EGA demonstrates support for entrepreneurship and innovation amongst UAE youth

United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, recently sponsored an Innovation camp (I-camp) at the International School of Arts and Science, in collaboration with INJAZ UAE.

The half-day workshop was designed to help students learn real-world business skills, by asking them to brainstorm innovative solutions that help to overcome business challenges. Students were briefed on EGAs business, and provided with an overview of aluminium’s contribution to everyday life. 50 students were given the opportunity to engage in the workshop, with mentorship provided by both EGA and Injaz.

The session ended with 8 teams pitching their business model – centred on aluminium based innovation – to a panel of judges. The winning team will now be invited to shadow EGA mentors for a day, at the company’s headquarters.

The innovation camps are designed to foster an understanding of the world of work and the spirit of entrepreneurship in students. EGA plans to continue engaging students through I-Camps throughout the year, and intends to reach 500 students in 2018. The next I-Camp will take place on the 1^st of March.

Khalid Buhmaid, Senior Vice President, Government Relations at EGA, said: “Young people are the change-makers of tomorrow, and the student presentations demonstrated a desire to take an active role in the development of creative solutions - which bodes well for this country’s educational potential. We’re committed to the continued development of entrepreneurship and innovation in the UAE, and initiatives like I-Camps, which bridge the gap between work and learning, go a long way towards achieving that.

The innovation camp comes as part of EGA’s commitment to UAE Innovation Month. Earlier this month, EGA announced that it will be platinum sponsor for the first UAE Innovation Award, organised by Dubai Quality Group to encourage a culture of innovation in the private sector. The company also recently announced over AED 4.7 million in savings over the past year through the implementation of employee suggested innovations designed to conserve energy. In total, over 65,000 MWHr was saved annually over the course of 2016 and 2017.

EGA has a history of collaboration with INJAZ UAE, and the two have supported the education of young people since 2013 by conducting a number of work-readiness programs - reaching out to 765 students to provide innovation camps for business solutions, as well as training and job shadowing opportunities.

EGA also launched the ‘Engineer the Future’ future programme last year, to encourage high school students to consider advanced studies and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This program aims to reach 8,000 students in 30 schools across the nation this academic year, with interactive learning sessions on aluminium and the fundamental science on which the aluminium industry is based. As of December 2017, 1,264 students have attended the program.

EGA has developed its own technology in the UAE for over 25 years and has also focused on continually improving its operations for decades by engaging its entire workforce. In 2016, EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally. Today, EGA’s home-grown technology is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry.

EGA has also used this technology in every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to license its own large-scale industrial technology internationally.

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae
056 3111 536

Fatima Al Mutawa
falmutawa@ega.ae
050 327 7545

Khadija Al Marzooqi
kalmarzooqi@ega.ae
050 8777 850

Sahar Farhat
sfarhat@ega.ae
050 1213 420

Ameera Al Marzooqi
amarzooqi@ega.ae
050 957 9672 

About EGA 

Emirates Global Aluminium is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

It is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry, and the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. EGA has a production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of aluminium per year. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 350 customers in over 60 countries. About 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world.

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

Over 10 per cent of EGA’s 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 already employs around 30,000 people, making it the largest employer amongst the UAE’s energy intensive industries.

EGA itself employs around 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. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, Emirates Global Aluminium 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.

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

DUBAL’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, EGA’s Jebel Ali 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 5,450 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority.

EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants. In addition to meeting its own water requirements, EGA supplies 1.5 per cent of the water needs of Dubai as well as commercial water customers and bottlers.

Today EGA is expanding upstream and internationally to secure the natural resources the UAE’s aluminium industry needs and create new revenue streams.

EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation is building a bauxite mine and associated export infrastructure in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, in one of the largest greenfield investments in that country in over 40 years.

In the UAE, EGA is building the country’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah. The project will reduce the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supply 75 per cent of the Al Taweelah smelter’s needs.

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

© Press Release 2018