Al-Ablani: The program reflects our steadfast commitment to investing largely in our human capital

The program brings together 56 mentors and 170 mentees, with mentoring relationship extending for 18 months

Building on the remarkable success of the program’s 1st edition in 2022, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has kickstarted the 2nd edition of its HIPO Mentoring Program for developing future leaders, which is organized in cooperation with IDRAK Training and Consultancy. 

The program resonates with NBK’s consistent endeavors to develop employees’ career path and help them build a thriving career that drives its future growth. To this end, it involves transferring the knowledge and experience of highly qualified and experienced employees to the young talent to maximize their opportunities of progression and rising to leadership roles in the future.

The overarching objective of the NBK HIPO Mentoring Program is to ensure that all participants have an increased awareness of the benefits of mentoring including building critical relationships, enhancing communication skills and productivity and exchange of knowledge and experience, as well as increasing the engagement and retention of employees.

With 56 mentors and 170 mentees attending the program this year, it includes an introductory seminar attended by all participants, followed by intensive training for mentors and mentees through various workshops highlighting the meaning and importance of mentoring and how to make use of this relationship to transfer the skills and experiences of high-performing leaders to identified new and less experienced employees, in addition to boosting organizational communication and productivity, and improve the preparation of high-potential employees for transition into senior leadership positions.

On the last day of the program, a matching session will be arranged to allow the mentees to communicate with all mentors, so that each mentee will choose the mentor that best suits them to have an ongoing mentoring relationship for 18 months, which can extend further, if it proves successful. This will build a strong relationship between mentors and mentees, which will reflect positively on the performance of the bank’s human resources.

Commenting on this program, Mr. Emad Al-Ablani, GM – Head of Group Human Resources at National Bank of Kuwait, said: “NBK HIPO Mentoring Program reflects our steadfast commitment to investing largely in our human capital and increasing their efficiency by providing employees aspiring to rise to leadership roles in the future with career progression opportunities.”

“NBK places the development of its people as a top priority, harnessing all its capabilities to contribute to their career progression by providing training and development programs in line with its belief that diverse and high-caliber talent is key to sustaining success and achievements. Therefore, NBK HIPO Mentoring Program receives significant support from the bank’s executive management, being one of the key talent management initiatives serving a pivotal aspect of our human resources strategy, which aims to promote personal and professional growth and to increase the sharing of knowledge, skills and experiences among current and future leaders,” he highlighted.

“NBK harnesses all its capabilities to develop and upskill its human capital, and improve their performance, in order to ensure the quality of the human factor representing one of the bank’s core sustainability drivers,” he emphasized.

It is worth mentioning that during 2023, NBK has received many prestigious accolades in recognition of its excellence in developing human resources and talent.