Business & Money | Tuesday 23 October, 2018 12:30 pm |

Agthia Group PJSC (‘Agthia’), one of the region’s leading food and beverage companies, celebrated the graduation of 24 Saudi employees from its National Talent Integration Program (NTIP) at the Agthia Academy, an in-house employee development and training center, as part of the Group’s drive to ensure a highly capable and sustainable local workforce. 

Launched in the Kingdom at the beginning of 2018 as part of the Group’s training and development initiative TATWEER, NTIP was designed to facilitate the integration of national talents into Agthia’s corporate culture by providing them with skills, capabilities and knowhow to excel in their future careers. The NTIP includes five intensive modules introducing concepts such as performance by objectives, value of common purpose and teamwork in addition to basic financial terminology and communication skills to name a few. 

On the occasion, H.E. Rashed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Agthia Vice Chairman, said, “Agthia has over the years demonstrated its commitment towards developing national talent in the UAE and has built a successful track record in this regard that we are now proudly replicating amongst Saudi youth in the Kingdom. Agthia believes that developing its employees across all locations and within all operations, is key to a sustainable, successful and robust organization. Today, we are proud to see 24 of our Saudi employees complete this integrated training program as they gear up to become future leaders.” 

Eng. Tariq Al Wahedi, Agthia Group Chief Executive, added, “Our employees have always been the driving force of our success and the backbone of our operations. Investing in the national talent will support Agthia’s expansion ambitions in the Kingdom, a key growth market for the Group and allow our people to maximize their potential.”  

Agthia Group Senior Vice President of Human Capital & Corporate Services, Mubarak Al Mansoori, added, “The National Talent Integration Program has been carefully designed to reinforce our organizational capabilities by developing skills across a multitude of disciplines including management, finance and communications. As for the next phase of the NTIP, graduates will take part in a series of training courses that will further enhance their leadership skills, enrich cross-functional collaboration and most importantly, ensure national talent are effective contributors to the success of the Agthia Group.”

In addition to the graduation ceremony, Agthia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Higher Institute of Paper and Industrial Technologies (HIPIT), under the umbrella of the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund, to train 19 Saudi high school graduates for a period of 24 months. Once completed, graduates will have the opportunity to get full time jobs asmechanics, electricians and supply chain technicians at Agthia’s production and maintenance departments.  

Engineer Ali bin Ahmed Bamusaed, CEO of HIPIT, commented, “We believe that quality training aligned to the market’s needs is key to the government’s Saudization efforts. HIPIT provides young Saudis with vocational skills prior to placing them in leading organizations such as Agthia to expand their knowledge and potentially be offered full time positions. We are glad to join hands with Agthia to help promising youths realize their potential.” 

Furthermore, Agthia has also celebrated the launch of a production line operated by 18 Saudi women, reaffirming the Group’s commitment towards inclusion in the work place, in line with the key elements of the Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. 

In March 2017, Agthia Group acquired 100% of Delta Bottled Water Co., giving the company a fully-fledged water business in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, producing, marketing and distributing Al Ain Water,Delta Water 5 Gallon bottles and Bambini baby water. Today, the Group employs over 500 employees in Saudi Arabia in different specialties, as it looks to cement its position in Saudi Arabia as a leading food and beverages company.