Abdelaziz Jaouani, the ETF’s Country Manager for Lebanon, brings a wealth of experience in education, training, business and entrepreneurship to his job.
A trained engineer who specialised in textiles and clothing at Lyons’ Higher School of Textile Industries in France, he also has an MSc in physics and chemistry from Mohammed V University in Oujda in his native Morocco.
Aziz – as he is known – has worked as a vocational institute teacher and trainer, project manager, policy advisor and has been in charge of projects to set up five textile training institutes, a higher education institute and a number of specialist training centres in Morocco.
The experience gained there laid the foundations for a move away from education and into business, when for six years between 2000 and 2006 Aziz was co-owner and co-manager of Novacote, a Casablanca-based textiles company that produced knitted women’s and children’s pullovers for export.
With an annual turnover of €1.5 million and 160 employees, Aziz’s responsibilities included staff recruitment, training and wage policy.
It was the sort of hands-on experience in business that is invaluable now in his work with the ETF – which he joined as a human capital development specialist in September 2007 – where encouraging entrepreneurial activity in partner countries is a key priority alongside core training, lifelong learning and labour market reform policies.
Aziz, who was also project manager on a €75 million EU MEDA II project on supporting human capital development in Morocco’s textile, tourism and ICT sectors during his time with the textile firm, says his experience of both business and training gives him the practical experience to work with a wide range of stakeholders in ETF projects.
“I have experience both of the supply and demand side of the labour market, which helps me understand the point of view of all stakeholders, negotiate with employers and deal with ministries of education and labour,” he says.
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Added on 04th September