Cummins Arabia: Advancing Gender Equity in the Middle East

By Maninder Kaur, Cummins Arabia

Cummins Arabia is committed to building a more diverse workforce in the Middle East, taking a major step in that direction by naming Jennifer Rumsey, as President & CEO of Cummins.

She is the first woman to lead the company since it was founded in 1919, showing the progress that the global power leader has made in diversity and inclusion.

Cummins Arabia is the official distributor of Cummins products and services in the Middle East. Operating in a historically male dominated industry, coupled with the gender dynamics of the Middle East region, Cummins Arabia has also made positive progress in the journey of gender equity.

The entity is implementing a data-driven gender equity strategy, driven by senior leadership, and supported by HR. Hiring and attrition trends have revealed opportunities for forecasting and planning to increase the number of females across roles in the organization with a projection of 10% increase in female representation by 2023.

“Cummins’ mission is to make people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world,” Amit Deshpande, Managing Director, Cummins Arabia, said. “Our commitment to diversity and equity will power our future success. The Cummins Arabia leadership team is dedicated to achieving the diversity goals we have set. It is a very important element of our culture to be a great place to work!”

Fatima Makhchoumi, HR Leader says: “Various initiatives support our vision including the College Hire Program that supports college students and helps in building a female talent pipeline in mostly male dominant functions like application and engineering. We have also introduced two robust Employee Resource Groups to identify and address key issues that impact women in the workplace and create a platform for dialogue.”

Most recently, Cummins Arabia has partnered with EFE (Education for Employment) for a program to equip young Saudi women with the professional training necessary to secure employment opportunities. They have set ambitious targets and will continue to pursue objectives in creating a culture that promotes inclusion and women empowerment.

One aspect Cummins Arabia is introducing is role modelling inclusion and demonstrating gender equity as key to changing mindsets. One way they are implementing this model is by hiring the “first women” in specific roles. For instance, Magdolin Mikhail, Business Manager for New Power Business - Hydrogen Technology, is the first woman in that role. She is responsible for discovering new growth opportunities in the hydrogen segment by working closely with key end-users, stakeholders, government and industry bodies in the region.

“The years of work Cummins has put behind advancing equality in the workplace was one of the reasons I joined the company,” Mikhail said.

Noha Mansour, courtesy of Cummins Arabia

In the Middle East, women in customer-facing roles, especially in technical or business development, are outnumbered by men. Noha Mansour, Aftermarket Accounts Manager, talks about the challenges she has encountered.

“I face challenges daily – like gaining customer’s confidence in my technical capabilities, getting them to share required data and information with me so I can support them adequately, and accessing industrial areas like oil and gas fields. I have patiently persevered and established myself in my role.”

Recognizing their progress and the journey that lies ahead, Cummins Arabia is committed to being a positive force in society and the communities in which it operates.

As a Marketing Leader, Maninder Kaur supports marketing and communications for Cummins Arabia in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Before joining Cummins Arabia, she gained marketing experience at Microsoft and Airtel.