Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation and SkyHive by Cornerstone Partner to Enhance Job Matching for Emirati and Arab Youth

Massar Al Ghurair is a career-forward program that will create pathways from Skill Development to Employment Opportunities

August, 2024

The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation (AGF) announces a five-year strategic partnership with SkyHive by Cornerstone, introducing a revolutionary career forward pathway: Massar Al Ghurair. This initiative aims to bridge the gap between education and employment by providing Emirati and Arab youth with personalized skills guidance and job-matching services.

In line with the UAE’s Emiratization goals, Massar Al Ghurair leverages AI technology to create individualized journeys for young people aged 18-35 to move their careers forward. The program identifies learners’ skills , assesses skill gaps to job opportunities and careers, connects learners with relevant upskilling opportunities, and matches them with suitable job openings.

Massar Al Ghurair provides a unified hub where learners can create individual skills-based profiles and receive personalized upskilling guidance to become more competitive candidates for potential job opportunities advertised by partner employers on a digital platform. Partner employers’ benefit from real-time insights ensuring their job openings are up to date and aligned with emerging trends in the labor market. The program includes an advanced job-matching system that considers each learner’s skills, skill gaps, interests, location and preferences. Additionally, the program provides direct access to job opportunities in the UAE and eventually, across the broader region. AGF will also leverage SkyHive by Cornerstone’s platform to support marginalized, vulnerable, and refugee populations in the MENA region, identifying better career pathways and opportunities through the lens of skills.

SkyHive’s AI-powered platform, verified by Armilla to be free from bias, underpins the program, ensuring equitable access to career opportunities. Massar Al Ghurair aims to serve up to 45,000 learners, 50 employers, and 20 training providers, hosted on a secure cloud platform in the UAE. With this, the Foundation aims to significantly impact the Emirati talent pipeline, tapping into a motivated and growing segment of the local workforce, providing a steady stream of qualified candidates for organizations’ future needs, and fostering national economic growth and stability in line with the UAE National Vision.

“This partnership is a significant step towards our mission of empowering Emirati and Arab youth through education. By providing a unified system for managing and enhancing skills, Massar Al Ghurair will help young people overcome barriers to employment, enabling them to thrive and contribute to the region’s development. It is the bridge that youth and hiring partners have been looking for, and it is powered by the most advanced purposefully built AI system for this use case,” said Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar, CEO of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation (AGF).

“The half-life of skills in today’s labor market can be remarkably short. New technologies rise with such speed that learners, employers, and training providers alike are at risk of being left behind. Harnessing real-time labor market intelligence with AI-driven analysis of skills will give Emirati and Arab youth the opportunity to not only keep up but get ahead in their careers,” said Sean Hinton, SkyHive’s Founder.