Saba Al Tukmachy: A successful change of career - From dental surgeon to e-Learning fairy

After graduating from the prestigious Ajman University of Science & Technology with a Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) in 2002, Saba Al Tukmachy practiced as a dental surgeon for a few years in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over these years, she nurtured a particular interest in surgeries and treatment methodologies that could be carried out using cutting-edge electronic and high-tech equipment. According to Saba, her dental surgeon career was a childhood dream come true for her. Even if she spent a short period of time within the medical profession, she enjoyed the experience and gained exposure that would prove vital for her next steps in life.

A great philosopher, Frederick F. Flack, once said, “Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives”. Similarly, Saba made a choice that changed her life. She took up a job offer from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Dubai, as an event, marketing and customer relation executive. Switching from a medical profession into the business world was quite a challenge for Saba but her determination and confidence allowed her to adapt to the new field with ease. Her job scope was a lot focused on building relationships, marketing, branding, advertising, event management. She also got exposed to various advanced graphic design software, online registration systems and Cisco-related online courses.

Following this step in her career, Saba joined Emirates National Oil Company Limited (ENOC) in 2009. ENOC, a wholly-owned Dubai government company, is a global energy group, operating 30 active subsidiaries and joint ventures, many forged with key international blue chip organizations. Its services range from real estate to retail, where an extensive network of ENOC and EPPCO service stations across Dubai and the Northern Emirates supply motorists’ fuel needs and include convenience stores, car wash and quick oil change facilities.

By the time she moved to ENOC, Saba was pretty experienced in online systems. At that time, ENOC had already launched a pilot e-Learning initiative with behavioral courses for its employees. However, this initiative was unsuccessful due to lack of buy-in from senior management.

With the help of Xpert Learning and using two of its main product offerings, NetDimensions Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP), and SkillSoft’s courseware library of key business topics and competencies as well as utilizing the marketing and branding techniques she acquired from her previous work experience, Saba re-introduced the concept of e-Learning in a much more fashionable way and turned it into one of the most important innovative modern learning tools within the ENOC culture. Since then, e-Learning has helped ENOC in its goal of becoming a large organization with operational businesses.  e-Learning allowed ENOC employees who work in long shifts and in external sites such as Jebel Ali and Fujairah, amongst others, to have access to training materials. According to Saba, e-Learning has been the much-needed solution to learning & development of their competencies online.

Besides the fact that e-Learning is a very valuable and cost effective opportunity provided by the organization, Saba felt that it has proved to be an incentive for many senior managers to try and benefit from it. “I, myself have enjoyed a lot of the simulations and the business scenarios I experienced through these simulations, and the fact that I can refer back to learning materials whilst undertaking these online modules, is really amazing”,  Saba enthusiastically added.

Saba reserves special plaudits to the Xpert Learning team. “Xpert Learning has provided us with the right tools that we needed at ENOC to make e-Learning a success. They have given us many great opportunities to meet with other clients and major companies, within the UAE and Middle East region where we’ve shared our success story at ENOC and best practices. Let’s not forget the continued technical support and customer service of the Xpert Learning team. The technical orientation sessions delivered by the team for our staff periodically has proved to be very useful to us”, said Saba.

Saba Al Tukmachy currently works as a Training Coordinator within the Learning & National Development Department of ENOC.

Contact Saba at saba.altukmachy@enoc.com

Xpert Learning set to participate in the 5th Annual GCC Nationalisation Summit

Dubai, April 25 - 29, 2010. The Middle East region’s longest running and highly acclaimed Nationalisation event is back. The 5th Annual GCC Nationalisation Summit 2010 is not just another HR event. It is designed to incorporate the region’s leading Nationalisation programmes and it will tackle the attraction, retention and development strategies that companies are now facing whilst arming themselves with proven solutions that they can implement in their future and existing Nationalisation programmes. This year, the event will be held from the 25th to the 29th of April 2010 at Arjaan Rotana Hotel, Dubai Media City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The event will include speeches and workshops led by GCC Nationalisation industry leaders who will share exclusive best practices and case studies on implementing the latest techniques and programmes, challenges faced and successful solutions.

