JEDDAH, 13 October 2003 — The enormous employment potential for Saudis in the IT sector was highlighted at a meeting here yesterday, when the National Project for Training and Employment in the Makkah Region in conjunction with the Women’s Consultative Board met with Saudi businessmen and women to tell them about the progress of a ground-breaking employment project in the sector.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Fayez, deputy governor, spoke on behalf of Prince Abdul Majeed, Makkah governor and president of the general committee for the project, on the vital importance of information technology.
The program and the statistics are impressive, judging by the presentations of Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Hazaa, the project’s secretary-general, and Dr. Muhammad Al-Sahlawi, director general of the Human Resources Development Fund.
The project has initiated training programs in such fields as health services, tourism and the gold and jewelry sectors, but IT is considered one of the most important areas to focus on.
“The old ways of doing business have been replaced by modern electronic ones, and even though we spend large amounts of money on developing the infrastructure, we have neglected to develop the human resources,” said Dr. Al-Hazaa.
“Our goal is to train 2,000 men and women a year to international standards. If we train 2 percent of the required number of employees every year plus a 10 percent initial figure, we can replace expatriates in the sector by the year 2010,” he said.
Gulf Training proposed a course which was approved by the governor. New Horizon institute was chosen for computer training and Direct English for English language. “At the moment only 22 percent of the New Horizon trainees are Saudis and 78 percent are expatriates who gain both a diploma and experience here and then leave. But we will be able to fulfill 80 percent of the job requirements in the private sector through our five training programs in IT,” he said.
Adel Faqih, chairman of the board of directors at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also pointed to the huge growth potential for the private sector and consequently for the job market.
