Noor Islamic Bank graduates nine UAE nationals from its leadership programme

The two year programme is unique in the Middle East. It was developed specifically for Noor Islamic Bank, a leading Islamic bank majority owned by the Dubai and UAE governments, to equip UAE nationals, employed in senior management roles at the bank, with the knowledge and skills required to meet future business challenges in the fast developing UAE financial industry.

The graduation ceremony was attended by Noor Investment Group's GCEO and CEO of Noor Islamic Bank, Hussain AlQemzi; Angelina Lim, Acting Head of HR, Noor Islamic Bank; Maheen Kamali, Emiratisation Manager, Noor Islamic Bank; Gallup Managing Consultant Katayoun Rezaiamiri and Gallup Senior Practice Consultant Dr. Ehssan Abdallah.

The first nine graduates of the Noor Lead programme are Saeed Al Marri, Head of branches; Badreya Ali Al Dashti, Head of Public Sector; Hala Younes, Head of Business Development; Houssam Al Sheikh, Branch Manager; Ahmad Yousuf, Senior Manager Treasury Sales; Hassan Al Midfa, Head of Institutional Liabilities; Hassan Ali, Branch Manager; Fawzia Alawadhi, VP Investment Banking and Seham Al Zarouni, Area Head - Wealth Management.

Al Qemzi said, "At Noor Islamic Bank we recognise the importance of effective leadership to success. We have witnessed its impact on our own performance. This is why we created the Noor Lead programme. The nurturing of individuals' talents and skills is a strategic priority, so that we can ensure that our leadership team has what it takes to move Noor forward."

He added, "Noor is committed to developing our talented UAE Nationals, who make up 41.69% of our employees. Through the Noor Lead programme we aim to fast track the development of UAE Nationals with high potential in both our core banking functions and the more specialised areas of our business."

The Noor Lead programme is an integrated leadership programme that draws on Gallup's 70 years of research and leadership development methodologies. The custom two-year programme includes integrated learning modules that incorporate various Gallup propriety psychometric assessments, industry leading customer and employee research, hands-on coursework, individualised coaching sessions and on the job assignments. It focused on high impact development programmes around great managing and leadership, with a concentration on the application of strengths to self, team and organization.

Al Qemzi said the Noor Lead programme underlines Noor Islamic Bank's commitment to Emiratisation. "Within Noor Islamic Bank there is an increasing focus on the training of UAE Nationals, so that they can become leading professionals in the banking and financial industry. The Emiratisation initiatives we have put in place are critical to our future success."

In February Noor Islamic Bank's achievement in hitting the 41.69% Emiratisation mark in 2011 was recognised with an appreciation certificate from the Emirates Institute of Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS) as one of the few banks to achieve above the market average of 40% Emiratisation in the banking sector.