Young UAE Nationals ‘run’ EGA for the day on 40th anniversary, as next generation prepares for the decades ahead
EGA is marking its 40th anniversary by enabling young UAE Nationals to ‘run’ the UAE aluminium giant for the day.
Emiratis under the age of 35 are shadowing EGA’s Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Abdulla Kalban and his Executive team throughout the day, and are participating in EGA’s weekly Executive Committee meeting which will include discussions on talent development and EGA’s future strategy.
The EGA Youth Council has re-organised shift rosters so that young UAE National supervisors are on duty managing all parts of the production process, from receiving raw materials at EGA’s port facilities to producing finished metal for customers.
EGA Managing Director & CEO Abdulla Kalban said: “EGA’s success over the past 40 years is due to our people. A handful of veterans have been here since day one, but many of us have spent three decades or more building this company. We look back with pride on what we have achieved, and forward with hope and confidence for the future in the hands of the young people who are working across EGA today.”
Zainab AlHammadi, Acting Chairperson of the EGA Youth Council who is shadowing Mr Kalban today, said: “Young people at EGA have big shoes to fill when our turn eventually comes to fully take responsibility for the future of this great company. We will be inheriting an industrial giant, and it will be our task to build on what our predecessors have achieved to make EGA even greater for the UAE.”
EGA employs some over 770 UAE Nationals under 35. The company typically has around 100 graduate trainees enrolled in its 18 moth graduate trainee programme at any time, and runs national trainee development programmes to develop young people for technical roles.
EGA has focused on the development of its people for decades. Over 600 employees have worked for EGA for at least 25 years, and each year EGA celebrates staff that reach this milestone.
EGA’s Executive Committee is an example of this approach in action. Seven members of EGA’s Executive Committee, including EGA’s Managing Director & CEO, originally joined EGA as fresh graduates. Between them, these seven Executive Committee members have worked for EGA for more than 200 years.