Coinciding with World Autism Awareness Day, BMMI was proud to announce the start of the Employment Facilitation Training Service (EFTS) program for individuals with special needs.

As the first business host, we are dedicated to supporting Alia School for Early Intervention in providing the proper infrastructure for the interns to gain on-site training and transferable job skills.

The interns were briefed by Mohamed Al Masajjin, Senior HSE Specialist, on basic Health and Safety (H&S) practices in the workplace to ensure the training kicked off in the right direction. In addition, Food Safety Officer, Sreelakshmy Naduvakkat, also familiarised the participants on the importance of food safety, especially when working in any operational division in the food sector.

BMMI has previously supported differently abled students from Alia School to receive real work experience on the Alosra shop floor through the school’s internship program. This time around, this program is intensive and year-long. Having partnered with international consultant Project SEARCH and backed by Tamkeen, the focus is to ensure students learn relevant, marketable skills, while immersed in the business.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Alosra team, especially Hisham Almarzooq, Branch Manager of Alosra Saar, for his massive support to guaranteeing the success of this initiative and ensuring the best possible experience for the interns, our business and customers.

“BMMI encourages a culture of inclusivity and diversity and this is the perfect opportunity to further cement our commitments. Providing candidates with training opportunities across BMMI, further enhances our position as an employer of choice, a responsible corporate citizen, as is in line with our Group’s CSR strategy, Nourishing Life.” said Assistant Vice President, Corporate Communications & CSR, Yasmin Elisabeth Hussain. “We look forward to other organisations being onboard with this national initiative and along with the society’s dedicated commitment, we hope that this initiative sets the benchmark, not just on national level, but internationally,” she continued.