the company. Each of the CEO Excellence Award-winning teams was distinguished by their collective abilities to contribute QR500,000 or above to the Qtel bottom line, an investment of time well beyond normal duty hours, and greatly improving efficiency, customer service, operational effectiveness and profitability for the company. In addition, 26 Long Service honourees, each of whom reached his or her 20th anniversary with Qtel in 2011, received awards from Qtel Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud al-Thani and chief corporate services officer Mohamed Jassim al-Kuwari. Among this year’s Long Service honourees was none other than Sheikh Saud bin Nasser al-Thani, Qtel Qatar CEO, who has worked at Qtel since 1991.Also honoured at the event were Qtel employees who act as Injaz volunteers. Injaz Qatar is an organisation that is helping Qatar’s students learn the skills they will need to succeed in the workplace. Injaz recognition was presented to six Qtel employees by Mohamed Jassim al-Kuwari, chief corporate services officer and Bothaina al-Ansari, senior director, HR. The evening concluded with the presentation of a surprise award for Qtel Chairman Sheikh Abdullah, in appreciation of his strategic leadership that has led to Qtel being the fastest growing telecom operator in the world.