24 November 2015, Doha: 7th Annual Managing Local Talent commenced yesterday at Intercontinental Doha, Doha – Qatar. The conference gathered industry experts from the region's leading organizations to discuss the challenges faced by organizations in achieving their nationalization goals and the best strategies to attract, retain and manage the local talent.

The conference was inaugurated with the opening remarks from the conference chairman - Mostafa Azzam, Chief Learning & Development Adviser at Public Works Authority (ASHGHAL),Qatar, which was followed by a keynote presentation by Fahad Al AbdulKarim, HR Director - Arabian Peninsula & Pakistan at Procter & Gamble on “Leadership Vital Role in Localization Success”.Mostafa Azzam presented a case study on “Developing Ashghal’s national Talent”, where he shared valuable insights on how Ashghal has taken the bull by the horns in its efforts to accelerate the growth potential of its Qatari employees.

Dr. Barak Saeed Yehya, Expert Institutional Development at Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (GSDP) - Qatar, focused on the impact of the National Development Strategy 2011- 2016 on Local Talent and Qatarisation in his presentation. According to him “Good career prospect including the availability of the necessary development and training support, exciting and challenging areas of professionalism and know-how, financial and job security, improvement of the social status of jobs in the private sector as compared to jobs in the public sector.

”would attract the Gen Y to the private sector job market".An exclusive Panel titled “Talent 2020 - What Has Changed And Where Are We Heading? ”was moderated by Mostafa Azzam and joined by Dr. Barak Saeed Yehya and Fahad Al AbdulKarim. Ali Shaher, Assistant Director Qatarization & Talent development- Ooredoo, Qatar answered the prime question faced by all companies-“Do Quick Fix Talent Solutions Help or Hinder Business Results?"


Badreya Al Ansari, Head of Qatarization with the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar presented College's efforts to recruit Qataris into both teaching and administrative roles. She informed the audience-“The College of the North Atlantic (CNA-Q) is fully supportive of Qatar National Vision 2030 through our Qatarization initiative which delivers innovative programs for the citizens of Qatar. Through partnerships with leading organizations, the College can advance the skills and knowledge of Qataris to enable them to become the leaders of tomorrow,"

College of North Atlantic - Qatar as the Silver sponsor of the conference. Other sponsors who partnered with the event and has been working for boosting Nationalization and talent management are HireRight ( Bronze Sponsor ) and IE Business School ( Visiting Partner).The concluding session of the day was presented by Enas Adnan Malkawi, Hr Training Manager - Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC),Qatar, where he elaborated on the need to creating effective on boarding programs to retain new hires.

Tomorrow, the second day of the conference, will witness some more presentations, panel discussions, case studies and break out sessions, which will be joined by senior experts from Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company (Tasweeq), Al Futtaim Group, Chalhoub Group, Zakum Development Company and Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority.

Speaking about his presentation, Essa Al Mulla, Chief-National Work Force Development at Knowledge & Human Development Authority - UAE, Emirates National Development Program (ENDP) said “I will be talking about the retention of Emirates within private sector companies and I’ll share with the attendees some of the best practices that happened in UAE market to be used as real examples.”

The 3-day conference will conclude with a workshop for the participants, focusing on improving and achieving nationalization program via balanced scorecard and attracting local talent - employer branding.

The conference covers all the major challenges and issues being faced by the region's HR industry and provides a platform for the delegates to interact, network and gain valuable insights. “Networking, sharing of information on Talent Management and being up to date with developments in the field are some of the benefits for the attendees”, said Dr. Majeed Ibrahim, Talent and Qatarization Manager at Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company (Tasweeq).