RIYADH, 2 October 2004 — Twenty-five young Saudis received a limousine each to earn their livelihood as taxi drivers under ALJ Community Services Programs (ALJCSP).
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh, Aburrahman Al-Jeraisy, handed over the keys to the youngsters on behalf of Abdul Lateef Jameel Group at a function held recently at the chamber headquarters here.
“This is the fifth program under the (ALJCSP) program for ownership of taxis and the number of beneficiaries have reached 350 over the last two years which includes 125 young Saudi men in the Riyadh region,” a spokesman for ALJG told Arab News. The program is being carried out in the Makkah region, Central Province and Eastern Province. To qualify for the program, the applicants should be unemployed Saudi youths who have Preparatory Certificate of Education and reside in any of the three regions where the program is implemented. The applications are processed within 10 days after preliminary interview with the applicants.
“The program for ownership is aimed at offering job opportunities for young Saudis,” the spokesman said. The beneficiaries will own the taxis after a period of three years from the date of delivery. During this period, insurance and full maintenance of the vehicles are provided by (ALJCSP).
ALJCSP has also announced a new program that would enable Saudi women to pursue their career aspirations. To this end, a new institute — Nafisah Shams Institute for Technical and Vocational Qualification of Women — will be set up in the near future.
Its goal is to train and educate 3,000 married and unmarried women under a phased program. In a wide-ranging interview, Ibrahim Ba Dawood, senior general manager of ALJ Community Services Programs, told Arab News that the ALJCSP, capitalized at around SR300 million, has either launched or will undertake soon a series of programs designed to boost Saudization of the work force through various initiatives — from vocational and technical training to operation and maintenance, women’s training, incentives for scientific innovation, leadership skills, assistance for setting up small and medium enterprises (SMEs), taxi and truck ownership scheme, among others.
Ba Dawood said further that CSP also intends to provide 5,000 jobs for Saudis by the end of next year. Giving a breakdown of the figures, he said 381 jobs were created by the end of last year, while 2,119 job opportunities would be provided by the end of this year, with the remaining 2,500 jobs coming next year.
