My Project Tamkeen experience: Transformation Begins From Within

Olivier Harvey, Global Online MBA participant, talks about his experience on the Dubai Trek, as part of Project Tamkeen.

What is Project Tamkeen?

Project Tamkeen was a live case study challenge organised between Emirates Group and Warwick Business School’s Employer Relations Team. The brief was kept wide to encourage as many perspectives as possible: reimagine how employees interact with Emirates’ procurement system, not by redesigning it, but by making it more accessible, usable, and intuitive.

Procurement is often seen as a back-office function, but fundamentally it impacts every part of the organisation and its competitiveness. Considering Emirates’ scale of 115,000+ employees and extended global presence, inefficiencies and friction in procurement create compliance and strategic execution risks, increased inefficiency and higher costs, and real barriers to innovation.

Emirates didn’t want to overhaul the process, they wanted a new experience. They wanted to know how could procurement become an enabler of innovation instead of a bottleneck? How can the system empower employees, simplify compliance, and support vendors, in a transparent way without adding complexity?

The top five case study challenge teams were invited to Dubai to present to the Emirates Executive Team and take part in a Dubai Career Trek organised by WBS, showcasing regional opportunities and executive recruitment dynamics, and multiple networking sessions.

What made you decide to participate?

I decided to take part to mark the end of my MBA journey. My own career has revolved around dynamic organisational transformation in large, global systems. Having the opportunity to present a solution to empower employees and provide tools and insights on how to streamline roll-out and execution, made it especially interesting for me.

The challenge was exclusively for WBS students, placing emphasis on a level of previous experience. The best part was that it was a real-world challenge presented by a globally renowned company, with senior stakeholders actively engaged in the outcomes.

Tell us about the case challenge element – what was the brief and setup? Did you work as a team?

The brief was focused but wide in scope. In teams of four, introduce solutions to redesign how people engage with procurement. Make it simpler, clearer, more intuitive. Use global best practices, academic research, and real implementation logic – and make it innovative.

We reviewed Emirate’s portfolio, procurement function, mapped pain points and user types, and considered AI capabilities. The teams invited to Dubai all shared some core elements in their proposal, providing the Emirates team with additional comfort in their strategy. Our proposal was built around four pillars:

• AI-powered guidance (e.g. CoPilot or agent-based assistants) to simplify tasks in context
• Modular onboarding and “micro-certifications” tailored to user frequency and role
• Gamified internal experience layer to build confidence and track progress
• Revamped touchpoint mapping to reduce friction and embed support across the user journey

The result was a vision for procurement as a platform, which supports decisions, encourages engagement, and grows smarter over time.

Talk us through your Dubai Trek

Monday began with a visit to Dubai Holding, where we met with their Chief People Officer, and Talent Acquisition and Strategy teams. They introduced us to their MBA Residency Programme, which fast-tracks early-career professionals into full-time leadership roles. The programme was designed to attract graduates from the world’s top 20 business schools, WBS among them. More than once, they stressed that the CEO, a Warwick alum himself, values this link.

They also shared their broader impact on Dubai, from real estate to economic development. Having visited Dubai several times over the last two decades, it was great to see and hear the strategic logic behind the emirate’s growth. The day closed with a VIP trip to Ain Dubai, the world’s tallest observation wheel. Those who went said it offered stunning skyline views, a curated experience, and classic Dubai wow-factor. I opted to return to the hotel to work on a few projects, another reminder of the balance we all manage in executive life.

Tuesday was presentation day at Emirates Aviation College. We met their Director of Executive Recruitment and members of their leadership track. After delivering our presentations, we were given a tour of their training simulators - massive Airbus and Boeing rigs used to prepare crew and pilots.

What stood out was the professional culture. Respect, tenure, and customer-first values were visible in every corner of the facility. And so was the link to the case: a procurement experience that’s usable and empowering should reflect those same values. It should be built around employee-first design that enables customer-first delivery.

Wednesday was dedicated to executive networking. We met with regional recruiters working across the UAE and KSA. If it wasn’t already clear to all when looking outside at the city - the region is full of momentum. Talent mobility, business ambition, and strategic clarity are defining the Gulf’s growth, and it was a privilege to be immersed in that for a few days. We ended the evening reconnecting with the people we had met during the events as well as the local WBS alumni network.

What has been your highlight of this experience?

The highlight was the realism and relevance of the challenge as a business-critical problem framed by one of the world’s most respected aviation groups. Presenting to stakeholders who live with these systems every day, and seeing our ideas resonate, was a rewarding moment.

While we all discussed AI capabilities, it was the human connections that made this experience most meaningful. From my teammates, fellow participants, and WBS alumni, to the Emirates and Dubai Holding representatives and others we met during our stay, it was a reminder that leadership journeys are enriched by the people with whom we share parts of our own personal journeys.

What’s your advice to anyone wondering whether to participate in these sorts of opportunities outside of their programme?

Say yes. Even if you’re not sure how you’ll make the time. Even if the outcome is uncertain. Say yes anyway.

Projects such as this one take everything you’ve experienced and learned, from strategy, leadership, to communication, and bring these together in motion. They offer a real-world opportunity where you can experiment, deliver, and grow. But more than that, they remind you that growth comes from trying.

Any final takeaways or reflections?

Doing an MBA, or any executive programme, will give you new tools, frameworks, and knowledge. But the most important rule is simple: you have to use it right away. Use it or lose it. Use it. Apply it. Stretch it. The sooner you embed it in practice, the more it sticks.

At the same time, let’s be honest, new knowledge won’t fundamentally change who you are - unless you let it. Confidence grows. Knowledge compounds. But transformation begins not with what you know, but with what you try.

That’s why I believe the most important part of executive education is what happens when you raise your hand on day one. When you speak up. When you introduce yourself. When you decide to try something that feels just slightly out of character for you (and only you know that). That’s where the shift begins, not in theory, but in comfort. You become more at ease presenting, sharing, navigating ambiguity, entering new rooms with new people and unfamiliar data and ultimately feel like you belong there. And then, go on to find a new room that is a bit more challenging.

And just like Emirates understands that customer focus starts with employee focus, executive transformation starts with you. With what you’re willing to explore, stretch, and test in yourself.

That’s also a good way to look back on the experience with Project Tamkeen. When the challenge came up, we didn’t know how far we’d go, but we said yes. We formed a team. We pushed forward. And that’s what led to new learnings, whether you were invited to Dubai or not.

So if you’re ever facing one of these choices, I’d say join, apply, and raise your hand. Say yes even if you might not feel ready for it. Say yes to learning in public and to those uncomfortable moments that build comfort over time. Then repeat. It gets easier with time, and you get better at it.