Landmark Arabia has announced the launch of its Retail Leadership Programme (RLP) in Saudi Arabia. The specially designed module is targeted to help aspirational Saudi women and youth develop new skills and grow their career with the company. The first batch of RLP stars has 44 employees, including 38 women, who will have an opportunity to fast-track their careers and take on key retail and managerial roles.
Ninety percent of the employees involved in the programme are women and the retailer is giving them all a chance to accelerate their growth within the company and pursue a long-term career in the field.
The move by Landmark Arabia is in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and its call for diversification of employment opportunities for youth in the Saudi private sector.
Landmark Arabia hosted a launch event graced by Raha Moharrak, an inspirational athlete and pioneer and first Saudi woman to summit Mount Everest, at the Marriot Hotel in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter. At the event, the driving force behind the launch of such innovative and experiential learning modules at Landmark Arabia, Nisha Jagtiani, said: “As a leading retailer in the region we have always been focused on investing in the growth of Saudi youth and women, to develop their skills and help them meet their career goals.” The Group Director also said over 66 percent of the company’s employees are Saudi females. “We are delighted to see them progress in their career to take on leading retail roles in our business.”
In all, Landmark Arabia employs 7,000 Saudi nationals. While choosing the candidates for the RLP, the selection process was rigorous with multiple levels of interviews and performance appraisals. As part of the year-long training programme, managers will provide extensive practical and experiential training to improve their skills, allowing them to grow in a real retail environment and understand various key aspects of the business. Based on experiential learning where each employee will shadow an existing manager, the programme is centred around two phases. The first one will focus on store retail roles, while the second will coach trainees on senior retail roles and key support functions. After completing the programme, trainees who are the most equipped for the role will be given promotional priorities, along with suitable compensation.
The Landmark Group (known as Landmark Arabia in the Kingdom) has 55,000 employees from over 88 nationalities. The Middle East’s leading retail and hospitality conglomerate was founded in 1973 in Bahrain. And the group behind brands like Centrepoint, Babyshop, SHOEMART, Splash and Home now has 2,300 stores across the GCC, Lebanon, North Africa and India. Some 850 stores can be found in Saudi Arabia alone.
