Fostering multigenerational leaders through continuous learning

At SABIC, we help our customers and the communities where we operate be more sustainable and innovative. To make this happen, we believe it is important to invest in lifelong learning for our people, as well as the education of future generations, to shape a vibrant future. We are proud to have developed and supported a series of educational initiatives and programs which are fostering innovation – empowering current and future generations to help change the world for the better.

SABIC’S GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR EDUCATION AND INNOVATION

SABIC’s Global Initiative for Education and Innovation is a continuing program in partnership with Junior Achievement Worldwide and INJAZ Saudia. In 2023, the initiative involved providing hands-on, immersive learning to students in four countries. Since its launch in 2019, the initiative has reached 128,000 students in 13 countries. By bringing real-life case studies into the classroom to complement theoretical content, the program fosters critical thinking and teamwork through experimental learning.

The initiative plays a major role in preparing students for professional life by teaching them skills not traditionally learnt in the classroom – such as critical thinking, innovative problem solving, entrepreneurship and leadership.

SABIC’S GLOBAL BACK-TO-SCHOOL INITIATIVE

In an effort to support the smooth transition of students returning to school across the globe, we launched our Global Back-to-School initiative in 2015. The initiative is tailor-made to suit the needs of each location it operates in. 

The initiative involves collaboration with governments, NGOs, schools, and communities all over the world to help students succeed in their education. In 2023, the initiative reached students across 11 countries. Programs ranged from providing school supplies to students in Kenya, Brazil, the UAE, and the US to enhancing technology education through digital enhancement in Vietnam and the Ertiqa Technical Generation Program benefitting 60 orphans in Saudi Arabia.

SABIC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Since 2005, the SABIC Scholarship Program has provided full university scholarships to Saudi students who exemplify values consistent with SABIC’s while driving top academic performance. In 2023, a new batch of 224 students (50% male and 50% female) brought the overall active enrollment to 606 with a geographic split of 408 students in Middle East and Africa, 52 students in Europe, 145 students in the Americas, and 1 in China.

Despite logistical challenges posed by the pandemic in 2021, the program continued across the year and for the first time in SABIC’s history, also saw 12 scholarship students graduating from Chinese universities.

While in the Program, students work closely with SABIC Advisors who support them academically and personally to foster their growth and development. They are able to attend SABIC led workshops, conferences, internships, and a variety of other professional development opportunities. Once they have earned their degree and return to the Kingdom, they are already a part of our SABIC family, having had first-hand experience in terms of what it means to deliver “Chemistry that Matters™”.

SABIC ACADEMY

At SABIC, human capital is our most valued asset, which is why it was integral for us to provide a platform for our employees to innovate and deliver value by helping other employees fulfil their full potential. One of the key ways we are achieving this is through the SABIC Academy – which offers both classroom and online learning, with a wide range of courses accessible to every one of our 32,000+ employees around the world.

These include programs that can lead to globally recognized certification in professional areas like Sales, Marketing, Finance, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, among others.

SABIC YOUNG LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

In 2019, SABIC Young Leaders Council (SYLC) was launched with the aim of providing a platform empowering our young leaders to interact directly with the CEO and executive leadership, helping shape future business decisions as well as the organization’s culture.

The initiative promotes engagement and ideas that go beyond standard measurements of progress and contributes to SABIC’s commitment to exploring what matters most to our multi-generational workforce.

SABIC LEADERSHIP WAY

At SABIC, our leaders feel a personal responsibility to develop themselves and the next generation. One of the ways we are empowering the next generation of leaders and helping to build a pipeline of talent is through the SABIC Leadership Way (SLW), which was launched at the end of 2017.

SLW comprises mindsets, behaviors and skills that we are adopting across our organization, which are aligned with our key values: Inspire, Engage, Create and Deliver. The SLW is also an identity and business language, which enables our leaders to lead the change in our organization’s culture by creating an environment where the entire workforce – individually and collectively – is motivated to reach its full potential.

The SLW focuses on four leadership priorities: talent champion, collaboration partner, innovation pioneer, and excellence driver – to help identify, nurture and develop the skills and mindsets that drive meaningful innovations, inter-functional collaboration, and cost reductions throughout the business of SABIC.

The initiative continues to be cited as a best-practice model of how to transform global business leadership in the light of new internal and external challenges by global research and advisory firm Gartner.