Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council Unveils Third Cycle Of Nafis Award To Boost Emiratisation Efforts

The Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council has unveiled the third cycle of the "Nafis Award" for 2024-2025, themed "Compete and Excel." This initiative, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, aims to enhance human development by nurturing qualified Emirati talents in private, financial, and banking sectors. The award seeks to bolster the national economy and increase Emirati participation across various economic fields.

Emiratis working in private and banking sectors can submit nominations until 31st December 2024. The nomination process requires completing an online form between 30th September 2024 and the end of December 2024. All necessary information must be submitted via the award's website for evaluation before announcing results during the awards ceremony in the second quarter of 2025.

The award honours exceptional Emiratis in private sectors, including banking, insurance, non-profit organisations, educational institutions, and free zones. It also recognises establishments registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and the Central Bank of the UAE. The individual category includes eleven subcategories such as Leadership, Supervisory, Medical, Healthcare, Specialised, Engineering, Insurance-related professions, Administrative roles, Retail, and Customer Service jobs.

A new subcategory focusing on Future jobs has been introduced within individual categories. This addition targets technological advancements like artificial intelligence, robotics, renewable energy, big data, and more. Furthermore, Financial and Banking jobs have been merged into a single category named Banking and Financial jobs.

The awards for entities are divided into two subcategories: Entities Supporting Emiratisation and Exceptional Efforts. These categories include entities registered under both the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and the Central Bank of the UAE. Evaluation criteria for these categories involve factors like Emiratisation percentage during the current year and retention rate of Emirati employees.

The Exceptional Efforts subcategory considers achieving higher-than-required Emiratisation rates by hiring and training Emiratis. It also evaluates retention efforts, appointing recent graduates within their workforce, representation of women in leadership roles among other criteria that increase winning chances.

Strategic Initiatives for Sustainable Development

Khalid Mohammed Balama emphasised strategic projects like Nafis Award as frameworks enhancing Emiratisation in private sectors. He stated that "Emiratisation remains a central strategic goal," highlighting initiatives like 'Ethraa' programme launched in 2022 aimed at training 9,375 Emiratis by 2026-2027 to drive growth in financial sectors.

Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar highlighted that over 114,000 Emiratis are employed across more than 21,000 private entities since mid-2024 due to successful policies requiring entities with over 50 employees to achieve a 2% annual growth in skilled employment till a target of 10% by 2026 is met.

Promoting Excellence through Collaboration

The Council collaborates with Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program to ensure alignment with government directives while promoting excellence culture within private sectors supporting Emiratisation agenda. The Ministry of Human Resources alongside Central Bank oversees entity categories based on specialties without requiring application submissions; performance is assessed via official electronic systems.

Ghannam Butti Al Mazrouei noted that "Nafis Award" aligns with UAE leadership's vision emphasising public-private partnerships empowering national talent enhancing national economy. He stated it serves as an annual platform celebrating youth achievements reinforcing professional excellence concepts motivating future participation.

The award supports sustainable Emiratisation encouraging young graduates towards careers within private financial banking sectors contributing towards realising UAE's future vision while changing traditional perceptions about working privately providing opportunities celebrating achievements contributing national economy development.

With inputs from WAM