Ooredoo Group's Innovation in Workforce Upskilling and Reskilling

Ooredoo is an international communications Company operating across the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. It serves consumers and businesses in nine countries, delivering Ooredoo a broad range of content and services through its advanced, data-centric mobile and fixed networks. As of 31 December 2024, Ooredoo generated full-year Revenue of QAR 24 billion.

Ooredoo believes that talent is our ultimate competitive advantage. To unleash it, in 2023, we created Ooredoo Learning Academy (OLA) which reimagines how learning happens for 16,000 employees across 9 markets. It breaks away from traditional top-down models and introduces a bold, inclusive, and sustainable approach that has made learning a true superpower in our culture.

Innovation in action

• Learning as a superpower campaign: Five superheroes brought to life OLA's five pillars - Leaders Academy, Functional Academies, Digital Academy, Business Skills Academy, and Expert Pool. More than branding, this campaign created excitement, visibility, and pride: every employee feels they have the superpower to grow their career and take their talent to new heights.
• Co-creation process: Learning Path curated by the C-suite and Subject Matters Experts (SMEs).
• Equity at scale: Through the "My Learning Is My Responsibility" initiative, launched in 2025, each employee receives an individual annual training budget, ensuring fairness and access to both global and niche opportunities, no matter where they sit in the organisation.
• Innovative cutting edge technology: OLA delivers immersive experiences using virtual reality, simulations, business applications, AI coaching, and AI role plays. These innovations make learning practical, personalised, and future-ready.
• Coaching and mentoring for all: Unlike many organisations where coaching is reserved for the few, OLA offers internal and external coaching and mentoring at scale. With ICF-accredited internal coaches, guidance is embedded across the Group, accessible to every employee.
• Digital ecosystem: A unified platform offers AI-powered learning paths, self-paced modules, virtual classrooms, and real-time dashboards that track adoption, completions, and impact at individual, departmental, and organisational levels.
• World-class partnerships: Collaborations with more than 30 global institutions - including Harvard, MIT, CIPD, CIPS, CFI, CIM, BCI, Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn, Coursera etc. - deliver exceptional learning, while centralised contracts generate 40% cost savings.
• Learning sustainability: OLA ensures continuity through Train the Trainer programs, peer learning communities, alumni boards, and accredited internal coaches, building a self-sustaining culture of growth.
• Learning recognition and rewards: Celebrating learning miles and growth milestones through awards and graduation events, along with digital badges distributed throughout the internal and external social media.

Employee impact

• 90% adoption: In 2024, employees completed at least three courses aligned to their IDPs, related to leadership/technical/digital competencies.
• 89% engagement as per The CARE Survey, reflecting the employees are confidence that they have access to the required training to prepare for the skills of the future. This is 13% higher than the Telecommunications norm and 14% higher than the High Tech Norm;
• 4.7/5 satisfaction: Employees report feeling empowered, creative, and inspired.
• Cultural shift: Employees see learning as a growth enabler, career accelerator and personal responsibility.

Business impact

• Workforce capabilities in leadership, technical, and digital competencies have significantly strengthened.
• Cross-market collaboration has flourished through functional academies and applied projects.
• Centralisation and partnerships improved efficiency, scale, and ROI - without compromising quality.

Ooredoo Learning Academy's innovative approach has transformed talent management into a creative, inclusive, and performance-driven strategy that fuels growth and secures Ooredoo's future, creating a strong internal talent marketplace and successors readiness.