View Full Album

Some of the sessions at the ITU conference provided a context for thinking about talent management challenges within the Arab States,  My favourite presentation was a case study on nationalisation from Dr Fahad Alzahrain from Mobily.

To an extent, I found this particularly interesting as I already knew quite a log about Mobily from sitting with some of their managers at Etisalat Academy’s Middle East HR Conference earlier this year.

But it’s also, because I agree with Alzahrain that nationalisation very important.  As he noted, it’s a compulsory requirement by law, and it’s a long-term investment.  It’s also a good example of a process that is often badly broken in many Arabic firms.

I first became acquainted with the issue of nationalisation in a talk by Hani Hirzallah from Barclays when I presented at Fleming Gulf’s HR Strategies conference in Dubai last year.  And since then, I’ve discussed it with many clients and contacts.  And I do agree with Fahad that those companies who treat is as a bit of a numbers game, and play the game,