Zain Group has announced the selection of five Kuwaiti nationals to undertake the company’s highly regarded graduate program cycle in 2022. The program now called, ‘ZTwentyTwo’ (Z22), is an evolution of the CODE 7 initiative introduced by Zain in 2021, which focused on graduates from a computer science background with the view to them being developed to find roles in Zain’s recently established Data Science division.
Z22 is geared towards cultivating internal entrepreneurs, innovators, and new thinkers who already possess the mindset, etiquette, and capacity to outperform and thus capable of supporting the strategic direction of Zain. Accordingly, the program in 2022 aims to build an especially strong talented team who will appeal to Zain’s innovation-oriented business units including Technology, Digital, Strategy, Sustainability, D&I, Commercial, Communications, and others.
Zain’s graduate program, which was initially introduced in 2016, enjoys an extremely high level of visibility and popularity in Kuwait, with the Z22 program attracting applications from a total of 187 candidates. Of these, 86 were invited for first-round interviews; 40 for second-round; and just 10 were shortlisted to undertake a week-long assessment. Ultimately, only five candidates were selected to participate in the year-long program.
“The evolution to Z22 mirrors Zain’s ‘4Sight’ digital transformation strategy and the skillsets required to be successful now and into the future. We are extremely pleased to see how our graduation program has succeeded and evolved over the years to bring us to this point.
The types of future-ready business leaders we are dedicated to nurturing and bringing to the fore need to possess that spark within themselves. Producing well-rounded candidates with a keen entrepreneurial sense and an understanding of technology, sustainability and commercial activity is the aim of this program, and we are confident the Z22 participants will go on to make a significant impact on Zain and the wider industry.”
Bader Al-Kharafi, Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, Zain
Last year’s CODE 7 similarly targeted five Kuwaiti graduates, who had majored in computer science-related subjects. Aligned to the reimagined graduate program, Zain established an in-house Data Science division that harnesses the talents of the graduate program participants given the company’s focus on identifying future trends and developing skill sets to match those future requirements.
CODE 7 was extremely successful and included a 6-month long course in collaboration with Texas University on Machine Learning, AI, Data Analytics, Data Science, and Behavioral Development; specifically, creativity, innovation, leadership, and business etiquette. Participants were also exposed to rotations to NXN, Zain’s end-to-end smart digital services provider in Dubai; Tamman, Zain’s fintech in Saudi Arabia; and Digital departments at Zain Group and operations.
Of the five participants in CODE 7 in 2021, two were recruited as full-time employees to Zain Tech as Machine Learning Developers and one was recruited to Investment and Digital Transformation.
It is planned that all five Z22 participants, namely Dana Najem, Fahed Al Shammari, Fajer Al Sabah, Ghanima AlQudaibi, and Luluwa Al Taher are recruited once the program is completed end of 2022.
Research from McKinsey & Company management consulting firm has identified 56 foundational skills that are essential for future employees to thrive in the new way of working. Zain has framed these as follows and is looking to use them as the foundational aspects of the Z22 program: Cognitive, Interpersonal, Self-Leadership, Digital, Sustainable Thinking.
