My friend, May, who works at Boubyan Bank told me that they were gonna host an introductory lecture about the bank itself and basic info about Islamic banking  to The Proteges…. I went ahead and coordinated it with Mentor Shamlan AlBahar so I can attend with them

The lecture started with Mentor AlBahar introducing Mr. Adel AlMajed, the Vice Chairman & MD of Boubyan Bank – who also happen to be one of the first managers to interview me for my first job (NBK – NBK Capital). Mr. AlMajed talked about his 30 years of banking experience, how it was beneficial for him to rotate into different departments in the bank and getting the best out of each. How he reached his place today. He also talked about the shift from conventional to Islamic banking. He also talked about managerial skills at work and the traits a manager should adapt to when dealing with his team and subordinates.

A quick yummy break was given to the students (thank you Abdullah for taking the picture above for me 😉 ) The proteges seems to be enjoying the yummies 😉

After the break, Ms. May of HR and Mr. AlYaqout of Corporate Communications started to talk about their roles. Ms. May talked about Talent Management and the process/screening they go through to recruit, develop, and retain good employees. She also talked about profiling and profile analysis

She used some live examples – using a couple of the proteges as an example

Later on, Mr. AlKulaib took over and explained Islamic banking and finance. He talked about some of the differences between the two, the nature of their business and dealings, and briefly about the history of Islamic banking (did you know conventional banking started around 1609 whereas Islamic banking started around 1977??)

Then the BIG surprise of the day was a raffle – for an iPad 2 😉

Ms. Balqees AlSubaie picked the winning paper… which was…. *drum rolls*

Ms. Dalal AlSulaiti – of The Proteges G1 😉 Congrats Dalal 😀

Goody bags were handed to every single one of us

Yes, me too 😉 How sweet!

Mani/Pedi set, MP3 Player, USB, and Islamic Banking & Finance Guide Book

Thank you May, Thank you Shamlan, and Thank you Boubyan Bank 😉

Also check AlWatan Newspaper Coverage (link)