AD Ports to hire 7,500 Emiratis in next five years

Nafis programme will see AD Ports create 1,500 jobs annually

Ghannam Al Mazrouei, Secretary General of Nafis, left, with Capt Mohamed Al Shamisi, managing director and group chief executive of AD Ports Group, at the signing of the Nafis agreement. Photo: Nafis

AD Ports Group signed an agreement to create 7,500 new jobs for Emiratis in the next five years.

The deal, completed with the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council (Nafis), aims to accelerate recruitment in the private sector.

AD Ports will work with Nafis to provide 1,500 jobs annually.

Ghannam Al Mazrouei, Secretary General of Nafis, said since it was launched a year ago numerous partnerships have created employment and training programmes for thousands of Emiratis in the private sector in healthcare, technology, engineering, financial services and management consulting.

“The achievements of Nafis in the past year bode well for the future,” Mr Al Mazrouei said.

“The programme has firmly established its presence in the Emirati community and has been able to highlight to citizens the attractiveness and perks of working in the private sector and contributing to the realising the dreams of thousands.”

Capt Mohamed Al Shamisi, managing director and group chief executive of AD Ports Group, said the Nafis programme will help them “greatly accelerate the speed at which we are able to both identify these individuals and provide them with opportunities”.

“AD Ports Group generated 21 per cent of all non-oil related GDP in Abu Dhabi in 2020, doubled the Emiratisation rate in the last decade, and is proud to continue to support our people in securing fuller and more sustainable careers across the growing trade, transport and logistics sector.”

In September 2021, the Nafis initiative set a target of getting 75,000 Emiratis into private sector jobs in five years.

In May, the UAE Cabinet decreed that companies with more than 50 employees should have a 2 per cent Emirati workforce by next year, moving up to 10 per cent by 2026.

A company that fails to reach the target must pay Dh6,000 a month for every Emirati it fails to hire.