CEO of BQ Solutions, Alan Woolford
It is important for the local defence industry to attract the brightest and best young Qatari talent as the country moves towards a sovereign defence capability, international business leader and CEO of BQ Solutions Alan Woolford has said.
In an interview with The Peninsula recently, Woolford said encouraging local talent to get into the growing Qatari defence sector is essential for the future as the country seeks to stay ahead of various threats in the field.
“The future is about making sure that we encourage bright and innovative young people with inquiring minds to use their education to come into the defence industry, so that we encourage the brightest and best Qatari talent to train for it and help us stay ahead of the threat from the enemy. In Qatar, there’s a real opportunity for people of both genders. And that’s really important, to feel that they can do something for the defence of their country. They can really take part in the defence of their country by getting into this industry. It’s wonderful to see the high level of patriotism among Qataris. And it’s a great privilege to be able to harness that enthusiasm, not just the younger community but from the whole Qatari community. We’re very proud that one-third of our workforce are Qatari nationals,” said Woolford.
Woolford and his team were taking part at the Milipol Qatar 2021 which concluded in Doha recently.
BQ Solutions, a joint venture between Qatar’s Barzan Holdings and UK’s leading military consultancy provider Qinetiq, aims to accelerate Qatar’s sovereign defence capability, and seeks to make Qatar a recognised centre for defence and security cutting-edge technologies with the capacity and ingenuity to compete internationally.
Speaking about Qatar’s resilience in the defence sector, he said: “The investment in developing resilience is enhanced here in Qatar because it has global events coming up. I feel very positively about the strength of Qatar’s resilience, and how that is progressively improving and moving towards the World Cup in 2022. But more importantly, I think it needs to continue beyond that. There are other global events that will happen here after that. We need to carry on developing that resilience. Because again, the threat will change and will develop. This is the very nature of warfare,” added Woolford.
Speaking about the major threats faced by industries and countries today, Woolford said: “Cyber threats are a very real threat for all of us, not just in defence but in our private lives and in our personal finances and personal data. Of course the cyber threat in the defence industry is more severe because of the enemy’s desire to attack and obtain critically sensitive information of our defence as a nation and our defence as individuals. Cyber threat is the most prevalent and real threat that we face today.”
Woolford added that the defence industry is an ever-evolving spiral of innovation, as industries continue to advance and discover new technologies to counter the equally growing capabilities of cyber criminals.
“The cyber threat can be state-sponsored, and it can equally be from a disaffected teenager in his/her bedroom that’s good at computer. We need to make cyber defence appear to be more engaging and enthralling to encourage youngsters to come into that as a career,” Woolford said.
He added that the company continually seeks to partner with world expert organisations, including equipment manufacturers, technologists, and other consultancies from across the world.
“The idea is to partner with organisations, the best that the world has to offer, and bring those capabilities and solutions into Qatar. The knowledge stays here as we seek to build a generation of Qatari sovereign defence consultancy that can then deliver this from within over the next few years,” said Woolford.
