Tamkeen Technologies, a semi-governmental Saudi Arabian entity with strong leadership and a different approach to working for the future, has been named as one of the best places to work in the Kingdom for the last two years. CEO Mohammed Alshaibi, provides insight into what makes it an employer of choice
How would you describe your company to someone outside of your industry?
Founded in 2013, Tamkeen Technologies is a locally established IT firm with a vision to become the 'Trusted & Preferred Digital Technology Partner for Sustainable Growth'. We are on a mission of delighting our customers by delivering sustainable digital solutions by utilising Saudi talent, leveraging innovative open source technologies and strategic partnerships. Our first strategic priority is to enhance sustainability in the government sector by proactively creating self-sustainable programmes and delivering cost-effective products and services. Secondly, we look forward to delighting our customers by delivering products and services excellence and creating a customer-centric organisation.
How would you describe your corporate culture?
'On to the next' is Tamkeen's motto. We have a horizontal reporting mechanism that allows transparency and communication between employees and leadership groups. Our five core values are being Innovative, Committed, Passionate, Transparent and Empowering. We encourage embedding these core values into the day-to-day work of our employees as well as when dealing with our clients. We believe in continuous improvement cycles, as a result, we conduct biannual client satisfaction surveys, annual employee engagement surveys and customer touchpoint surveys. We improve our functioning based on the feedback received during these surveys and are always ready to go 'On To The Next'.
What continuing learning opportunities do you offer?
At Tamkeen we believe that learning never ends. We have a target at the corporate level to getthe most number of employees to undergo training every year. We evaluate employees based on their job requirements and enrol them for the most feasible training programme available within KSA or abroad to enhance their skills. Employees are entitled to additional training benefits for themselves as well as for their spouse. Due to the recent pandemic, we encourage our employees to undergo online training and for this, we have a business account with Udemy. We believe in building a stronger IT workforce that could serve our nation's vision. It is in our mission to utilise Saudi talent, thus we put in great efforts to develop and retain the best talent we have. We are also happy to see the talent that we have developed serve our nation through other companies. We also hire numerous on-the-job trainees from renowned universities to ensure the coming generation gets a blooming start for their participation in the job sector.
Some initiatives adopted by your organisation during the Covid-19 pandemic?
Covid-19 has changed the way business is done worldwide. Tamkeen too had its share of the impact. However, we believed in coming back positively and helping the business community in Saudi Arabia to overcome this pandemic. Tamkeen launched an initiative called 'A Nation Uninterrupted' aimed at assisting the public and private business sectors to continue their work during quarantine, by providing three products free of charge for three months that contribute to remote work and limit the spread of the virus. These are Smart Attendance, Appointment Management and File Sharing System. The products have been internally developed on open source platforms and hosted within KSA to ensure reliability, availability and security. For the safety of our employees, we proactively adopted remote work during the high effect period. We are following all the safety standards and prescribed rules by HRSD and MoH, as we have resumed work from Tamkeen offices.
A message to potential candidates who would like to join your organisation?
Tamkeen Technologies is a fast-growing IT firm aligned with the national vision. Come join us if you want to be a proud citizen who contributes towards the nation's success. We are the 'Best Place to Work' in Saudi for two years consecutively and we believe our growth journey has just started. If you have the passion and desire, we will provide you with the right platform and opportunities to bring your ideas to life. Tamkeen provides you with the best in market financial and non-financial benefits. We would like to see you grow within Tamkeen and be part of our leadership team in steering the IT market to our nation's benefit. Come, let us grow together.