The United Arab Emirates’ successful Maharat hospitality training program could be expanded to provide training for UAE nationals seeking careers in the retail sector.
Growing from 15 UAE nationals working in the hotel industry in 2002, last year there were 480 nationals working in the industry, driven by the success of the Maharat program.
Emiratisation Taskforce for Tourism chairman and Department of Tourism Commerce and Marketing human resources manager Ibrahim Yaqoot said the program could be adapted to the retail sector.
“The retail industry have asked us to create a Maharat program for their industry,” he said.
“The program will have to be modified a little bit, but I think it will work. Once we know the needs of the industry, and we are able to establish the rules, it will work.”
Yaqoot said one of the strengths of the Maharat program was the strong relationship between the training program and the industry itself: graduates are guaranteed jobs within the industry and undertake workplace training as part of their classes.
“One of the reasons Maharat is successful is because the hotels agreed on a minimum wage [5000 AED per month] for UAE nationals,” Yaqoot said.
“They had some kind of rules that need to be agreed before it can be successful.”
Growth in the retail sector has been earmarked as an important component of Dubai’s quest to become the tourism hub of the Middle East.
Follow us on
