Reema Al Sadlan, customer service development manager at DHL Express Saudi Arabia has become the first Saudi woman to win the Gold Stevie Award for Women in Business.

“We are immensely proud of Reema winning this prestigious award, which brings great honour to DHL Express Saudi Arabia and reflects the success of our commitment to women’s empowerment,” said Faysal Elhajjami, Saudi Arabia country general manager.  “Reema is the only Saudi female to have won the Gold Stevie Award for Women in Business this year and she is climbing up the ranks in DHL Express Saudi Arabia.”

Al Sadlan said: “I thank DHL for the great opportunity they have given me and providing the platform to get to where I am now, and I also thank all my colleagues for their help and support.”

Al Sadlan was born in Saudi Arabia and graduated from King Faisal University in 2008. Following her graduation she joined DHL Express in 2009 as a Customer Inquiry Advisor. After two years in the role she later moved on to the role of tracing advisor for one year and was later promoted to the role of key accounts executive, in which she served for two years.

In 2015, Al Sadlan was promoted yet again to the role of Customer Service Training & Development Manager, also becoming the first female facilitator of DHL’s Certified International Specialist program, followed by her successful acquisition of the Certified Master Facilitator, before moving on to become a ‘Train the Facilitator’ in the Middle East.

This year Al Sadlan spearheaded two initiatives which ultimately led her to winning the Gold Stevie Award. First was the Assessment Center project, which is a comprehensive evaluation approach that allows new candidates at DHL an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a number of different situations. The Assessment Center initiative was fully designed and developed by Al Sadlan and will be adopted and implemented by other DHL countries in Middle East.

The second initiative English for Everyone is designed to improve the English skills of DHL employees in the customer service department in a simple way and within working hours. The implementation of this project is unprecedented in Saudi Arabia, as it has skilled DHL volunteers train their colleagues, passing on invaluable knowledge and skills in a language that is much in demand by international customers in the Kingdom.

Stevie Award winners are selected by the average scores of more than 170 professionals worldwide on five specialized juries. Their scores determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements of the finalists. The results were announced at the recent 14th annual awards dinner in New York City. – TradeArabia News Service