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Kuwait - EQUATE Petrochemical Company, Kuwait's first international joint-venture in this industry, started participating in the third and final stage of the Innovation Challenge Program by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) for innovation and development affairs in the private sector.
Considered to be the first initiative of its kind in Kuwait and the region as a whole, the Innovation Challenge Program is one of the major initiatives EQUATE participated in recently in partnership with KFAS. The program aims to enhance the business performance of Kuwaiti companies by spreading a culture of innovation. The competitive and team-based program was developed in collaboration with the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), in the USA. The program's selection criteria was based in part on the team's potential to be innovative in the workplace.
EQUATE President & CEO Mohammad Husain commended the critical and pioneering role of KFAS in all relevant fields, noting the significance of such programs that are sponsored and initiated by KFAS in cooperation with several organizations, within and outside Kuwait, to embody the Company's "Partners in Success" slogan.
On his part, KFAS Director-General Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin said, "To achieve its objectives as set by its strategic plan that includes cooperation with the private sector, the foundation continues its efforts to develop its programs and activities. This is aimed at developing the Kuwaiti economy, as well as apply a scientific culture and enhancing research capabilities in fields that form a priority for Kuwait through supporting and nurturing creativity and talent in partnership with the private sector." He added, "The third and final stage of the program consists of lectures at UC Berkeley by innovation specialists, as well as visits to Silicon Valley companies in California to interact with heads of companies and entrepreneurs who succeeded in developing their organizations through utilizing a culture of innovation."
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EQUATE Senior Executive for Business Development Tareq Al-Kandari said, "The Company directs a great amount of attention to sustainability and development through an integrated framework of innovation that requires a number of elements, such as sharing expertise and exchanging ideas to ensure achieving the best objectives in alignment with international standards. This partnership plays a critical and major role in embodying these aspirations and goals."
EQUATE's team included Abdulrahman Al-Munayes, Barrak Al-Mattar, Khaled Al-Duhaim and Nayef Al-Sumairi, representing the functions of Innovation, IT, Research & Development (R&D) in addition to Finance. They presented a project on developing customer service where customers can track their purchases through an innovative and user-friendly system at any time and from any part of the world. EQUATE's team received very high scores in the Innovation Potential Index and was ranked as one of the top among 10 teams selected to participate in this program.
The selection of EQUATE's team to participate in the final stage of the challenge at the US-Based UC Berkeley was during an activity at KFAS Headquarters with the attendance of Dr. Shihab-Eldin, Director of Innovation and Enterprise Directorate Dr. Mohammad Salman, Program Manager of Management Development for Enterprises Dr. Bassam Al-Feeli and other leaders from KFAS. Other attendees included EQUATE Polyethylene Business Director Ahmad Al-Saleh, Corporate Communications Leader Kholoud Al-Feeli, as well as representatives of a number of public and private bodies.
Established in 1995, EQUATE Petrochemical Company is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. www.equate.com.
Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) is a private, non-profit organization, established by an Amiri Decree issued on December, 12th, 1976. KFAS is managed and administered by a Board of Directors (BoD), chaired by His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait. The Board is comprised of six members appointed by His Highness for a period of three years. KFAS receives financial contributions by the Kuwaiti Shareholding Companies, amounting to 1% of the net annual profit. www.kfas.org.
Contact
Ali Y. Al-Hamad
T: (+965) 2576-5661
M: (+965) 9722-8611
E: alhamaay@equate.com
Silvana Tiab
T: (+965) 2225-8719
M: (+965) 6600-4311
E: silvana.tiab@ogilvy.com
© Press Release 2015
