JEDDAH, 20 December 2004 — The Consultative Council of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) chaired by Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed yesterday discussed the chamber’s strategic plans for the future. It also discussed JCCI’s efforts to improve the economy, expand Saudization and achieve substantial growth and development. Among those attending the meeting was Jeddah Governor Prince Mishaal, a member of the council.
Earlier at a meeting at which various companies related their experiences with Saudization, Prince Abdul Majeed emphasized that nations were built by people.
“People are the most important and precious resource of a country. People can make countries and nations rise,” he said. He advised both the young and the old to work for the nation. “Work properly and concentrate on things that will benefit yourselves as well as the country and do not forget what the country has done for you in terms of education, training, advancement and development,” he added.
JCCI Chairman Adel Fakeeh said Prince Abdul Majeed had always taken special interest in Saudization. He said JCCI pushed hard to support the growth, plan and strategies to train and help find jobs for Saudis. The chamber, which is eager and proud to cooperate with all the agencies, organizations and companies to promote Saudization, is keen to see Saudis employed in all fields. It takes a leading role in training young Saudis to make them eligible and capable of meeting the demands of the market.
Saud O. Ounallah, general director, JCCI, told Arab News that the chamber started its Saudization efforts and development a long time ago. It began the first phase with training and the second phase with vocational and other training such as administrative and managerial.
“Now, we are trying to improve and develop the training sector in Jeddah and the Kingdom to ensure that what these centers are producing is suitable for the local market, for local industry and the local private sector,” he said. “We don’t want to train people who are not required in the market. This goes for universities and the training centers. If they are producing people nobody is willing to employ, what are they for? They should close down because they are wasting the wealth of the country,” he added.
The companies that related their Saudization experiences included IKEA and Almajal. They explained their strategy, plans, training and progress in employing Saudis. They said Saudization was necessary to strengthen economy and society.
Amal M. Abdul Ghaffar, president of Almajal, said his company has about 3,600 Saudis on its staff. “An unusual achievement is that we have hired 170 people as frontline workers — housekeepers, supervisors of cleaning, landscaping and pest control. Of these, there are 25 Saudi females for housekeeping in hospitals. That is an example that breaks the image that Saudis do not want to do such jobs,” he said. Almajal plans to hire 450 people next year.
He said JCCI has played a “good, supportive” role in furthering Saudization. “We have hired quite a good number through the chamber. We did all the interviews, selection, and some of the training at JCCI,” Abdul Ghaffar said.
The National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC), a joint stock company, one of the biggest agricultural companies in the region, and No. 1 in the Kingdom, has been working on Saudization for the last 20 years. “That is why we are not far actually from full Saudization,” Abdulhalim Al-Ansari, regional business manager, Western Region, explained. “Our experience has been there for a long time. It was not for some kind of pressure or just for the last five or six years. We never had any problem with Saudization because we have an apec level of training. We have seen the experiment of SABIC and Aramco, and they have had good success. We have copied that,” he added.
