Four Seasons Resorts Maldives has concluded another round of their lauded apprenticeship programme. An event was held Sunday at Dharubaaruge to mark the occasion and it saw the graduation 51 youths from across the Maldives.
Speaking at the ceremony Armando Kraenzlin thanked the chief guest, minister of tourism Ali Waheed for continuing the tradition of having a minister award the graduates.
“Wherever you are in the Maldives, you will come across Four Seasons apprenticeship programme graduates, and most of them are leading very successful lives,” said Kraenzlin ,Four Seasons Resorts Maldives’ regional vice president. He mentioned one of the first graduates, Ahmed Fatheen, who now runs a successful restaurant in Hulhumale.
In his brief address, Ali Waheed offered the young graduates and newcomers five life-lessons. “You can be a brilliant person but everything in life requires team effort. It’s only by working as a team that you can achieve greatness,” he noted. “And if you have a dream, you have to believe it first. No one else will come to you with a dream and tell you that you have to believe it. Only you can do that.”
Speaking to Hotel Insider, Kraezlin said: “The apprenticeship programme is a great opportunity for young Maldivians to make the transition from school to industry as resorts still prefer to hire people who’ve had some sort of experience. So, [at the apprenticeship programme], it’s a long, tough year but at the end of it, you have a year of experience at an international hotel. You can get job opportunities once you’re done, the programme opens a path to success.”
On attracting young women to the programme he said: “It’s not very easy, to be frank. But I’m very happy that we’ve got our first female dive-master candidate Sara Ahmed. It’s a very male-dominated field and we’re going to make sure she has our support throughout to become successful. And we’re very pleased to welcome more girls than ever before to our class of 2020.” The class has six female participants.
The Four Seasons Resorts Maldives apprenticeship programme is now in its 19th year and has seen 597 graduates since its inception. The apprentices live, work and study onsite and gain a very hands-on understanding of their chosen discipline.