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The Story of MTC-Vodafone MEPI Business Internship Program alumna, Nouf AL SOWAIDI, has recently been promoted within the company she works, MTC-Vodafone. The following is a summary of a recent presentation she delivered to a panel of HR professionals. Nouf aspires to become the Chief HR Officer at MTC-Vodafone. You can read her full alumna update on the Alumnae Updates page. Congratulations Nouf, keep up the hard work! The Story of MTC-Vodafone In this world of high competition, MTC-Vodafone has shocked the world with its ground-breaking and unconventional methods of doing business. Breaking unprecedented records with its speed of building operators from scratch, MTC-Vodafone has become the talk of the town with a reputation spanning the four corners of the world.
Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) was established in 1983 in The State of Kuwait as a government entity, the first of its kind in the Middle East. At the time cellular phones were at their early stages using analog technology. In 1994, MTC introduced GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) in Kuwait, again another precedent in the region, and in 1999 it was the first to introduce prepaid services. In the year 2000, the Kuwaiti mobile market opened up to competition and as a result, a new operator, National Mobile Telecommunications Company (NMTC) entered the market. A year later the government reduced its stake in MTC to 25% starting a trend of privatization throughout The State of Kuwait. MTC is led by former General Manager and now the managing Director and Deputy Chairman, Dr. Saad Al Barrak, a visionary ahead of his peers and former General Manager of International Turnkey Systems (ITS) in Kuwait. His vision to “make MTC the sweat heart of the world” is embodied in his 3 x 3 x 3 Vision.
3 x 3 x 3 Vision The 3 x 3 x 3 Vision of MTC is a vision by Dr. Saad Al Barrak to become a global company in 3 stages that last 3 years each. In the first 3 years, MTC hopes to become a regional company and become a reputable company in Middle East. In the next 3 years, MTC would like to have operators outside the Middle East and build a number of operators around the world. In the last 3 years, MTC would like to go global, with Mobile operators all over the world and a huge following. MTC’s Operators In 2002, MTC signed a dual branding agreement with
Vodafone which allowed it to add the Vodafone brand to its logo. That
started a streak of acquisitions that began with buying 96% of Fastlink’s
shares in Jordan, then moved on to winning the GSM license in Bahrain
resulting in the establishment of MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain. The next
license was awarded to MTC in Iraq which resulted in the birth of
Atheer and after that came the wining of management contract for the
one of two operators owned by the State in Lebanon of LibanCell in
Lebanon, now called MTC Touch. Our greatest achievement thus far,
though, is going beyond the first 3 in the 3 x 3 x 3 strategy and
penetrating the African market by acquiring Celltel, a Dutch company
that owns 13 operators throughout the South Eastern part of Africa.
MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain has been set up to become the
model for a mobile telecommunications company for the rest of the
MTC operators. Our leadership has sought to break many records while
building the company including launching our services within 7 months
which included building our infrastructure, recruiting suitable people
and setting up operations. Our commitment to our national obligations
resulted in exceeding the 75% Bahraini workforce constraint imposed
by our government by 9% and doing it 1 year ahead of schedule plus
exceeding our targeted 80,000 customers within our first year of operations
by 20%. Why Culture?
Our decision to have our unique culture become our competitive advantage is derived from the following reasons:
How We Arrived at This Culture (Methodology) After a long process of sitting with the leaders of MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain and interviewing them thoroughly to arrive at the desired set of values on which we will build our culture, we conducted a series of basic culture awareness sessions in order to educate people of all ranks on our culture and what is expected of each one of us to keep it alive. We then conducted a culture survey to assess where we are in terms of our desired target and then we worked on implementing the action plans that have come out as a result of the survey.
The set of values at which we have arrived are:
The 5F Philosophy MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain has adopted a unique philosophy in its HR practices made up of 5 elements:
Dr. Saad Al Barrak, always in search of great insights and new paradigms in management has always placed great emphasis on human resources. That is why the Human Resources function at all MTC operators is always placed under great scrutiny in order to ensure quality of service to our internal customers. He is mostly influenced by Peter Drucker who, generations ahead of his time, stated: “The most valuable assets of a 20th century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity.” Another influence comes from Stephen Covey’s
“The 8th Habit” where Dr. Al Barrak found his ideas
and beliefs very clearly articulated. The book talks about the whole
person paradigm. It preaches that the 8th habit is about “finding
your voice and inspiring others to find theirs… It The assumption is that a whole person needs to be treated kindly, paid fairly and used creatively to ultimately leave a legacy. A whole person has a heart, body and mind which, if fulfilled, the ultimate spirit is fed. The better the above is implemented the higher up the choices ladder a person goes. If treated badly, a person would either rebel or quit and as treatment gets better, he/she goes up the ladder until the stage of creative excitement is reached and you get an outstanding, loyal employee. MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain’s HR Model
Our aim is to either develop leaders from within or attract people with leadership potential from the market and provide them with the right environment to nurture that leadership. The right environment includes an open, empowering culture, flexible policies and clear and concise procedures.
The story of MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain as a model for a successful telecommunications company is indeed a ground shaker in terms of the strategic initiatives and the precedents it has set. It has certainly opened the eyes of the world at this seemingly small company that, in only 3 years of existence as a non-government entity, has bought off or built new operators on 2 continents and 18 different countries; next on the agenda: THE WORLD.
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How
it all started
In
such a competitive environment, MTC-Vodafone, Bahrain thought of a
way to gain a competitive advantage that is unprecedented in the region.
Our leadership found no better asset to compete with than their people.
Our people first attitude and our commitment to develop a culture
that would enable them as future leaders have become our competitive
advantage.
Our
Set of Values
The
Influence Behind the Culture
encompasses
the soul of the organization that will survive and impact the future
of the world.”
The
model has been created to serve the ultimate goal of the HR department
and it’s most important value: leadership all over.
We
pride ourselves in being a young company that has served its community
by recruiting a majority of locals and one that has created a sense
of camaraderie within its ranks. We have continuous social events
to enhance the interaction between our people and recognition programs
far beyond those of our peers in the region. We’ve tailored
our HR services to suit the individual and created policies that
impact the masses but also give enough leeway to deal with exceptions.