Dubai: Blue Ocean, the region’s leading executive training and corporate consultancy organization, offering end-to-end training solutions for individual professionals and corporates held its mega event for the year 2013 recently – a prestigious workshop on “Developing Human Capital : Global Perspectives for 2020” –initiated by the Blue Ocean HR Forum to raise the bar of certified professionals in the Middle East.

Eminent speakers, corporate leaders and certified HR professionals attended the workshop. They debated the merits of transforming HR practices to develop talent in time for the Dubai Expo 2020. Experts agree that Dubai will emerge as the hub of human capital by 2020. They will be exporting knowledge and manpower from Dubai to GCC and S. African countries.

Dr. Premchand Kurup, a prolific, erudite speaker and co-founder of several companies in the Middle East, turned the spotlight on the future of workplace skills. He identified three main lines: brand building through digital marketing, virtual collaboration and cross-cultural competence as key differentiators. “Learnability, thinking and specialization will be the skills of the future,” he added. Dr. Kurup, who is not only a corporate leader but also a speaker at business schools worldwide, said that in 2020, the private workforce in the UAE gets divided on those who work for large conglomerates. Also, in small and medium enterprises and self-employed people. In the coming years, there will be an increase in the number of people working for small and medium enterprises. “Employee perspectives will change, along with changes in the employment scenario,” Dr. Kurup highlighted. “Obedience, diligence and expertise will be valued by employers and the onus will be on employees who can take initiative, are creative and passionate about their work.”

Dr. Farrukh Kidwai talked about how worldwide the best HR practices are those that develop talent, globalization, growth and innovation. He is an Operational Excellence expert, a Six Sigma Champion, a veteran leader of the industry and Blue Ocean faculty.

“Increasingly, the spotlight is increasingly on executing talent and HR strategies for organizational acceleration. Cutting-edge talent development must bring together on-the-job learning, project assignments, talent networks, formal education and training with individual experience. It’s time to re-imagine corporate learning: Move away from traditional notions of training and strive to create behavioral change and to foster talent.” “It is also time to re-think the relationship between learning and work: especially where and how we deliver learning. Develop and also expect more from leaders at all levels. We aim for leadership development at more people as well as younger people. Embrace the concept of continuous development, just like continuous improvement. Integrate work, social and community opportunities,” he added. Other speakers at the conference included Zainab Saad Shawki and Tamela Scotcher. Zainab Shawki is an experienced HR professional with 13 years’ local and international experience in human resources across a multitude of industries. On the other hand, Tamela Scotcher is an internationally-qualified development and chief project leader.

Headquartered in the UAE with a strong presence in the UK, KSA, Qatar, Oman, Sri Lanka and India, Blue Ocean stands on an enviable reputation built on 16 years of training, an impressive roster of blue-chip clients, a global network of certified trainers and international affiliations.

Blue Ocean specializes in designing courses that bridge the gap between infrastructure as well as knowledge. They are imparting futuristic skills to a new genre of industry leaders, shaping them into dynamic professionals in an increasingly competitive world.   For further clarifications Please contact: Debasree Banerjee Corporate Communications, Blue Ocean Academy P.O. Box 116687, Dubai, U.A.E Tel : +971-4-396 3968 Mobile : +971-50-1416435