Albatha Group Celebrates ‘Learning Culture’ for 7th Year During Albatha Learning Festival 2018 in UAE

Continuous learning and training among employees were celebrated by the Albatha Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the UAE, during the recently held Albatha Learning Festival (ALF) 2018, a unique way of imbibing a ‘learning culture’ within the company. The annual event, participated by 7,000 employees, highlighted the company’s achievements for successfully training 96 per cent of its staff and hailing 50 training champions among them throughout the year, in accordance with the Albatha Learning & Development calendar.

The festival has evolved from initially three days of activities since it launched in 2012 to nearly two months of festival, which kicked off on January 19, 2018 and culminated on March 17 at the Expo Centre Sharjah to celebrate the year-long learning accumulated by employees. The themed activities included the Albatha Learning Week for office and staff management, the Albatha Learning Campaign for front-line employees, the Albatha Leadership Forum for the executive management team, and finally the ‘Celebrating Learning Together’ ALF 2018 for all staff and management.

The company strives to meet its principles as one of the finest ‘learning organization’ in the Middle East by continuously improving its leadership, business processes, infrastructure and most importantly, its human resources.

Ishaque Noor, Group Managing Director, Albatha Group, said: “Albatha Group has successfully held another year of learning festivities which showcased the company’s deep ethos in human resource development. This one-of-a-kind effort has sustained the company’s growth and has helped us hugely in maintaining a competitive advantage. We have always emphasized to all employees to live by our core values and continuously acquiring knowledge and skills is highly essential if we aim to improve every aspect of our business. Our target is that every employee has to evolve and keep pace with trends in their field by training at least once a year – and we are proud to have a successful turnout this year.”

Through the company’s very own Albatha Learning Centre, which comprise a team of over 50 ‘Training Champions’, under the leadership of Sabiha Kazi, Group Learning & Development Manager, Albatha organizes in-house courses, ranging from management development programs to creativity, quality, health and safety for employees. More than 250 volunteers, plan, organize and execute the ‘Albatha Learning Festival’, which has become a signature event of the company, which signifies learning and development for every employee.

The center holds 1,463 courses offered throughout the year with 1,179 training courses or nearly 81 per cent delivered internally. It has also trained 1,166 employees through an innovative training system, the Albatha Learning on Wheels. It also offers online training through the Albatha Learning Management System (LMS), which has launched with 6,000 users. The company has delivered a total of 38 online programs during the first phase of its implementation.