Saudis pick mobile skills

MALAPPURAM: With the Saudi Arabia putting a blanket ban on foreign workers in mobile phone sales and maintenance sector as part of Nitaqat, two Saudi nationals have found a solution here in Malappuram to meet an huge demand of technicians anticipated in that country. They have joined a private institute in Kottakkal for a training course in high-end smart phone maintenance. One of them, Mr Kholaif Abdullah Ali, is a trainer with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), one of Saudi Arabia’s government institutes entrusted with  the responsibility of providing adequate training for Saudi nationals to meet the growing demand of mobile technicians in the country where a mass layoff of technicians is expected.

"The policy change in Saudi has opened a lot of job opportunities for people from my country in the mobile phone sector. However, we face an acute shortage of local workforce with skills and expertise, especially for maintenance," says Abdulla Ali who is also a post graduate in computer science. Mr Ali also took his brother Ahmed Ali along with him to acquire the skill. Abdullah Ali’s search for a specialised institute to hone his skills ended in Britco and Bridco institute in Kottakkal. "The demand for expert trainers is also high in Saudi Arabia. The government has provided all help for training and enterprenureship in the sector," he said.

Majority of technicians in this sector are foreigners. "The industry is not mature to cope with such a situation if all those skilled work force are ousted within a short span of time as declared by the Saudi government. Saudisation in various sectors has failed due to the shortage of skilled workforce. In that context, some amendments may come about in Nitaqat in the mobile sector as well," says Saithalavi Vengara, who was a trainer in Saudi for several years. The Britco and Bridco, which has a wide presence in Gulf countries has plans to start training centres in Saudi Arabia, said its senior manager, Mr Rakesh Menon.