The BizPro awards, instituted by National Training Institute, continued its endeavour to pick young business professionals who will become the leaders of tomorrow to carry on the Sultanate’s success story to the next level. In the following pages we feature the top 10 finalists .
The prestigious NTI BizPro Awards recognise young business professionals who have made a worthy contribution in the private sector by displaying initiative, innovation and a relentless pursuit of excellence in leadership competence.
The 2013 edition of the awards witnessed intense competition attracting more than 137 nominations this year thanks to a growing corporate sector.
Quality leadership has a very important role to play for the growth of business and the BizPro awards are a recognition of the inherent talents, professional attitude and aptitude required to become future leaders. The awards serve as a true source of inspiration and motivation to encourage the Omani youth.
Qais Mohammed Nasser al Hinai, senior manager for HR development at Bank Muscat; Naifin Mohammed al Mazroui, financial analyst with Omanoil Marketing Company; and Abbas Irshad Moosa al Lawati, assistant manager of information systems at ABB, walked away with the “Business Professional of the Year” award.
The winners received a scholarship of RO5,000 from Renaissance Services. HH Sayyid Tarik bin Shabib, editor-in-chief of OER and Director of Renaissance Services, gave away the trophies and also released the BizPro alumni booklet. Stephen Thomas, CEO of Renaissance Services, presented the scholarships to the three winners. The scholarships will enable the winners to pursue management courses at prestigious educational institutions.
Renaissance Services has been supporting NTI BizPro awards since its inception by way of scholarships to the winners as the company values professionalism and believes in empowering people to strive for their true potential.
The finalists and the winners of the awards are selected and screened via an evaluation scheme devised by KPMG in order to ensure that the entire process is fair and credible. This is one of the reasons why NTI BizPro Awards have garnered such strong support from the larger business community.
The awards which were the first-of-its-kind in Oman, were launched in 2007 by NTI with the objective of encouraging, rewarding and most importantly promoting the momentous achievements of Omani business professionals in the private sector.
Over the years, NTI BizPro Awards have been selecting and felicitating young Omani business professionals from diverse backgrounds who hold promise to become tomorrow’s leaders. Today, the initiative has become a true source of inspiration and motivation which encourages the youth to carry on the success story to the next level.
Leading from the front
Qais Mohammed Al Hinai, Senior Manager-HR, Bank Muscat feels that winning NTI-BizPro Awards 2013 entrusts him with more challenging responsibilities
The price of greatness is responsibility,” famously said Winston Churchill. One of the most outstanding attributes of a successful person is the ability to take on more responsibilities instead of wallowing in the fleeting grandeur of an achievement. The more successful you become the heavier responsibilities you ought to shoulder. That is why even while basking in the glory of topping the NTI-Bizpro Awards 2013, Qais Al Hinai feels that greater tasks lie ahead. “This award has pegged me at a standard which requires that I move up from where I am right now,” he says. “I have been given a heavy privilege and was highlighted as a business professional. I need to maintain this standard and push myself even harder if I want to be seen as a role model for others to emulate.”
He feels that the award made him feel more special as it offered him an opportunity to present himself to Oman. “For me it is definitely a privilege to be a winner of such a prestigious award and to raise the name of Bank Muscat, where I have been working for over nine years”, he adds. “Although my overall goal is to give back to society and Bank Muscat as much as I can, I definitely want to be in a very senior managerial role where I would be able to lead, guide and help other Omanis to excel. This is an ongoing process which I am lucky to be a part of.”
He says building a strong educational foundation played an instrumental key to where he is today. It was a dream come true for Qais to win the prestigious Fulbright scholarship to do his Master’s in human resource management and development at Webster University in the US. Earlier he got a government scholarship to do his Bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from the University of Brunei, Darussalam.
No short cut to success
Talking about his aspirations, Qais says that he enjoys his work and aspires to serve in Bank Muscat for a long period of time. He believes that he has much more to give and hence would like to grow with the bank to a much greater level. Having said that, he firmly believes that success does not come overnight. One has to sweat for it. “The most important thing is your attitude towards work and how you approach the work presented to you,” Qais explains his philosophy of success. “Give your 100 per cent every day without thinking what you may get in return and this will give you all the treasures you ever dream of”.
Qais waxes eloquent about his father who has greatly inspired him. “My role model is my father who has always been my inspiration; he would always spend time sharing his experiences, challenges and difficulties so that I can learn from them, grow stronger and appreciate what I have accomplished.”
He spends a large part of his job engaging talent and building relationships with staff all across the bank. He believes that his career has just begun and the best is yet to come. “The NTI Biz Pro award is not just a gift but a promise I would like to hold up high for the rest of my life,” he concludes.
Steadfast dedication
Naifeen Al Mazroui, Financial Analyst, Oman Oil Marketing Company, refused to give up her pursuit of professional excellence
Perseverance and relentless commitment were paying off for Naifeen Al Mazroui when she qualified in 2010 as the youngest Omani member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the global body for professional accountants. Naifeen had decided to tread this less trodden path, being inspired by the Dean of College of Higher Technology where she joined to do her graduation. But once the decision was made, she left no stone unturned to fulfill this ambitious goal. Despite being confronted with a lot of uncertainties as it was the first batch of Certified Accounting Technician in the college, Naifeen steadily braved the challenges to realise this remarkable achievement.
She had always in mind what her grandfather used to tell, “You wake yourself up in the morning, and let no one wake you up; you get up from the bed and face up to the challenges of the day. If you want to be the person you dream of, never give up your pursuit of it.” And Nelson Mandela, whose biography had fired little Naifeen’s imagination during her high school days, had instilled in her mind the lessons of sacrificing for a bigger and nobler cause.
When she was nominated by her company Oman Oil Marketing Company (OOMCO) for the prestigious NTI-Bizpro awards 2013, Naifeen knew well that she had to compete with some of the best young brains in the country. But she was not ready to give up. “Since the competition was very hard and the tests very rigorous, I did my best, and whatever I can do,” she says. “Every year our company nominates its selected employees to the awards; and during the past consecutive four years, they were able to get to the top 12, and not to the top five or top three. Therefore it is definitely a privilege and I am very happy. Initially, I could not believe that I am one of the winners. I was really honoured, as it comes after going through very intensive exams and tests and high-quality evaluation process.”
Naifeen also feels that winning such an award rests more responsibilities on her shoulders. “Since now I am representing the successful young generation and their dreams and aspiration, it is definitely a responsibility to do more not only for my company but for the nation and society as a whole,” she avers.
Naifeen considers Khalid Ansari of KPMG Oman as a mentor who helped her to hone her skills and harness her potential to become a successful professional. “I started with KPMG almost like a baby, and continued there for over five years. He was very encouraging and supportive and directed me all through my training.” Naifeen joined KPMG as an audit trainee in 2005 and later became audit associate and senior audit associate. This was followed by a cross posting to KPMG Australia for about five months. Coming back to Oman, she joined Occidental in June 2011 as budget and reporting analyst at the finance department where she worked for a short period till he joined OOMCO as a financial analyst in November, 2012.
Naifeen believes that she has a long way to go as she aspires to scale new heights in her professional ladder and serve in a leadership role where she can better contribute towards fulfilling the dreams of Oman’s young generation.