RIYADH: A multinational French company, which has been doing business here over the past 30 years, is keen to create job opportunities for Saudi nationals, said a company high-ranking official. Christophe Campagne, country president of the Schneider Electric Saudi Arabia, said Wednesday his company has been engaged in training programs for Saudi nationals as part of its corporate social responsibility. “We have been attracting highly-qualified Saudi nationals to work with the company in some skilled categories,” Campagne said at a press conference on the sideline of a road show “Solutions and Innovation 2011” in Riyadh Wednesday. “We send Saudis to get technical training in some of the European countries and North America,” he added. The other category of training is in MBA, an open category for all, he said. Jawad Ali, company vice-president for building sector was also present at the road show. Campagn said the Saudis can also benefit from the Energy University, an online educational facility that offers training courses in energy efficiency. He said out of its more than 650 workforce in the Kingdom, company has achieved about 35 percent Saudization, an ambitious drive that the Kingdom has launched in early 1990s. Schneider has a 30-year history of its operation in the Kingdom and has been trying to create new business opportunities, jobs for Saudis and training for young university graduates. The training program includes a one-year scholarship program in one of the European countries or north America, he said. “We have been engaged in finding alternative and renewable energy resources by implementing technologies in area of solar energy and we have been working on projects with public and private sector entities for quite sometime now,” said Campagne. He said the need for energy has been increasing in Saudi Arabia as elsewhere in the world. Currently Saudi Arabia electricity consumption stands at 40 gigawatt (GW) and is expected to rise to 120 GW during the next 20-year period. If alternative and renewable energy resources are not explored many countries woud have to utilize all available hydrocarbons to produce energy and to meet the ever-increasing demand for electricity, he said. He said there has been a need for a “deep commitment” to sustainable development in areas such as environment, business, ethics and access to clean energy. “In order for people to have access to energy there has been an ever greater need today to provide solutions for a reliable, affordable and clean electricity, training programs for disadvantaged young people in the field of energy and support local entrepreneurs in creating economic activity around energy,” he said.
