Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia and which holds the exclusive franchise rights to operate Carrefour in 38 countries, has launched the region’s first Retail Business School, designed to build state-of-the-art learning into the company’s employee professional development and help foster a new generation of innovative retail industry leaders in the UAE.
The Majid Al Futtaim Retail Business School will focus exclusively on dynamic learning programmes for employees running its Carrefour operations as the company seeks to accelerate its ambitious growth plans. Around 2,500 employees are expected to benefit from professional development opportunities at the School this year.
The campus, which is located at its Carrefour premises in Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, offers a modern and stylish purpose-built environment incorporating a cutting-edge Virtual Reality training room (the first of its kind known in the region), paperless classrooms, a multimedia studio, social spaces, catering facilities and a formal boardroom. Students can also take advantage of a Digital Library while attending classes on-site.
The School has been meticulously planned to have high sustainability credentials, in line with Majid Al Futtaim’s far-reaching goals to operate as a Net Positive company by 2040. As well as an emphasis on paperless learning, 2,140 living plants line the School’s wall, contributing 857,000 litres of oxygen into the facility per year (Increased oxygenation is proven to have a positive effect on human cognitive function and therefore the ability to learn). A 104-year old olive tree, a traditional symbol of wisdom and knowledge, greets all incoming students, embodying the hope that many new positive professional relationships as well as personal growth will be stimulated at the School.
All training courses delivered at the School are to be developed and delivered by experienced employees. This ensures that all learning and development for managers is tailor-made and geared specifically around the needs of their own professional evolution and
its Carrefour business. Course curricula has been fully developed in-house based on more than 20 years of experience and learnings from operating the Carrefour brand in the region.
The Majid Al Futtaim Retail Business School reinforces the company’s increasing prominence as a global talent and innovation magnet for professionals working in the retail sector. It will play a substantial role in contributing to the company’s various values-led development programmes, which also include on-the-job and remote learning opportunities. It has been designed to complement the work of Majid Al Futtaim’s highly-regarded Leadership Institute that supports personnel across all the firm’s business units in their leadership skill development.
Commenting on the opening of the School, Miguel Povedano, Chief Operating Officer of Carrefour UAE and Head of Operational Excellence at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, said: “Majid Al Futtaim’s new Retail Business School is testament to our commitment to talentism and investing in our people at the highest levels. In fact, three out of four managers at Carrefour have reached their position via an internal promotion. They are our greatest asset and our company’s future success is dependent on their professional development and active embodiment of our corporate values. Ultimately, it’s our people who we rely on to deliver great moments to every customer walking into Carrefour and this substantial investment in them is a direct recognition of this.”
