Trojan Holdings managing director calls for more opportunities for young Emirati engineers
Hamad Al Ameri says local construction companies need to do more for young Emirati engineers
Young Emirati construction professionals need to be offered more opportunities in the local industry if there is to be significant progress made towards Emiratisation, a leading UAE executive has said.
In an interview with Big Project Middle East, Hamad Al Ameri, managing director of Trojan Holding, called for construction companies in the UAE to give more opportunities to engineering graduates, as he felt it was time for the industry to invest into its society.
“I’ve found that a lot of engineers who graduate in the UAE, don’t actually work in the UAE. Why is this? It’s because a lot of companies aren’t hiring them. They’re not giving them the opportunities,” Ameri said, speaking during an interview at Trojan Holding’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
“Of course, a fresh graduate is a cost to a company, but it’s like investing back into your society. I think it’s time for us to let engineers from the UAE, who know the culture of the UAE, who know how the UAE works, and who have the knowledge of the UAE, to work in the UAE as well,” he asserted.
To demonstrate his willingness to back his words, Ameri said he had launched a countrywide vocational initiative in June 2016, which would give the UAE’s engineering students essential on-the-job experience.
The ‘100 Trojan Young Engineers’ initiative will offer engineering students at universities throughout the UAE the chance to shadow Trojan Holding’s teams as they work on a variety of construction projects. The programme will allow students to gain an insight into the day-to-day activities and challenges in both management and construction site roles.
At the conclusion of the programme, Ameri said that students who have demonstrated the right attributes would be offered a one-month internship with the company.
The ‘100 Trojan Young Engineers’ initiative will run from June 2016 through to March 2017. It is open to fourth year engineering students with a GPA of 3.0 and above.
“I’ve started this initiative because I want to start reinvesting in my society,” Ameri told Big Project ME.
Despite his calls to action to the industry, Ameri also acknowledged that Emirati engineers and construction professionals needed to be more proactive when it came to taking on opportunities.
He called on graduates to take on the challenge of taking jobs that may not pay as well, but offer greater opportunities to learn and develop their skills.
“When you work in a construction company, you’re actually doing a lot of jobs. These may be related to development, to consultancy, it may be related to a part of everything. Construction contractors work from design through to handover of the project.
“So those who want to learn – as young engineers – I think the best option for them is to work with a contractor, to go be a contractor. Yes, it’s a difficult job, but it gives you the knowledge of everything, from designing, to shop drawings, through to controlling people and management.
“There is everything in it, and after a while, if you choose to go for other options in the market, then you’re going to have a very strong base of knowledge,” he concluded.
