JEDDAH, 2 March 2007 — Khaled Al-Thumairy, HR executive manager at Al-Safi Danone (ASD), recently signed an agreement with Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), to train 120 new Saudi graduates in professions related to the dairy sector and subsequently employ them in the company. This is part of ASD’s ongoing commitment to qualify Saudi young men to work efficiently in the growing dairy industry.
The sectors that will be included in the training program are industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, marketing and sales plus technical specializations in the factory.
On completion of their probation period, the new employees will receive a number of benefits, such as housing and transportation allowances, medical insurance, annual vacation and other incentives, based on their individual productivity. Al-Thumairy emphasized that since its establishment, ASD had been striving to build close relations with all public sector authorities concerned with human resources development, in order to support initiatives and plans which impact positively the local community and the economy. “Based on these factors, ASD has created a partnership with HRDF to qualify and promote Saudi employees of high caliber,” he said.
He appreciated the efforts of HRDF executives, especially Ahmed Al-Ghamidy, in extending their cooperation and support to ASD during the final setting-up of the agreement. He said that ASD would be continuously committed to boosting its cooperation with HRDF and fulfilling its commitment to supporting overall training and qualification. “The industrial sector grows very quickly and as such, requires full cooperation between public and private sectors to qualify a national workforce, which will be able to contribute to the renaissance of this vital sector.” Al-Safi Danone owns the largest integrated dairy farm in the world, with more than 3,500 hectares and 32,000 cows, placing in the Guinness Book of World Records.
