United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has announced the launch of FURSA, a comprehensive online platform developed by EGA’s Youth Council that offers a range of learning and development opportunities for youth at the company.

FURSA, a collaborative effort with EGA's Learning & Development team, provides easy access to curated programmes and experiences, focusing on enhancing skills in leadership, sustainability, science, technology, research and development and more.

Young EGA employees are encouraged to participate in the training, workshops and events offered through the platform. FURSA features exclusive courses offered by prestigious universities including Harvard, Oxford and London Business School. The programme will also offer workshops from established partners including the National Programme for Coders, the Ministry for Climate Change & Environment, the Ministry for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, and Youth 4 Sustainability.

Hala Alhashmi, Chair of EGA Youth Council and a senior engineer in the company’s Lean & Business transformation department, said: “Youth have both an opportunity and the responsibility to lead the future. We must prepare ourselves now to build on the tremendous achievements that we will inherit. We designed FURSA to enable all youth people to reach their full potential, and contribute their all to our company and nation.”

Iman Al Qasim, Executive Vice President of Human Capital at EGA, said, "EGA is dedicated to growing future leaders by offering customised learning and development opportunities, tailored to their work domains, interests and capabilities. FURSA is unique in EGA's Learning & Development portfolio because it was developed by young people themselves. I am sure it will help us in achieving EGA's bold aspiration of becoming the industrial employer of choice in the countries where we operate by 2030, as becoming truly a talent-driven organisation.”

FURSA will go beyond traditional training by offering world-class experiences and tailored events that are built on the spirit of volunteering, sustainability, and collaboration. Young EGA employees will have the opportunity to apply their skills in real-world scenarios, engage in meaningful projects, and contribute to EGA’s social impact initiatives both locally and internationally.

The programme builds on EGA’s existing Learning & Development offering of 2,225 different training courses. EGA employees completed 51,800 days of learning & development in 2022, averaging 7.8 days of training per employee.

EGA also runs a number of programmes to inspire youth interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics which reached more than 6,000 students in 2022. These programmes include ‘Engineer the Future’, EGA’s Ambassador Programme, and the Al Robot competition for university engineering students.

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Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae

About EGA

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2022, EGA sold 2.72 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2022, value-added products accounted for 78 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 20 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports almost 50,000 jobs. EGA itself employs around 6,500 of these people including more than 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 30 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. EGA’s bauxite mining subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, achieved the first ASI certification in Guinea in 2023. ASI certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.

In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun. 

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 45 per cent of EGA’s needs.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.