The Ministry of Labor and Social Development and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) signed
a memorandum of understanding to train and support Saudi nationals to work in mobile sales and maintenance shops.
Minister of Labor and Social Development Mufrej Al-Haqabani inaugurated the signing ceremony where a number of officials and representatives from the company were present. They included Director-General of Yesser Abdulrahman Al-Oraini, adviser to the minister of telecommunication and IT and Mobily Chairman Sulaiman Al-Gwaiz.
As part of Mobily’s corporate social responsibility, the move is in sync with the directive that targets the total Saudization of all sales outlets and maintenance shops of mobile phones and their accessories with the aim of providing employment and training programs that facilitate Saudis to embark on the job market as well as offering job stability.
Ibrahim Al- Shafiei, director of the guided nationalization program, and Mulfi Al-Marzooqi, chief human resources officer of Mobily, signed for the parties.
During the inauguration, Al-Haqbani extended his thanks to Mobily for supporting the nationalization of the telecommunication sector, hoping that the agreement is just a beginning of further cooperation between the ministry and the company in this respect.
Addressing participants, Al-Haqabani pointed out that families of social security payouts, productive families and orphans will benefit the most from the agreement as the ministry bears responsibility toward the beneficiaries of its services to turn them into productive members of society instead relying on assistance.
Al-Haqabani said that the telecom sector is multipurpose and lucrative and the ministry’s ambitions are not limited to what is stated in the agreement. Other activities are also underway, impacting Saudi nationals in all regions of the Kingdom.
Mobily's CEO Ahmed Farroukh said that Mobily recognizes its role in the national programs that serve the interest of the nation and its citizens while the company took the initiative to sign the agreement in cooperation with the ministry, which is trying to nationalize the telecom sector as a top priority.
Under the MoU, Mobily would provide a comprehensive program that supports the Saudization directive by training around 6,000 Saudi men and women across the Kingdom. The trainees will acquire necessary skills to join the phone market through apprenticeship to master salesmanship, marketing, accounting basics, warehouse management and maintenance basics, in addition to dealing with play stores and solving technical issues relating to services, products and systems.