United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced that 20 per cent of its UAE National trainees in operations are women in the first full year after the company opened its long-standing technical training programmes to females.  

EGA’s National Training Programmes develop high school leavers for technical roles. More than 5,000 men have graduated from these programmes since they were first established in 1982. The first women joined the programmes in November 2022.

EGA hired a total of 75 National trainees for its technical programmes during 2023.

EGA’s National Training Programmes last between six months and three years, and provide theoretical and on-the-job training to work in EGA’s smelters, power plants, desalination plants or maintenance.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “As a UAE industrial champion, we recognise our role in developing strong local talent, with particular focus on women, to achieve our bold aspiration to be the industrial employer of choice by 2030. We will continue to prioritise both Emiratisation and gender diversity as we secure the people we need to grow our business and contribute to our nation’s sustainable economic development for decades to come.”

EGA hired around 120 UAE Nationals in 2023 in total, including 37 women. Over 95 per cent of EGA’s 2023 UAE National recruits were under the age of 35. While EGA recruits mid-career experts, the company focuses on attracting and developing young people who are starting their careers as talent for the future.

At the end of 2023, EGA’s in-focus Emiratisation rate was 42.6 per cent. On a like-for-like basis, EGA has one of the highest Emiratisation rates of any major company considering the high number of industrial positions.

EGA now aims to accelerate in-focus Emiratisation, targeting that the number of UAE Nationals rises as a proportion of the in-focus workforce by two per cent every year to reach 48 per cent by 2026. This means EGA expects to hire up to 500 UAE Nationals over the next three years, including replacements for staff turnover and company growth.

EGA also recruited 30 graduate trainees in 2023, including a majority of 17 women amongst the cohort. Graduate trainees complete 18 or 24 months of training for supervisory positions in corporate functions or in industrial operations.

Over 1,200 UAE Nationals work at EGA and over 700 of EGA’s Emirati employees are under the age of 35 years old.

EGA cooperates with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Department of Government Enablement and Dubai Government Human Resources Department in the recruitment of young UAE Nationals for some of the company’s National Training programmes.

EGA employs over 470 women in the UAE in total, including more than 160 in operations. EGA aims to increase the proportion of supervisory positions in the UAE held by women to 25 per cent by 2025 and is targeting 15 per cent of all roles at EGA being held by women by 2026.

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae

About EGA

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2021, EGA sold 2.54 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2021, value-added products accounted for 84 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. ASI certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.

In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 40 per cent of EGA’s needs.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.