BMMI has opened its doors for three months to two students from the Bahrain Polytechnic as part of the educational institute’s first Industry Project, the aim of which is to offer final year degree students work placements in order to gain practical experience within their relevant industry.

Maryam Ali and Ghadeer Abdulla from the Polytechnic's Business Department were placed at the BMMI Corporate Office on Delmon Avenue and at the Alosra supermarket in Saar starting on the 25th March and until 15 June. They will spend two days a week at each office, where they will work on live business projects.

“Extending such support to students from the Bahrain Polytechnic is in alignment with our CSR ‘think local’ approach and helps to contribute towards a skilled local workforce,” explains Yasmin Hussain, CSR Executive at BMMI. “CSR forms an important part of our DNA, which is why Maryam and Ghadeer have been tasked with creating marketing plans to push the BMMI CSR Programme internally to employees and the Alosra ‘think local’ programme externally to customers.”

“Whilst education is the stepping stone to success, practical work and seeing how theory is applied in the real business world is integral for a greater learning experience,” adds Pavlos Manousos, Marketing Executive at Alosra Supermarket. “We aim to provide these talented individuals with real business problems, which they will have to provide solutions for. I commend the Bahrain Polytechnic for adopting such a novel approach to learning which allows students to enter the workplace with a competitive edge. As an organization, we are extremely proud to be a part of this.”

The next batch of Polytechnic students will be ready for work placements in September this year and BMMI intends to then address projects for its other departments.

Commenting on the BMMI-Bahrain Polytechnic alliance to support student learning, Alison Reynolds, the Head of the Business School, had this to say, “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to get a hands-on experience of their chosen profession. The Industry Project encourages students to work outside the classroom with such on-the-job projects. Partnering with a company such as BMMI with its diverse range of services is a great way to kick start the first semester and we look forward to placing many more of our students at various BMMI offices.”