Following a year of gaining sustainable skills and knowledge at the supermarket, our lovely EFTS programme trainees celebrated their achievements with a graduation ceremony on Thursday, March 1.

If you stayed updated with our previous articles about the programme, you might remember that the EFTS is the first of its kind initiative to take place in the region. Under the programme, 14 trainees who fall under the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were able to receive valuable workplace training at our very own Alosra supermarket.

Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing, Yasmin Elisabeth Mohamed, said “we’re extremely honoured to have been the first organisation to be approached to support this important initiative. We take inclusivity and diversity very seriously at BMMI. We’re also extremely grateful to the Alosra team for supporting this opportunity with zero hesitation. It has been very encouraging and motivating to see how much the trainees have grown and developed throughout the year, and how supportive our customers have been with them as part of the team,” she said.

The trainees spent a year gaining a multitude of skills in two Alosra stores, Saar and Janabiya, and quickly became some of the team’s favourite employees, stated BMMI General Manager of Food Retailing and Production, Jaffar Al Asfoor, who oversees Alosra supermarket. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the trainees for all their hard work and amazing attitude, and to express my appreciation to the Alosra team for all the effort they put into making sure the students were well supported and primed for success,” he said. “It has been so rewarding to witness the trainees learning skills that empower them, as well as prepare them for future job opportunities at our supermarket and other businesses. Just seeing how beneficial this experience has been, not only for the trainees, but even for us as a business, I would like to strongly encourage other organisations to proactively include supporting inclusivity and diversity initiatives as part of their core strategies.”