JEDDAH – The Ministry of Labor reiterated on Wednesday that there will not be any exemption for expatriates of any nationality to work in the mobile phone sales and maintenance sector. "All jobs in the sales outlets and maintenance shops of mobile phones and their accessories will be restricted to Saudi men and women after the six-month grace period that will end on Sept. 3 (Dhul Hijjah 1)," said Khaled Abal Khail, spokesman for the ministry. He said the ministry, in cooperation and coordination with the concerned government agencies, will strictly enforce the decision. "As part of this, intensive inspection raids will be carried out on all mobile sales and maintenance outlets across the Kingdom and strict punitive measures will be taken against the violators of the regulations," he said, adding that the inspection campaign will start from June 6 (Ramadan 1), which is the deadline for the implementation of the first phase of the decision. All mobile shops have been directed to implement 50 percent Saudization by that deadline. Abal Khail said the ministry was keen to ensure everything to facilitate total replacement of expatriates in the vital mobile phone sales and maintenance sector by Saudis taking up the jobs and making investments. "The ministry, in cooperation with other concerned government agencies, has offered a raft of facilities such as free training and financial support, including loans for entrepreneurs. This sector would help unemployed Saudis to earn a decent income and ensure them job security, in addition to bringing out several security, social and economic benefits. The spokesman noted that the Saudization directive is applicable to all types and sizes of mobile phone sales and maintenance firms. Around 10 ministries as well as government departments and agencies are taking part in the ongoing campaign to implement the decision. They included ministries of labor, commerce and industry, municipal and rural affairs, communications and information technology, and social affairs, in addition to the Human Resources Development Fund (HADAF), Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), General Organization for Social Insurance, Saudi Savings and Credit Bank, and National Entrepreneurship Institute. So far, more than 110,000 young Saudi men and women have registered their names for undergoing training to take up jobs in this sector. HADAF and TVTC recently inked an agreement to train 20,000 Saudi men and women in the field of mobile phone sales, maintenance and customer service. Under the agreement, HADAF will meet full expenses of the training and 50 percent of the salaries of the trainees when they take up jobs at mobile phone outlets. The fund also will extend financial support to Saudi entrepreneurs, and that will be in cooperation with the National Entrepreneurship Institute. It will also support owners of small mobile shops through providing them with a monthly amount of SR3,000 for a period of two years so as to enable them to run the shops successfully.
