Tafawoq delivers Risk Management Workshop to industry professionals

TAFAWOQ, the world-class Project Management Centre of Excellence, recently hosted a Risk Management Workshop for Decision Makers in Doha, as part of its commitment to develop the competencies of project management professionals to help deliver Qatar’s capital investment projects.

More than 50 project management professionals from 16 major Qatari organizations such as Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas, Rasgas, Oryx GTL and Qatar Foundation, attended the ‘Designing and Implementing Risk Management Capabilities – Practical Applications’ workshop. The session was delivered by Cyril Salibi, Corporate Risk Director at ASTAD Project Management, a seasoned risk professional, with more than 25 years of international multi-disciplinary corporate and operational risk experience.

TAFAWOQ's Director Bader Al-Jaidah expressed his pride relating to TAFAWOQ’s success in attracting and training more than 450 project professionals since its establishment in 2012. “With billions of Qatari Riyals being invested in the development of new projects across Qatar, building risk management capability is vital to delivering timely, high-quality complex projects, which is central to Qatar’s rapid infrastructure development.  We, at TAFAWOQ, are mindful of the challenges that Qatar’s project management professionals encounter while managing high-risk investment projects, and our programmes and series of workshops aim to address those challenges and brainstorm strategic solutions,” said Al-Jaidah.

During the interactive seminar, a case study was presented to the participants who then worked in teams to develop risk assessment matrices, to be able to manage and report any risks early on in the project development phase. Many aspects such as Strategic, Operational, Financial, Safety and Health, Legal and Compliance risks were also addressed.

Commenting on the seminar, Salibi said, “Effective risk management holds the key to developing an economy that is operationally sound and able to meet the challenges of building iconic projects that are complex and unique in nature. As an industry leader, ASTAD operates according to international best practices, especially in Risk Management. Our team of global specialists provide world class portfolio and project Risk services that enable effective decision making and contingency planning. We employ a simple but robust approach which includes risk planning, risk identification, assessment, management, and reporting and quantitative risk analysis supporting more informed decisions in relation with the risk return equation.”

“I am proud to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with Qatar’s project management professionals and provide first-hand conceptual and practical project risk management tools and techniques that will enable them to achieve their project objectives and add value in their business processes. This will undoubtedly create a stronger risk management culture across projects and organisations in Qatar,” he added. According to Abdulaziz Darwish, Head of Project Engineering at Qatar Petroleum, the workshop provided a unique opportunity where individual project management professionals were able to gather with their peers and share their knowledge.

”Risk Management is fundamental in my line of business. Risks affect every stage of planning and implementation, and the principles learnt in today’s workshop will help to build a strong national culture of risk management,” he said. “This workshop, hosted by TAFAWOQ, facilitated a valuable opportunity for me to meet with my peers to discuss current industry concerns and innovations that will contribute to our professional development, as we continue to work towards the progress and implementation of a risk framework that reflects the high standards depicted in the Qatar National Vision 2030.”

TAFAWOQ, a partnership between Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Shell, and Hamad Bin Khalifa University, offers world-class training for project professionals through unique programmes to further develop the competencies of the thriving project management community in Qatar. TAFAWOQ’s curriculum is aligned with the Association for Project Management (APM), the largest professional body in Europe with 500 corporate and 18,500 individual members. APM accredited TAFAWOQ’s “Essentials of Project Management” course last year and since then 57 project professionals successfully passed and obtained the (APMA Level-D) certificate.  

For information about TAFAWOQ and its programmes please visit: www.tafawoq.com