How to cash in on training

The Life: High-profile experts discussed how to boost the number of UAE Nationals in the financial sector, during a panel in Dubai this week. Here are some of the approaches they recommend.

"It's not about waiting for that career fair to happen, waiting for these graduates to arrive [to] hire them," said Lubna Qassim, the director of the economic legislations department with the UAE MiniShow more

Unlike professional athletes and astronauts, accountants and treasurers do not exactly top the list of teenage dream jobs.

Yet educators and executives at training bodies within the Emirates and the UK believe the financial sector provides a high-potential but generally neglected job growth area - for UAE nationals. The challenge, they say, is convincing people at a young enough age the field is worth considering.

"It's not about waiting for that career fair to happen, waiting for these graduates to arrive [to] hire them," said Lubna Qassim, the director of the economic legislations department with the UAE Ministry of Economy. "Maybe we should target them when they're in school and tell them what's really important."

Other experts who joined Ms Qassim on a panel discussion on "training tomorrow's leaders" at the Dubai International Financial Centre this week shared similar views.

"You need to get back even earlier into the schooling system to show what a career in treasury looks like," says Matthew Hurn, the executive director of the treasury unit at Mubadala Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government.

Selling the financial sector as an alluring field of choice is tough.

Clive Parritt, who is now the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), did not start his career in accounting. "I was an actor," he says. "But I was a pretty bad actor."

The push to consider jobs within the financial sector comes amid a high-profile business mission from the UK to the UAE this week. Before panellists spoke, David Wootton, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, emphasised the role universities and professional training bodies from the UK could play in growing the UAE's talent pool in areas such as accounting and financial regulation.

"The United Kingdom wants to support education, training and qualifications in the UAE as our collaboration will achieve mutually beneficial exchange of talent, ideas and capital," said Mr Wootton.

ICAEW now has 40 offices in the Emirates authorised to train students who want to become chartered accountants. About 400 students are being educated in this field today, including UAE nationals under a scholarship scheme, while 1,200 members are supported by the group across the Middle East.

More than 3,000 members fall under the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) in the Middle East, although it was not that long ago when such organisations were rare within the region.

"When I moved to this part of the world four years ago [there] was the clear lack of any training, qualification or networking opportunity for those individuals who were involved, or employed, in the treasury and financial risk arena," says Mr Hurn who, in addition to his role at Mubadala, is the chairman of ACT Middle East.

Mentoring students who show interest in the financial field is helping to increase the pool of available talent. But companies should spend time selecting the right advisors, Ms Qassim warns.

"Identify the right people who can nurture.

"We are not all mentors."

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