Dubai, United Arab Emirates; May 06, 2020:   The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE) and Malia Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the preparation of AGFE scholars for employment transition.

Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar, CEO of Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, and Mr. Roger Farhat, Talent Acquisition & Succession Planning Manager at Malia Group, signed the MoU during a virtual ceremony. 

The objective of the MoU is to showcase a successful case study of collaboration between private sector and philanthropic entities in addressing regional transition challenges from education to employment. 

Malia Group will be extending opportunities to AGFE Scholars in order for them to gain work experience and to develop key soft skills that are valued by employers and complement classroom instruction. This will involve skill development initiatives which include both existing opportunities for exposing scholars to a range of work-based experiences such as site visits, workshops, job shadowing, and internships, as well as potential new opportunities such as experiential projects. 
AGFE will be connecting Malia Group with high achieving students and graduates specializing in STEM disciplines. This initiative will also serve to enhance morale among Malia Group’s employees and strengthen their mentorship and coaching skills, while helping them to gain a deeper understanding of the interests and development needs of Arab youth.

“We are very happy to collaborate with Malia Group to better support our scholars for the preparation of their career journey. Our objective is to help address the regional challenges faced in the transition from education to employment. We strongly believe that this type of cross-sector collaboration is key to adequately prepare youth for real-world employment,” said Dr Sonia Ben Jaafar, CEO of Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education. 

“We’re delighted to have signed this MoU with Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, one of the most important relationships we forge is with education-focused nonprofit organizations, because of our joint mission to introduce students to real work life situations and launch them on the right career path,” said Mr. Roger Farhat, Talent Acquisition & Succession Planning Manager of Malia Group.