Founded in 2012 in Saudi Arabia to help bridge the skills gap between academic curriculum and corporate expectations the Nestle Centre of Excellence was set up in Oman last year.

The centre collaborates with the Sultan Qaboos University from where 90 per cent of its trainees are derived. Alireza Sarabchi general business manager Nestle in Oman said 'Nationalisation represents an integral element of our strategy and we are committed to recruiting and hiring local talent.

At Nestle Oman 65 per cent of the employees in all our departments and across our five distribution centres in Nizwa Salalah Sur Sohar and Muscat are Omani nationals. The Nestle Centre of Excellence reflects positively on both society and our own operations benefits from a vast pool of qualified recruits.'

Yves Manghardt chairman and CEO Middle East Nestle said 'Nestle believes in creating shared value.... Our Centre of Excellence helps meet one of the commitments recently published in our local Nestle to Society report: 'To Foster Further Opportunities of Starting and Developing Careers for the Youth in the Middle East'.'