Sharjah

Sharjah for Capability Development (SCD) has recently graduated the emirate’s first 17 Kaizen certified professionals, having successfully trained them in the globally acclaimed programme, which focuses on lean management skills and continuous professional improvement. The programme was brought to Sharjah for the first time in cooperation with Kaizen Institute, Japan. It was part of a strategic partnership between SCD and the Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD), and sponsored by Fast Building Contracting Company.

SCD graduated the students during a special ceremony held at the SEDD headquarters, in the presence of HE Sultan Abdullah bin Hadda Al Suwaidi, SEDD Chairman, HE Jassem Al Blooshi, Member of the Board of Trustees of Rubu' Qarn Foundation for Creating leaders and Innovators, and Engineer Fathi Afana, CEO of Fast Building Contracting Company. The graduates were presented certificates of completion by the Kaizen Institute, which is the exclusive entity in the world authorised to deliver this certification.

SCD offered this training programme to improve the administrative and professional skills of participants in a variety of business functions and enhance their leadership and innovation at the workplace, in line with SCD’s vision to create an innovative generation of inspiring leaders who, by building their capabilities and applying them through self-learning and self-motivation, will contribute to driving progress and sustainable development in Sharjah and the UAE.

'Kaizen’ is a workplace philosophy that establishes a lean management system based on monitoring daily work activities and suggesting simple but continuous improvements to develop all aspects of work at industrial and financial institutions.

It aims to bring about changes in a smooth and tranquil manner that avoids confusion and minimises disruption in the production and pace of business activities.

The main goals of the Kaizen programme are to increase effectiveness and efficiency, thereby conserving resources and reducing expenditure. This approach has contributed greatly to saving many large corporations in Japan and beyond from bankruptcy and helped them recover their momentum in terms of profitability and competitiveness.

The Kaizen Program was rolled out in March 2018, with two central aspects of theory and practice. A training session in Japan was included, where trainees were introduced to practical Kaizen applications in companies like Toyota, to offer them a solid insight into how  Kaizen is used to reduce waste in time and effort in daily tasks, how doing so optimises productivity, ensuring continuous development in business.

HE Sultan Abdullah bin Hadda Al Suwaidi, Chairman SEDD, said: "Thanks to the continuous support and guidance of our wise leadership over the past years, we have made a quantum leap in the development of human capital, enhancing capabilities of national talents as part of our commitment to achieving sustainable development. In doing so, the UAE and Sharjah Government have made relentless efforts to improve the skills of UAE nationals by providing them with the necessary expertise and knowledge to further the developmental process in our country."

He added: "Inspired by the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, the government has committed itself to encouraging all public and private sector companies to engage in the process of economic development. In fulfilling its corporate social responsibility, Fast Building Contracting extended excellent support to the programme's graduates. We call on more local companies to offer their patronage to initiatives that are beneficial to them as well as to the UAE community." 

“Our strategic vision at SCD is to invest in youth skills and capabilities, and develop them innovatively through a wide range of world-class training programmes steered towards professional excellence,” said Al Blooshi.

Al Blooshi added: “Kaizen system uses administrative processes inspired by team work and the optimisation of time and effort, while enhancing the personnel’s productivity and their willingness to take on leadership roles. We plan to help our fresh Kaizen graduates to apply this system at their workplaces, as a way to ensure that the program’s tenets are being properly utilised to improve their performance as well as development in Sharjah.”

Established in 2005, Sharjah for Capability Development (SCD), is a subsidiary of the Rubu' Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators, established by HH Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of HH the Ruler of Sharjah. The foundation has more than 800 young members who contribute to achieve its goals through their ideas, visions, suggestions, recommendations, activities, initiatives and voluntary work.

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© Press Release 2018