ENEC Joins Emirates Global Aluminium's Challenger Programme to Improve Gender Diversity

• Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced that Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) has signed up for its Challenger Programme
• The program seeks to enhance gender representation in traditionally male jobs
• The action marks attempts to provide women more opportunities in the UAE's manufacturing industry

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the largest industrial company in the UAE outside of the oil and gas sector, announced that Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) has joined its Challenger Programme.

The initiative, which began in November 2023, with the support of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiration, aims to combat gender diversity in industries traditionally focused on men.

Ambition is to involve various industrial actors to create equitable and inclusive hiring practices, activate women's workforce capabilities and create inclusive workplace cultures for future thinking.

ENEC is also a gender inclusion champion, with 20 percent of its staff being women—one of the best representations globally in the nuclear energy sector.

Women are also holding positions in important fields in engineering, operations, nuclear safety, and leadership in ENEC. The company also opened the Barakah chapter of Women in Nuclear in 2014 and now chairs the Middle East Chapter of the global organization.

EGA itself has 714 female employees in the UAE, more than 330 of whom are in operational roles. Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of EGA, reiterated the value of diversity: "Achieving gender diversity in heavy industry is critical to realising the full potential of our industry.

We introduced the Challenger Programme to bring together like-minded businesses in making progress together. We are pleased to welcome ENEC and benefit from their experience."

His Excellency Mohamed Al Hammadi, ENEC Managing Director and CEO, received the collaboration, stressing the imperative role of women at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant and their influence on promoting the UAE's energy industry.

With the addition of ENEC, the Challenger Programme comprises nine premier UAE industrial businesses. The program also collaborates with NAMA Women Advancement, a strategic advisor and knowledge partner.