Sultanate of Oman qualifies 1,000 youth with 4IR attitudes, skills and knowledge
‘National Youth Program for Skills Development’
MUSCAT, Oct 13: The “National Youth Program for Skills Development” at the Sultanate of Oman concluded the “Al Shabab Scheme” journey through which it worked on qualifying 1,000 participants within the age group between 18-29 years old with the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) attitudes, skills and knowledge through an enriched educational and practical journey that lasted for more than a year. The Scheme was designed and implemented at a high quality level in collaboration with the leading global institutions in the technology sector that support startup technology-based projects and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) such as the Udacity, Google, Arabnet, and Seedstars; in addition to a number of leading universities worldwide in the technology field; such as the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) – Switzerland.
The Diwan of Royal Court supervised and implemented the Program; as it came within the initiatives and programs sponsored by the Sultanate; in order to invest in the youth’s capacity and equip them with future skills consistent with the labor market’s needs in the (4IR) era.
The Program was keen on presenting tangible outputs reflected on the participants and their local and regional surroundings, and so the educational journey was completed with 100 startup technology-based projects being launched by the Program’s participants, which have been linked to the Sultanate’s innovation system, along with providing the opportunity to invest therein by the entrepreneurs, the investment institutions and those supporting the startup projects. Fifteen projects were awarded direct investments by the Oman Technology Fund (OTF).
The “Al Shabab Scheme” included an e-learning journey through the “Udacity” Platform for three 4IR-related specializations, followed by the participation of more than 600 participants in the “Omani Youth Tech Ideathon” event, which came with the support of the International Google Inc. and is considered the largest of its kind in the Sultanate; as each
Group photo from the Al Shabab Scheme
Group photo of Boubyan Bank’s employees after the 5th induction program.
participant submitted and developed an technology-based idea within two days before qualifying the top 100 participants for the second stage. This stage included a practical learning journey in which the participants are sent to three of the world’s best universities in technology and (4IR) fields in both Switzerland and Singapore; in addition to engaging them in many intensive workshops; in order to prepare them to establish startup technology-based projects that serve the local and global community, support the national economy in the Sultanate, and localize modern technologies.
The “Al Shabab Scheme” closing ceremony was recently organized under the patronage of His Excellency Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of the Royal Court, to celebrate the enriching journey taken by the participants, and the attitudes, skills and knowledge they have acquired; and it also announced the projects that succeeded in obtaining investment as a first step to shift towards the companies existing on the ground. As a part of its plans to enrich the experience of its human resources, Boubyan Bank has recently concluded its fifth induction program for new branch employees in cooperation with ITQAN Academy; the program was designed to introduce them to Boubyan Bank management systems and the nature of each department tasks.
In a press release recently issued by the bank, Boubyan Bank stressed that such programs reflected the bank’s keenness on developing its staff experience, providing new recruits with the knowledge needed to perform their job duties at various branches, and introducing the various types of products the bank offers to its customers, which would reflect positively on the work environment and provide more knowledge for them so that they could provide the highest levels of service to customers.
The statement elaborated that the program had been designed to match the job nature of bank employees at various levels and that lecturers from various bank departments explain work systems at their respective departments, the role those departments play in the bank’s main system and provide practical explanation that would enrich staff expertise and help unleash the true potentials of Kuwaiti youth and enable them to prove themselves in the private sector. The program is fully aligned with the bank’s strategy focused on appointing, training, qualifying and retaining efficient national cadres.
Furthermore, the statement explained that the term of the program is 14 days with the participation of 21 of the bank’s employees, be they knew or experienced staff, as it mainly targets explaining work systems at various Boubyan Bank departments.
“Branch staff are particularly important due to their regular contact with customers as they represent the face of the bank in dealing with them, which requires their full knowledge of information related to the banking sector, Boubyan bank or the work in various departments”, the statement explained.
It is worth mentioning that the program is regularly organized by Boubyan Bank’s Human Resources Group side by side with many other training courses and programs to enrich employees’ knowledge and expertise in a manner improves their customer service level.