Saudi Gazette RIYADH — LEORON professional development institute and BAE Systems Saudi Development and Training have signed an agreement with the aim of mutual cooperation to train workforce in Saudi Arabia during the three-day first international conference and exhibition for professional certification CERTX which kicked off at Burj Rafal Kempinski Riyadh on Tuesday (May 16) under the theme "Professional certification: The driving force behind a knowledge-based economy». "This is a very critical and important time for development in Saudi Arabia within the Kingdom's Vision 2030. Having a great training and certification components is a great step further to prepare Saudi workforce for the future," Arben Jusufi, GM of LEORON institute told Saudi Gazette. He added that the areas of training will cover leadership and management, project management, finance an audit and HR. The implementation of this agreement will start this October. "We have one of the largest networks of clients and potential clients from the private sector, while BAE Systems is one of the biggest companies that has partnership with many government entities. So we combine to bring these various experiences together to best benefit from them," Ärben Jusufi added. Dr. Abdulatif Al Shaikh, who is the CEO of BAE Systems Saudi Development &Training, said this agreement will be in the interest of Saudi professionals who aspire to gain more knowledge and skill set. "We in Saudi Arabia all share the same dream which is the Kingdom's Vision 2030. That is why we need to overcome the challenges we used to face before." Training should not be treated as a reward and that was one of the biggest challenges. However, with the drive and the objectives of Vision 2030, "we become more able to specify the right equation which is mainly providing the right training at the right time for the right person with the right certification. I believe that both public and private sectors are fully supporting that," he said. He added that another challenge was that training was more of a habit than a need or a value. Moving to a third challenge which is directly or formally linking training or professional certification to promotion, he said "I do not personally recommend it. Because the focus of the employee will go to how can I get this promotion. They will not think of it as investing in the self, skills, and behaviors. We want employees to see training as an update to continuously develop themselves. That will lead to competitiveness which is healthy and enhances productivity. This will lead to promotion later on, so it is linked indirectly. We started the journey and we plan to change the way people and organizations consider training," he remarked. Engineer Haytham AlOhali, who is Deputy GM at Cisco, spoke to Saudi Gazette about the other benefits of international certification. "Importance of international certification and ensuring the delivery of unified experience from local and international entities are undeniable in such critical time where Kingdom has Vision 2030 to enhance workforce. Without the guidance of international certification, it would be very difficult for local providers to address the required skill set and innovation for the labor market. Moreover, it is going to help the employee to seek more professional knowledge and skills in his profession. It can also help with career shift, if the employee dreams to seek another field. Most notably, it will help reduce the gap between universities ‘outputs and labor market. All that will contribute to Kingdom's Vision 2030, because one of its objectives is to invest in the human capital."
