Stephen Melcior is the Managing Director at Wilson Learning Middle East.
Tell Us More About Wilson Learning ME?
I set up Wilson Learning in the region in 2008 together with a partner who has been working in Wilson Learning for more than 20 years and who is based in Johannesburg. After the initial phase of getting acquainted with the market, and mainly serving global Wilson Learning clients, we built a strong local presence with a solid client base and a unique offering to the local market. Initially, we operated only in the UAE, however after 12 months, Wilson Learning Worldwide granted us exclusive distribution rights for the entire GCC Countries.
Today, Wilson Learning Middle East is a consulting firm for training and development, working with various industry sectors to advise, create, and execute development initiatives with a clear purpose. Our offices in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain are providing us with proximity to the market, and soon, our regional footprint will include Kuwait and Qatar.
What Made You Launch A Training Business?
I have always been traveling to the Middle East and I had developed a strong connection and fascination to the market, its people and the variety of nationalities and mentalities. Wilson Learning has been a global company from the early days, yet their presence in the Middle East was not sufficient to fully utilize the opportunities the region offers, and thus supporting the region in its development towards a global market player. The combination of the above was an ideal starting point to excel and build a strong and successful organization that can look back at tremendous growth, two SME100 Awards, several business partner awards, a strong team of top consultants, and a strategy that is ambitious and achievable for the coming years.
How Do You Help Companies?
There are many ways to help organizations, depending on their specific requirements at any given time. On our part, we provide leverage and alignment by contributing directly to their bottom line, their goals and objectives, and their strategic actions. This may be a simple training program, a complete learning journey, measurement of sales success, consulting on sales management, or anything else around building skills and knowledge.
We analyse existing structures and directions, and evaluate whether the talent pool has the right skillset to execute the strategy and reach the vision of the organization. Our learning journeys may comprise Wilson Learning content, but they almost always include non-traditional development tools, such as assignments, team projects, or continuous interactions between colleagues to deepen and intensify the learning experience with the focus on a clearly defined business result.
Which Client Projects Have Been A Success?
The most exciting projects are always based around a full integration into the client organization, understanding what “their story” is, how they came up in the market, their positioning, people and purpose. We almost become the extended arm of Talent Development, sometimes more strategic, sometimes more operational.
The more freedom we have inside the organization, the better we integrate and understand how the business and the people work.
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