Alghanim International

Vanessa Tavares

People Culture Champion

People Purpose and Performance Across Industries

Throughout my career, I have been driven by a passion for people, a desire to grow and adapt, and a constant desire to gain a greater understanding of the world around me. During my time with Alshaya Group, I was able to develop my experience in human resources-overseeing, guiding, and leading large scale recruitment and operational support across a wide range of retail, fashion, luxury, beauty, home, food, hospitality, and restaurant brands as well as the corporate sector of Human Resources, Finance, Logistics, Information Technology, Business, and Digital Transformation. In all of my diverse experiences, I have learned how to balance speed with precision, how to ensure all of my hires align with the brand culture, and how to manage the business frameworks that keep large-scale business operations running smoothly in an environment which is fast-paced and dynamic.

The transition to Alghanim International marked a turning point in the company’s history. In this role, I transitioned from fulltime recruitment to a full-time HR leadership role, and I began to take on responsibilities that covered a wide range of HR duties, including managing recruitment units, compliance, onboarding, leadership development, compensation, and workforce planning. Over the course of my career, I have been responsible for managing people and stakeholders across some of the most complex and ambitious engineering and construction projects in the Gulf Cooperation Council, including the following:

• Top EPC projects in oil & gas

• Power and water desalination plants

• High rise construction projects

In this environment, I strengthened my ability to:

• Manage People: Build resilient teams, foster trust, and drive performance under the most demanding conditions when working on a project.

• Managing Stakeholders: Align HR strategy with business objectives, ensuring seamless collaboration across multinational teams, ensuring a positive customer experience.

• Ensure Business Results: Create structured frameworks that aid in the delivery of operational excellence and project success.

• Developing People: Championing leadership development, mentoring, and onboarding programs that enable talent to grow and bring value to the organization.

“HR can play a critical role in delivering sustainable business impact across all industries, on a daily basis.”

My journey has included much more than just HR, and there has been a lot to learn along the way. From top-of-the-line retail floors to EPC sites, my journey has taken me from top-of-the-line retail floors to much more than what you may expect. As a result of this work, the organization has been able to shape its culture, enable performance, and demonstrate to its leadership that its people are the driving force behind the organization’s success.

I still believe that HR can play a critical role in delivering sustainable business impact across all industries, on a daily basis, by enabling people, purpose, and performance to be connected seamlessly on a daily basis through a continuous process of connecting people, purpose, and performance.