Albatha Group conducts one of UAE's largest corporate training programmes

This year a total of 130 sessions were held at the second edition of the 'Albatha Learning Festival' ranging from safety, creativity and innovation, to management and leadership programmes covering all levels of employees in the Group. A separate day was dedicated to front line employees wherein training sessions were delivered in different languages. Albatha Group has conducted one of the largest corporate training programmes in the UAE.

"Albatha is a 'Learning Organisation', moving towards best in class, adapting and establishing best practices and continually improving our leadership, processes, IT and human resources. We aim to provide learning opportunity to every employee atleast once a year - to raise the standards of the whole organisation - through internal workshops, as well as external partners and institutions. In addition, the Albatha Learning Festival is an annual event to promote the culture of learning," said Albatha's Group Managing Director, Mr. Ishaque Noor.

The continuous learning develops skills and career of our people; it improves quality of our products and services for our customers and makes all of us contributing members of the society. This goes towards fulfilling our mission which is to improve the quality of life for our people, customers and society.

"Albatha's underlying principle is 'business with values' hence in addition to knowledge transfer, our training includes courses in ethical conduct and living our core values so that we are a responsible member of the society," added Mr. Ishaque Noor.

Albatha Group comprises of 25 group companies spread across seven industry sectors i.e. automotive, consumer, engineering, home products, real estate, healthcare, household and personal care. The Group also owns several brands such as Star beverages, Arctic Gold & Al Areesh, frozen foods, Super General electronics and appliances, E-City multi brand electronic stores, Glenda & Amara biscuits, Taj home & personal care products. The Group represents international brands such as BMW, Rolls Royce, Siemens, AstraZeneca, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Scholl, Lindt, Henkel, Kraft, Akai and Indesit among others. Albatha business is spread across the Middle East and North Africa region with a distribution network that expands from the Indian sub continent to Europe. Albatha represents over 200 international corporations serving them with their business and branding needs in the most effective and professional manner. The company also manufactures international brands on behalf of their partners as well as creates its own brands.

He said, "The event was supported by over 20 external training consultancies and partners like, Bukhatir Training & Development, Broadpeak Consulting, Interman Training, Executive Development, , Aspire Middle East, Navigate Consulting, Changing Attitudes, IAME Consultants, Genesis Institute, K Talk, Sol Analytics, Beeah, Navitus Consulting, Torque - the training Force from Pakistan, Abela & Co, Nestle, Unilever and Al Zahra hospital."

"We are delighted to state that this year's 'learning festival' was a grand success and we aim to grow it further in 2014. This is the process of changing an organisation, in order to maintain a competitive advantage and provide career growth to our people. It encompasses a variety of components such as training, career development; succession planning which eventually results in creation of 'talent pools'. Albatha Learning Center, comprising a team of 25 "Training Champions" organises throughout the year in-house courses, ranging from management development programmes to creativity, quality, health & safety for their employees," said Sabiha Kazi, Group Learning & Development Manager of Albatha Group.

The Dubai & Sharjah Health Ministries conducted health checkups where as Sharjah Medical District organized an Anti Smoking campaign. Furthermore, a blood donation programme was organized by Health Ministry of Dubai and Al Zahra hospital conducted sessions on 'No Smoking' with blow tests Decide a non -profit organization conducted blood sugar tests for all participating employees.

Albatha manages its companies according to the highest international standards, independently accredited to ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management Systems, certified by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance Management whereas IT systems are certified to ISO 270001 standards. AGMC follows BMW AG's exceptionally stringent QMA (Quality Management Autohaus) programme. Across Albatha, relevant businesses also adhere to ISO 14001: 2004 Environmental Management System standards, ISO 22000 & HACCP - the world's highest food safety standards.