The BIBF celebrates the closing ceremony of the BIPMC

The Bahrain International Project Management Convention was concluded yesterday in a closing ceremony at Batelco Staff Centre in Hamala following a successful month long convention with workshops and practical competitions with the participation of over 450 learners from various local and regional organisations.

The convention organised by the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) with the Strategic partnership of Tamkeen and Communication partner Batelco, in addition to the Social Responsibility  partnership of the Capital Governorate.

The ceremony presented, a first of its kind, a competition in the project management field which was held as part of the convention. The competition was a practical implementation of project management principles that helped learners to apply and better understand the principles of project management, from the start of a given project to the delivery of a product or result. With over 16 teams from various organisation from different sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The participating teams were required to assemble a bicycle utilising their skills and knowledge in project management. The important element of the bicycle assembling lies within its major impact in building a team spirit as participants learn quality, time, and budget controlling skills while competing with each other. At the end, the top winners were awarded with a trophy in acknowledgement of their achievement. The winners are Batelco in first place, Ithmaar Bank took the second place while Saleco came in third place.

Each team will donate their assembled bicycle to Al Sanabil Children’s Home. This initiative lies within the comprehensive message and strategic goal of the convention, which is to connect, collaborate, and contribute as teams connected with each other collaborating to manage projects effectively and contributing to the enhancement of project deliverables reaching strategic organisational goals. The donation is a part of the BIBF and participated organisation’s corporate social responsibility approach that aims to take responsibility for the organisation’s effects on environmental and social wellbeing.

The BIBF’s Head of the Operations, IT and Project Management and Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr. Ahmed Naeemi, reflected on the success of the month long convention in enhancing human capital knowledge on the critical necessity for effective Project Management Skills. He said, “Our team worked to make this convention the most comprehensive convention for Project Management on a national level. We had more than 450 students and learners from various organisations in the market, with a total of 317 hours of training and we are proud to be part of this engagement with employees and students who are interested in enhancing their knowledge and skills within the Project Management field”.

Commenting from his side, the lead trainer and instructor of the Bike Assembly, Engineer Osama Abdul Wahid , stated, “The bike assembly game is a win-win-win experiment as it achieves benefits on three levels. The first being that it is a team simulation exercise where team dynamics are put to the test. Second, it is a fun project to execute while learning and applying project management concepts. Thirdly and most importantly, it employs project management to give back to society through a charitable cause by bringing happiness to disadvantaged children”.

Tamkeen’s Chief Executive Dr. Ebrahim Janahi praised BIBF’s initiative “We in Tamkeen believe in empowering Bahrainis to prosper and contribute to the national economy and seek initiatives that fall under our overall strategy to increase growth in the Bahrain economy”.

Batelco’s Bahrain Engineer Muna Al Hashemi also stated,  “Batelco is proud to support such initiatives that help to raise awareness about Project Management and at the same time help connect members of a team and contribute back to society.“

The month long convention was organised for the first time in Bahrain to emphasise the importance of Project Management and target skills gap areas of managing projects effectively to enhance project deliverables in several economic sectors and organisational structures.