Tamkeen CEO highlights change management at key Bahraini-US Business conference

Speaking at the well-attended Bahraini-USA Exchange of Business Experience Forum at the Moevenpick Hotel in Muharraq yesterday, Mr. Al Qassimi said that Tamkeen was working in uncharted territory and seeking to build a legacy of prosperity for the people of Bahrain.

Tamkeen is the co-ordinator of a network of initiatives that are bound into the Labour Market Reforms, a project initiated by the Bahraini government, Mr. Al Qassimi explained.

Tamkeen plans and implements the different layers of the process through economic reform (initiating venture capital enterprises and entrepreneur loan schemes), training reform (a raft of training agreements in areas as varied as healthcare to accounting to aeronautics) and more subtly, attitudinal change which targets both employers and employees to create avenues of opportunity for Bahrainis.

"The idea is to make Bahraini nationals the "employees of choice" especially in the private sector. This is the first major goal," explained Mr. Al Qassimi,

"And for that, the procedure is to use the funds generated from the fees for expatriate work permits to train Bahrainis and offer subsidies for training and study as well as to subsidise salary increase incentives for Bahrainis."

He added,

"Tamkeen is accounted for and administered separately from the normal government budget as an independent fund. It is professionally managed to ensure appropriate returns and judicious planning. Third, its governance structure involves key stakeholders, who participate in the decision-making. Fourth, the management and use of the funds is transparent so that it is clear to all stakeholders how the funds are being used so that decision makers can be held accountable for their decisions."

Outlining the different facets of Tamkeen's programme, Mr. Al Qassimi said the agency's role and the freedom it was entrusted with to set its own course were the keys to the success it had garnered so far.

"Tamkeen is an agency responsible to the government but it is empowered to set its own agenda - this helps us to respond creatively and constructively to the issues we are tackling," he said.

"Whether it is training of fresh graduates for new career opportunities in retail industry or call centre communications, as healthcare professionals or aeronautical engineers; whether it is about empowering SMEs through business development projects and access to world-class technology and consultancy, Tamkeen has always forged innovative new training methods to bring the best of world business and development trends to Bahrain"

He said the Tamkeen methodology is rooted in experiments in other countries - Hong Kong, Japan, most of Europe and North America, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, all have some sort of fee and/or quota system to regulate the inflow of foreign labour.

Tamkeen programmes have been designed to support businesses and attract new investors, he said.

"Almost 90 per cent of FDI flows into Bahrain are in sectors like real estate, banking and finance, and communications and transportation.
And 51% of the companies choose Bahrain not for cheap labour but for Bahrain's attractive geographic location as a gateway to regional markets and the Kingdom's acknowledged infrastructural superiority. That gives Tamkeen's efforts to enable Bahrainis to enter the workplace with new training and education opportunities and give SMEs access to the best global trends in doing business a new urgency."

He added, "What we are doing is helping in improving the workplace for everybody and building a powerful human resource pool with updated skills that our research tells us the market needs. Further, these internationally-recognised qualifications are going to shape the Bahraini into a preferred employee not just in the Kingdom but capable of working anywhere in the world. This is a freedom that is vital for the global workplace of tomorrow."