There are enough jobs in the Kingdom for qualified Saudis, Dr. Ali Bin Nasser Al-Ghofais, Governor of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, has said. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the 8th annual Al-Baik summer program titled “With Al-Baik, You Are the House Hero” at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday evening, Al-Ghofais said no qualified Saudi should ever complain of a lack of job opportunities. “We have so many jobs that need to be filled by Saudis. I can't believe that a competent person searching for a job cannot find a good source of living in this country,” Al-Ghofais said. Commenting on the guarantor condition that has allegedly deprived young business people from getting loans from the Saudi Credit Bank in order to start their approved projects, Al-Ghofais said that the situation will be resolved soon. “We have discussed this problem with the Saudi Credit Bank and these people will hear good news in the near future,” he told Saudi Gazette. Rami Abu Ghazaleh, CEO of Al-Baik, gave reasons why his food restaurants are limited to two or three cities. “We will expand our restaurants to cover many cities, but this depends on certain success strategies that we stick to, and this is the truth,” he told Saudi Gazette. He laughingly added, “Pay no attention to what some people say.” The four-week program is in cooperation with the Jeddah Vocational Training Institute, the Technical College in Makkah, the Al-Faisaliyah Women's Charity Organization, the Saudi Red Crescent Society and the Civil Defense Department. The program which aims to provide technical training and skills for the youth in Jeddah and Makkah has succeeded in training some 3,000 students thus far. The event began with a film featuring the history of the program and its achievements since its inception. After that, two participants from similar previous programs highlighted their experiences and spoke on how the program was helpful to them in their daily lives. Dr. Al-Ghofais hoped that other businessmen would follow the steps of Al-Baik and some other companies which have made social responsibility one of their top priorities. “We thank this company for their sense of national responsibility and hope that others will do the same. In fact, many business owners have started contributing to the training of our youth,” he said. The summer program, which receives massive response from the public, shows the popularity and need for initiating programs that are educational. Directed at boys 12-18 years of age and girls aged 8-16, the Al-Baik summer program supports social development in the Kingdom by giving each new generation the opportunity to learn how to perform simple household tasks and to discover and develop their talents in order to put them on the path toward a brighter future. The program is divided into separate training sessions for boys and girls. The boys' sessions consist of five specialized courses: Introduction to workshop basics, car maintenance, basics of electricity and safety. It also offers courses on the basics of plumbing, painting, first aid and home safety. The girls' program consists of training sessions in arts and other crafts such as personal grooming, which includes etiquette, cooking, physical exercise, home safety and basic health advice. In Jeddah, some 250 male participants will receive their summer training at the vocational training institute while the Technical College in Makkah is scheduled to accommodate another 150 trainees.
