Business | Emiratisation
Welfare system kills entrepreneurship: Kanoo
A senior member of a leading business group, Kanoo, on Wednesday criticised "forced nationalisation" of jobs in the GCC, saying such policies were not helpful for private sector growth.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 February 23, 2006
Dubai: A senior member of a leading business group, Kanoo, on Wednesday criticised "forced nationalisation" of jobs in the GCC, saying such policies were not helpful for private sector growth.
"It sends a wrong signal to both employers and employees. If workers are not skilled, employers will consider them as a burden for their business," said Mishal Kanoo, the group's vice-chairman for Oman and the UAE.
He said he was against Gulf welfare policies extending to provide guaranteed jobs to citizens.
"A welfare system kills entrepreneurship," Kanoo said, adding that welfare policies should be used to build educational and healthcare infrastructures rather than provide "handouts" in the form of jobs.
Kanoo called for developing partnership between private and public sectors for training Gulf nationals and improving their work skills.
"Governments have to invest in education. They should not ask us to hire people without knowledge and skills," Kanoo said, speaking to Gulf News at a press conference held to announce the "World Summit on Innovations and Entrepreneurship."
About 100 speakers from different fields will address the April 1-3 summit in Muscat, the organisers said.
Promoting entrepreneurship among the region's youth will be a key subject at the summit.
Sam Hamdan, chairman of the GLT, the event's promoter, said holding the summit in the Middle East was significant because the region is witnessing "phenomenal growth in non-traditional industries" and the growth needs to be sustained "beyond the initial boom."
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