KUALA LUMPUR (June 6): Telecommunication conglomerate Axiata Group Bhd will officially launch Axiata Academy in the third quarter of this year in an effort to build up its own talent pool especially in new technologies such as artificial intelligence that has become a strategic priority for most companies and countries in the world.

Its president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said the academy would serve as a knowledge and skills training and development centre for the group's employees.

Speaking to Bernama recently, he said the group had kicked-off the project in the first quarter of this year, starting with Celcom’s employees and would be expanded to include all Axiata’s workforce later.

“The idea is when you join Axiata, it is not because of the job and the pay, but because you can't find another place that can train you as much,” he said, adding that currently, the academy was located at Celcom with a possibility of shifting to a new building.

“...we have not decided on that yet," he clarified.

Elaborating further, Jamaludin said the academy would be divided into five schools -- Big Data and Analytics; Ways of Working Academy;  Leadership, Human Capital and Technopreneurship; Sales and Marketing (enterprise and retail);  as well as Technology and Industry Revolution 4.0. 

"We have employed a former chief executive officer of a medium-sized university to be in charge of this. He was in the telecommunication industry (before), so he knows the industry,” said Jamaludin without revealing the name. 

He noted that Axiata was going to bank on education and talent building to strengthen its workforce in line with current developments. 

“We are very big in it," he added.