Telecoms & Digital Technologies Academy Top Achievements in the year 2021
The year 2021 may be called an establishment year since we started latterly without any proper curriculums, accreditations, trainers and so forth. What we have managed to accomplish in 2021 is as follows
NTF approval
Initial approval was granted early April 2021. The first to be approved was the FMCG Sales Promoter program. Program duration was extended to 5 months with learners on seats in November 2021. This very lengthy process was not even possible without the involvement of His Excellency Dr. Al Futaisi. This was required since the regulations state that no institute is to be granted approval before one full year of operating. This was overcome by a visit to Mr Saalim Al Busaeedi by Taj and Mr Yusuf Al Blushi. One of Mr Taj’s contacts was able to secure three training contracts with Atyaab, NABIL and National Detergent Company. This has in turn has secured 15 trainees on the FMCG program. This number would have been even more, but Atyaab had to pull out since they are a governmental entity. NDC reduced the number from 25 to only 10 due to the very long time taken to get the approval from the Ministry of Labor. The curriculum was brought forward by Mr Amjad Al Jabri (trainer) and took a very long time to get re-approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Innovation and consequently even a much longer time to get it approved by MoL. The initial duration of the program submitted to the NTF team was 14 months of training but was reduced by them to only 500. This very long period of going back and forth has caused a lot of confusion and frustration among potential trainees as well as the companies involved. Some trainees had to pull out because they already have found alternative programs or have found work. Assessment platform for literacy and numeracy was designed and implemented by Mr Ashraf and Mr Maher. This was a very successful tool to filter out the candidates for the potential projects.
MoUs signed
Mahindra:
Tech-Mahindra came through HE Dr Hamad Al Rawahi. An MoU was eventually signed with TechMahindra in August. They have been awarded a big project in Oman involving all mobile phone operators such as Ooredoo, Omantel and Vodafone. They require for us to do On Job Training for around 60 candidates (20 from each operator).
Sentinel:
MoU was signed with Rob Gardner in the areas of Tower Climbing, Health & Safety and many more subjects. Rob has brought Highfield accreditation through Sentinel to be used by TDTA. _is has saved initial and annual fees which could have mounted to thousands of Omani Riyals. Rob came through Oman Towers in order to deliver tower climbing courses in collaboration with TDTA. He holds the only approval in Oman for Highfield tower climbing course as he is the program developer for the course. As a result of this collaboration, we have managed to secure 30 tower climbing trainees to enroll on the course
Al-Ta’aat:
MoU was signed with Mrs. Hala Turky in the fields of Leadership and Improving Governmental Performance. We held a couple of meetings with Mrs Hala attended online by Mr Al-Lamki. We are currently developing the Telecom Management program with Mrs Hala. We expect the curriculum to be ready by the end of this year, this is due to the designer/upgrader being fully occupied with more urgent designs for current courses
Future Mettle (wuhaibi):
We have signed an MOU with Future Mettle as they sell IQA and other programs which can be delivered by Maher. They also brought some inquiries for TDTA to deliver HSE courses for Al Maraai.
Oman Tower Company:
MoU was signed in an event which took place in July 2021. This was followed by a very successful workshop which has sparked a lot of interest in the tower climbing courses, long and short term ones. We managed to populate a list of contractors and sub-contractors who have in turn sent many queries regarding training programs offered by TDTA.
Exchange program:
The Exchange program was the very first program brought to TDTA by Mr Taj on the 18th Feb 2021 (2 weeks after joining). This included a 20 candidate commitment letter issued by Proshutom Kanji. This project was eventually taken away by OFO with no financial returns to the people who brought it forward. Moreover, NTF’s delay has also caused TDTA to lose the project.
Union investment:
An MoU was signed earlier this year with Union Investment. They specialize in tower erecting and other civil work related to telecoms and other similar sectors. We received a lot of support from UI throughout the year. Their participation in TDTA-OTC workshop in October was fruitful and beneficial. They have offered support in many projects including Awasr, Tower Climbing and mobile repair programs.
Vendor Registration:
- NABIL Biscuits: through one of Mr Taj’s contacts (Yunus). Through NABIL
- National Detergent Co. “Bahar”: another company which has taken TDTA as one of their vendors and has supplied a commitment letter to train 10 candidates with us
- Marai Co: we are in the process of running a possible HSE course with Al Maraai through Future Mettle
- Awser: Registered as approved training provider on Jun 2021
- Proshotom Kanji Exchange: Registered as a approved training provider on Feb 2021, awarded with group of 10 candidates for OJT but due to MoL process we lost the project
- Vodafone Oman:
Under process to register. Meeting was successful with Vodafone HR GM - Khalili Group:
Registered as approved vender on Sep 2021, expecting number of 10 candidates to be trained on 2022
Excel Education UK:
Excel Education is a UK base training provider, offer high quality education and training that meets the demands of the current market place and develops individual potential. With extensive experience of the education and training sectors for soft skills program, the main reason of collaborating with excel is to accredit our program so that we can provide our students a certificate thru excel acknowledged and attested by MoHEOman
Engineering Village:
As a part of the academy’s vision to offer technical courses for children and young adults. This is to invest in the new generation and leave a fingerprint of the academy in their education and upskilling. The signing of the MoU with them was to promote their programs under the umbrella of the academy, but the plan is not to make profit from this project
