The Gulf Downstream Association (GDA) has launched its cross-company mentorship programme, another new and unique initiative aimed at accelerating talent development amongst its Founding Companies.

The programme was launched at a kick-off workshop attended by more than 30 participants at Bapco Club, Awali, Bahrain.

With sustainable development of the oil and gas sector an economic priority for the region, mentorship has been identified as an effective method for grooming the industry’s young workforce who must begin to resume leadership roles and help drive continued advancement of the industry.

GDA’s mentorship programme, which is ground-breaking for the industry and has been initiated and developed by the Association’s Leadership & People Development Committee, is a structured scheme that will focus on leveraging GDA’s vast networks and position within the industry to facilitate and help ensure that relevant expertise and knowledge are transferred to the next generation of leaders.

To launch the programme, GDA has offered an opportunity for all Founding Companies, Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to nominate both mentors and mentees to take part in the programme, with the initiative expected to open-up a new channel of knowledge-sharing between GDA members in addition to providing valuable mentorship to the young professionals from a rich pool of industry experts.

With criteria set for each, qualifying mentors and mentees have been paired across the GDA Founding Companies such that one company’s mentee is mentored by another company’s mentor.

The kick-off workshop provided all the required guidance to accomplish this program successfully. It also facilitated face-to-face meetings between all mentor-mentee pairs who exchanged their mutual expectations and built strong bonding to support their future relationship.

Audah Al Ahmadi, secretary general at GDA, said: “With our primarily focus on ensuring the sustainable growth of the industry and the facilitation of knowledge sharing among industry leaders, we’re extremely proud to be launching this unique, new initiative that will significantly advance both of these objectives on behalf of and with the support of our members.”

“Currently, industry-related experience is being depleted through early and normal retirement of experienced personnel. As more experienced leaders retire and young new hires join, relevant expertise is becoming a scarce resource within the region,” Al Ahmadi said.

“The cross-company mentoring programme will accelerate the process of bridging this gap and also provide unique opportunities to benefit from the work-culture of different companies in the GCC,” Al Ahmadi added. – TradeArabia News Service