The Ministry of Labour (MoL) launched the 2026 Qatar Nationalisation Award for the Private Sector on Tuesday. The institution of the Award affirms the vision of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who issued in 2025 a decree establishing the Award to promote positive competition among private-sector institutions, recognise national talent and innovative pioneers, and honour outstanding institutions.
The Award represents a strategic step towards consolidating a sustainable nationalisation approach, achieving the desired targets, and empowering Qatari talent to assume leadership roles within private sector institutions and companies, so that they become a fundamental pillar in achieving sustainable development. The Award has identified four main objectives: contributing to the achievement of Qatar National Vision 2030 through supporting Nationalisation; empowering national talent and honouring leaders and innovators who have presented ideas that contribute to building national human capital; promoting a culture of excellence and positive competition among enterprises; and recognising entities that have achieved tangible accomplishments in nationalisation.
The Award is based on an integrated governance framework as a Board of Trustees was formed pursuant to Amiri Decision No. 27, chaired by the Minister of Labour and comprising representatives of several relevant entities, thereby ensuring the highest standards of fairness, transparency, and professionalism in managing the Award and evaluating its outcomes. The MoL has the Himmah digital platform to facilitate participation and registration procedures for the Award. The Ministry has taken on the responsibility of enhancing work environments and promoting active participation of Qatari talent in the private sector through policies and programmes aimed at raising national workforce participation on the basis of competence and competitiveness, while taking into account lessons learned from previous stages of workforce nationalisation.
The Private Sector Nationalisation Law of 2024 was a pivotal turning point as it provided a comprehensive legal framework to overcome challenges. In the same year, the Ministry launched the National Strategy for an Effective and Highly Productive Workforce 2024-2030, setting a clear roadmap for private-sector nationalisation, aiming to raise the proportion of Qataris employed in this sector from 17 percent to 20 percent.