Paul Michael Gledhill, Director and Co-Founder of Xpert Learning, has been appointed as a workshop leader during the event. Mr. Gledhill has more than 7 years of experience in the field of e-Learning. He has been recognized as an expert in this field both in the region and internationally by peers both within and outside the industry. Mr. Gledhill has also been actively conducting round tables and has been hosting many conferences, most of which he was appointed Master of Ceremonies. Through these high-profile events, he has enthusiastically engaged participation and opened the minds and hearts of people wishing to enhance their knowledge using technology.

Mr. Gledhill will be leading an interactive workshop entitled “Sustainable employee engagement and empowering company culture”, on Wednesday 28 April 2010 (13:30 for 13:45 start – 16:45 for 17:00 finish with a 30 minutes break mid afternoon) at the Arjaan Rotana Hotel. An overview of this workshop, which promises to be very thought-provoking, follows:

Workshop Overview

How do you know if your employees are actually satisfied, happy, motivated or even engaged in their day-to-day roles? Do they talk about your organisation outside of the office – what do they say? This workshop will show you how to create an engaging, interactive environment that Nationals will find hard to leave.

By attending this workshop you will be able to:

• Build a company culture that engages all employees
• Look at programmes to empower your employees and to make them loyal advocates of the organisation
• Understand where there may be current problems and explore how you can eradicate them

For more information on how to register for this event and attend the workshop, please contact Paul Michael Gledhill via paul.gledhill@xpertlearning.com or call +97143910503. 

Xpert Learning holds a seminar for Learning & Development Professionals in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, March 24, 2010. Xpert Learning hosted a seminar for Learning and Development Professionals at Park Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The Xpert Learning team included Janine Croft, Managing Director, Paul Michael Gledhill, Director and Co-Founder, William Spindloe, Business Development Director and Riham Khoury, Account Manager. During this informative and practical workshop, presentations were delivered to the audience by the Xpert Learning team on the following key learning and development topics:

• Building the vision and mission of L & D
• Success Criteria – What do you measure?
• ROI calculating practices
• Justifying Budgets – “Learning to love the CFO”
• Doing more for Less – Hints and Tips

The event included lunch and a networking session which allowed the attendees to get to know each other and share ideas and best practices about the industry.

Paul Michael Gledhill, addressing the audience, emphasized on the importance of the ability for Learning and Development professionals to converse with finance professionals using their language. “Success and measurements need to be translated to business impact and return on investment,” said Mr. Gledhill.

William Spindloe, during his presentation entitled ‘Justifying Budgets – Learning to love the CFO’, highlighted the dynamics involved when requesting for a training budget for learning and development. “If you don’t get the training budget you think you need and deserve, you need to ask yourself why. How well did you justify the need to the CFO? Did you put together a robust return on investment analysis? If not, then you will definitely get the budget you deserve, but not necessarily the one you need,” said Mr. Spindloe.

Through these probing questions, Mr. Spindloe got the audience to interact and engage in discussions and brainstorming sessions.

Shabbar Sheikh, Career Planning Coordinator at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority of the Government of Dubai, loved the seminar.

“It was a pleasure meeting the Xpert Learning team and being a part of the workshop. I really feel as if I’ve benefited from the experience and look forward to hearing more from your team and organization,” said Mr. Sheikh.

Ariel A. L. Atabug, Talent Manager at Habtoor Hotels, shared the views of Mr. Sheikh. “The workshop was definitely helpful and I’m sure all of us who attended picked up more than just a few points for our respective Battles of the ‘Budget’,” said Mr. Atabug.

Sonali Bahri, Talent Acquisition and Development Manager at AstraZeneca - Gulf FZ-LLC, found the session very useful and thanked the Xpert Learning team for organizing and facilitating.

Given the success of the seminar and positive feedback received from the audience, Xpert Learning plans to organize similar events within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), more specifically Dubai, in the near future.