DUBAI // Many private companies are choosing to pay a fine rather than meet government targets for hiring Emiratis.
The Ministry of Labour requires employers in some sectors to increase the number of Emiratis they employ by a set percentage each year.
"There is quota for the banking sector, for the trade sector and for the insurance sector," said Essa Al Mulla, executive director of the Emirates Nationals Development Programme (ENDP). "The quota system has worked very well with the banking sector, but it's failed big-time with the trade and insurance sectors.
"In the insurance sector, they have to pay approximately 0.01 per cent of their net profit if they have not achieved the minimum quota required. A lot of insurance companies are saying, 'OK, we'll pay the amount the government is asking us for, and we will not recruit Emiratis'."
The banking sector target is an increase of 4 per cent a year until between 40 and 45 per cent of staff are Emirati.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank leads the sector for Emiratisation and has already exceeded the quota. Last year 48 per cent of its staff were Emirati, and it aims to pass 50 per cent by the end of this year.
"The banking sector can afford to have this type of system," Mr Al Mulla said. "The return on investment in the banking sector is always much higher than in other sectors. For example, retail is a low-margin, high-volume sector."
The ENDP was set up in 2005 to help nationals to find jobs in the private sector. Emiratis generally prefer to work for the government, and in particular avoid careers in hospitality and retail.
Mr Al Mulla believes the key to changing this mindset is the introduction of career guidance in public schools. Last November the Ministry of Education announced plans to appoint specialist career counsellors in every government high school in Dubai and the Northern Emirates by 2015, starting with 20 schools this year.
Mr Al Mulla said if such an initiative had been introduced in 2000 an entire generation would by now have grown up with the attitude that working in hotels and retail was acceptable.
"If we had started to focus on career guidance earlier, today we'd be in much better shape because the Emirati mindset would be open to joining any sector, not only the government," he said.
"I want to have a very strong career guidance system in schools, because that is what's missing. We should open the minds of Emiratis from a very early stage by linking the education system with the job market's requirements."
One Emirati who did receive careers guidance is Mohammed Al Serkal, 23, who works in the finance section of Sharjah Airports Authority. He said: "I studied at the Sharjah American International School and we had a career counsellor from grade 11. So for two years we actually had someone helping us to decide where we wanted to go. They helped us to understand what a CV was.
"But I think the Higher Colleges of Technology, where I graduated, actually made me who I am today because they helped me develop an excellent CV that I'm getting a lot of praise for."
Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf specialist at the London School of Economics, said it might not be possible for the UAE and other Gulf states to continue operating nationalisation programmes in the private sector.
"In the modern era of global governance and multiple jurisdictions it may become harder to achieve outright nationalisation measures outside the purely public sector, as private companies and multilateral corporations become bound by international frameworks of governance," he said. "This could be a clash that grows sharper in the years ahead."
csimpson@thenational.ae
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Rashid & Rajab
Director: Mohammed Saeed Harib
Stars: Shadi Alfons, Marwan Abdullah, Doaa Mostafa Ragab
Two stars out of five
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THE%20SPECS
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
The%20specs
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Under 19 World Cup
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.
The package
Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
