UAE to begin private sector apprenticeships for Emirati students

Thousands of Emirati pupils and students will be placed in hands-on apprenticeships to prepare them for private sector work, the UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation said on Wednesday.

In addition to growing the number of Emiratis in a number of critical sectors, Dr Abdulrahman Al Awar said getting Emirati teachers into private schools was the next major focus of the government's Emiratisation drive.

Emirati pupils in years 9, 10 and 11, as well as university students, will be offered apprenticeships to get them ready for the world of work.

We want the Emirati worker to be a vital element in the sector

Dr Abdulrahman Al Awar,
Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation

“We've set a new apprenticeship and training plan for 3,500 Emirati students in years 9, 10 and 11, and university students to change their mindset about working in the private sector,” Dr Al Awar said in a media briefing in Dubai.

“The students will have vocational training. Our aim is to get them ready and prepared for the world of work.”

Dr Al Awar said that there are 14 key sectors for more Emiratis to work in, with a particular focus on getting Emirati teachers into private schools, after a growing need to support the education sector.

“We monitor the job market in the UAE to know which sector to support with Emiratisation,” he said.

“We have a programme now with the Ministry of Education to train Emirati teachers to support private schools.”

Although most companies must now hit Emiratisation quotas – by 2026, the private sector workforce must be 10 per cent Emirati – the minister said the market should soon be at the stage where talented citizens are natural hires for many companies.

“With the Emiratisation policies, the Nafis programme and qualifying more Emiratis in different sectors, the scheme will make it easier for companies not to have to think twice about recruiting Emirati workers in the future,” Dr Awar said.

The plan has already proven successful in the healthcare sector, where there has been an increase in the amount of skilled Emiratis working as doctors, lab technicians and nurses, he said.

“We have a batch of 1,417 Emirati graduates from different universities to enrol in the healthcare sector,” he said.

“The second batch will start from September because our focus is also having more Emiratis working in this field.”

About 80,000 Emiratis are now working in the private sector – an increase of 30,000 in the past six months – as the campaign to get local talent into private businesses continues.

On Tuesday, the ministry announced that businesses with 20 to 49 employees would now be required to meet a quota for the first time, hiring at least one UAE citizen in 2024 and another by 2025.

The requirement applies to privately owned companies across 14 sectors including real estate, education, construction and health care. Previously, only companies with 50 or more employees were required to meet targets on hiring UAE citizens.

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Emirati salary guide 2023

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“The new policy will provide about 12,000 new jobs for Emiratis in this sector. We have 79,000 Emiratis working in the private sector as per the latest stats. It is a historic number in the UAE,” Dr Al Awar said.

The ministry made a list of 12,000 companies with 20 to 49 employees and they will be notified about the need to recruit Emiratis.

“They [companies] will have the whole year to be prepared,” Dr Al Awar said.

With hundreds of thousands of companies in the UAE, the new policy will pick the companies based on certain criteria, the ministry said.

“The company should have a specific percentage of skilled workers at occupational levels between one to five. Companies with previous history of recruiting Emiratis and have a noticeable growth in their business will be part of the policy,” Dr Al Awar added.

However, the minister did not specify the percentage of skilled workers for those companies.

Companies with 20 to 49 employees who fail to employ at least one Emirati in 2024 will face a fine of Dh96,000 ($26,000).

That fine will increase to Dh108,000 ($30,000) for businesses that have not employed two Emiratis by 2025.

Dr Al Awar praised the Emiratisation scheme results for increasing from 29,810 Emiratis in 2021 to nearly 80,000 as of July 7.

“The new Emiratisation policies with support from our wise leadership made the drive going forward. We have more than 17,000 companies that have hired Emiratis,” he said.

“We want the Emirati worker to be a vital element in the sector.”

Last Friday was the deadline for private sector companies with 50 or more employees to ensure that 3 per cent of their workforce was made up of Emiratis.

Dr Al Awar said that 85 per cent of private sector companies with 50 or more employees are following the Emiratisation drive.

However, he added that if an Emirati employee resigns or is terminated from a private sector company, then the company will have a two-month grace period to recruit another Emirati worker.

He warned that companies that evade Emiratisation targets will be fined Dh100,000 and that fine will double to Dh200,000 if the breaches are repeated.

“If the company evades Emiratisation targets for a third time, then the fine will be increased to Dh300,000,” he said.

“We have had instances of some companies manipulating Emiratisation, but we have inspectors and systems to expose such companies.”

Emiratisation targets 2023 – in pictures

By January 1, companies in the UAE with 50 employees or more must ensure that 3 per cent of their workforce is Emirati. Emirates Global Aluminium's (pictured) Emiratisation rate exceeds 42 per cent. Bloomberg
Private companies with 20 to 49 employees must hire at least one UAE citizen by 2024 and another by 2025. Silvia Razgova / The National
Semi-government owned companies such as Strata, which makes aircraft parts, are major employers of Emiratis. The government wants more private companies to hire Emiratis. Photo: Mubadala
Young Emiratis are being encouraged to look to the private sector, instead of the government, for opportunities. Satish Kumar / The National
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, chair the National Competitiveness Council. Photo: UAE Government Media Office
Abdulrahman Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said a greater mix of Emiratis and foreign talent will make the country more competitive. Victor Besa / The National

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.

Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.

She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.

She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.

Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.