LinkedIn celebrated the success of companies in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region in the talent and employer branding space by hosting the 2017 edition of ‘MENA Talent Awards’.

Held for the third consecutive year, the awards recognized and acknowledged LinkedIn’s top customers in MENA for the great work and results they’ve been seeing during the year. Some of the winners from the private sector included Ford Middle East & Africa, ACWA Power, The Entertainer FZ LLC, Emirates, Al-Futtaim and Saudi Aramco for Best Employer Brand on LinkedIn.

Ford Middle East and Africa has once again been recognized as one of the region’s most attractive companies to work for at the LinkedIn Talent Awards Middle East, following last year success in the same category, taking home the award for Best Employer Brand.

“The skills needed to work at Ford are becoming increasingly diverse, and we consistently strive to be at the forefront of future mobility and industry disruption. An achievement such as this award, which measures employer brand presence on its LinkedIn Career page, for the second year running, demonstrates that we remain on the right path to attracting the talent we need,” said Mervyn Fraser, Human Resources Director, Ford Middle East and Africa.

In 2015, Ford was also named one of LinkedIn’s “Top 50 Most In Demand Employers in Middle East and North Africa”.

In the public sector, Dubai Airports, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority – DEWA and Roads and Transport Authority in the UAE and Saudi Stock Exchange (TADAWUL), Takamol Holding and Saudi eGovernment Program were recognized as Best Employers. Careem from UAE, Riyadh Airports from KSA, KEO International Consultants from Kuwait and Azadea Group from other MENA countries were recognized as the Best Talent Acquisition Team.

“We are extremely proud to see that LinkedIn’s talent solutions have provided companies and individuals with the right tools to reach attract and retain the best talent in the market. Today’s talent awards are a celebration of the efforts, the strategies and the innovative initiatives these winning companies, teams and individuals have taken in acquiring and retaining their talent. We congratulate all our winners and finalists on such a great achievement and wish them all the best for continued successes,” said Ali Matar, Head of LinkedIn Talent Solutions, EMEA, Emerging Markets.

The 2017 MENA Talent Awards were given in multiple categories including Top Social Recruiters, Best Talent Acquisition team, Best Employer Brand on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Rising Star, Most Social Executive and Best Culture of Learning.

At this year’s celebration, LinkedIn introduced a new award to recognize the most deserving MENA organization that has created a happy and positive work environment for its employees. Named the the ‘Culture of Happiness Award’ it was presented by Her Excellency Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, UAE’s Minister of State for Happiness. Almarai Company won the ‘Culture of Happiness’ award for creating a culture of happiness for its employees. They also won the ‘Culture of Learning’ award along with Dubai Electricity & Water Authority – DEWA.