Future Leadership at SABIC

Our people are the resource keeping SABIC on track to become the preferred world leader in chemicals. SABIC employs more than 33,000 people, serving customers in more than 140 countries. We are continually investing in our human capital to develop future industry leaders and sustain our growth and success. 

BUILDING THE FUTURE

Global challenges require the right talent to deliver solutions and drive sustainable and inclusive growth. At SABIC, we consistently strive to attract, retain, and develop the best talent in the industry. We are committed to developing leaders who can deliver innovative solutions to emerging industry challenges.  

In 2012, we launched the SABIC Academy to support talent development and this initiative has played an integral role in supporting employee learning and growth. Since its inception, the SABIC Academy has provided over 6,000 training courses at all professional levels across every area of our business, equipping future SABIC leaders with skills training, individual coaching, assessment, and access to intensive leadership-development programs.

In 2020, the SABIC Academy and our personal and professional development program, Talent Development Centres, went online to make training more efficient, accessible, and inclusive. Moreover, to highlight the availability of our globally accessible virtual classrooms, we also launched our Digital Learning Experience (DLE) Campaign. The campaign informs employees about our range of virtual opportunities for leadership training, playing a vital role in empowering the continued development of SABIC’s workforce. Over 11,400 employees have benefitted from the DLE Campaign. 

BEING THE IMPACT

In 2017, we launched our leadership development model: the SABIC Leadership Way (SLW). This initiative urges our people to ‘Be the Impact,’ and is defined by our four leadership priorities: talent championing, collaborative partnership, innovation pioneering, and the drive for excellence. 

At SABIC, we deliver Chemistry that Matters™, and reflecting this core purpose, the SLW was built around our commitments to inspire, engage, create, and deliver. The initiative also supports Saudi Vision 2030 by enabling the development of dynamic talent and an inclusive leadership culture.  

The SLW model was devised to safeguard our diverse and inclusive corporate culture by nurturing strength and positivity in our future SABIC leaders – qualities they will in turn demonstrate in the workplace. The SLW inspires our leaders to act with integrity, responsibility, and accountability, and to support the leadership potential of others. As part of the SLW, our ambassador networks across the company host workshops for SABIC employees, providing continued opportunity to refresh knowledge and build key skillsets. 

Highlighting the SLW’s effectiveness, in July 2021, global research and advisory firm Gartner selected it as a best-practice model of how to transform global business leadership in the light of new internal and external challenges. Another initiative that fosters leadership in SABIC is the SABIC Women’s Network (SWN), which relaunched in 2021 as “SHE”. Its vision is to make SABIC the preferred brand for women working in the chemicals industry. SHE empowers women as leaders, and helps them their aspirations by building visibility, capability, and a sense of community. 

YOUNG LEADERSHIP

To harness the broad diversity of our workforce and drive strategic and transformative change throughout our global organisation, we are devising fresh initiatives to include new voices in our dialogue and nurture young leadership. 

The SABIC Young Leadership Council (SYLC) was created as a platform to empower our young leaders to shape future business decisions through direct interaction with SABIC’s CEO and Executive Leadership team. One of the key events that the SYLC organized in June 2021, iENGAGE, brought together young leaders from over 25 countries to find bold solutions to today’s business and people challenges. 

As part of our commitment to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, we also continue to work with NGOs and universities within the Kingdom to help prepare Saudi youth for their roles as the leaders of tomorrow. At present, over 4,500 trainees have enrolled in our SABIC External Learning Program and we are proud to enable opportunities for success. 

At SABIC, we see our people as essential to building a future of sustainable growth and success. We are committed to investing in the innate talent of our human capital and our training and development initiatives will continue to inspire and empower future leaders to excel in the delivery of solutions to the problems facing our industry and our world.