H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Department and Chairman of Emirates Airlines Group has recently hosted the Board of Directors of Dubai Quality Group (DQG), an organisation committed to improving the performance level of UAE-based companies, at his office where he discussed the Group’s achievements in 2007 and reviewed the strategic plan for 2008.
This meeting between H.H. Sheikh Ahmed and DQG’s Board members comes only weeks after the Group’s recent Annual General Meeting, where over 300 members gathered to assess the impact of DQG's programs in 2007 and discuss the Group's plans for the new calendar year. During the Annual General Meeting, DQG, which was established under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed, revealed its new strategy for 2008 after it achieved a remarkable 75 per cent increase in Investor Partner membership during 2007.
“Last year was highly successful for DQG, as we made major progress in terms of implementation of our strategy and business plan. The success of the various programs and initiatives we launched in 2007 have helped us reaffirm our status as a leading knowledge hub in the country, which has in turn complemented the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and H.H. Sheikh Ahmed,” said Marwan Al Sawaleh, Chairman, Dubai Quality Group.
“During our meeting with H.H. Sheikh Ahmed, we discussed ways to maximise the impact of DQG’s activities on the target audience, with an overriding goal of ensuring that organisations across the UAE lay greater stress on quality standards. H.H. Sheikh Ahmed offered invaluable suggestions that could go a long way in helping DQG achieve its immediate goals in the shortest possible time and with utmost efficiency,” he added.
For its medium-term strategy for 2008, DQG has developed a number of strategic choices that have been designed to strengthen its prominent status as a quality-oriented organisation in the region. Among the strategic choices that have been outlined are outsourcing of processes, augmenting revenue streams by co-branding, strengthening partnerships, IT-enabled services/processes, business need-based training, innovative practices, encouraging entrepreneurship, and developing and retaining internal staff.
Last year, in addition to the numerous workshops and seminars organised for member organisations, DQG also organised the 2nd Ideas Arabia International Conference, which featured 15 international speakers and over 290 delegates; the highly popular Share Best Practice Conference, which had over 450 international delegates; the 2nd International Benchmarking Conference, which was held for the first time outside Europe; the Benchmarking Trip to the United Kingdom, which sent 10 delegates to two EFQM Award winning organizations to share business knowledge; the groundbreaking Emirates Energy Award; and the Emirates Business Women Awards, which was the biggest in five years.
Another milestone in 2007 was the establishment of the DQG Consultancy Service, which offers training and consultancy on quality department development and training, and assessment for internal awards. DQG also introduced the Individual Coaching Service, which aids individuals in setting goals, decision-making and implementing new skills.
At the end of the meeting H.H. Sheikh Ahmed congratulated DQG’s Board of Directors for their achievements of the previous year and H.H. emphasised on his eagerness to establish a cooperative strategy that will promote a higher operational quality of local and international companies and to sustain DQG’s quality level.
