A Word about Meirc

In April 1958, Mr. Simon Siksek founded Meirc.

Its 1st offices were in Beirut, Lebanon.

Before founding Meirc, Mr. Siksek studied economics and law at Cambridge University, England and worked at Aramco in Dhahran (KSA).

When it was founded, the company’s name stood for Middle East Industrial Relations Counselors (M.E.I.R.C.).

In 1958, MEIRC’s total headcount was 2.

The 4 companies which were first to commission MEIRC with a comprehensive Industrial Relations (IR) project and later became MEIRC’s Advisory Committee were: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), Saudi Aramco, Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and Qatar Petroleum Company (QPC).

In 1960, MEIRC pioneered the organization and implementation of Human Resources conferences in the region.

In 1962, Mr. Ted Abdo (MEIRC’s former Chairman) had his first assignment in the Gulf area heading a team of 15 interviewers tasked with conducting a Household Expenditure Survey in Kuwait.

In 1967, MEIRC built its own office building in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 1968, MEIRC conducted its 1st public (open) course at Al Bustan Hotel in Broummana, Lebanon; the course had 62 participants from different GCC states; it was titled “Successful Supervision” and its duration was 10 days.

In 1970, MEIRC began using its training through gaming methodology.

In 1975, with encouragement and assistance from MEIRC’s founder (Mr. Siksek), Dr. Farid Muna attended the London Business School (University of London) and obtained his PhD; his thesis was published in a book he wrote titled The Arab Executive.

In 1976, MEIRC relocated its headquarters from Beirut to Athens, Greece due to the Lebanese civil war.

In 1978, MEIRC conducted annual seminars in Japan for Japanese managers working with, or in, the Arab World. The seminars were coordinated with the Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME).

In 1986, JCCME started sending Japanese managers to the Middle East to attend MEIRC’s seminar, which was titled Management in the Arab World.

In 1989, MEIRC opened a branch in Dubai, UAE; its offices were in the Arenco building in Karama.

In 1989, MEIRC’s founder Mr. Simon Siksek sadly passed away.

In 1989, Mr. Ted Abdo became the company’s chairman and Dr. Farid Muna its Managing Director.

In 1989, Dr. Farid Muna published another book on management titled The Making of Gulf Managers.

In January 1990, Dr. Farid Muna was the main speaker at the “Gulf Education and Training Exhibition” held in Dubai.

In 1991, MEIRC moved its headquarters from Athens to Dubai.

In 1991, Dr. Farid Muna became Managing Director of MEIRC.

In 1991, MEIRC completed a management buyout, changed its name to Meirc Training & Development and moved to a new building in Karama called Al Khaleej.

In 1992, Meirc started publishing a quarterly training newsletter.

In 1994, Meirc introduced the profit-sharing scheme aimed at motivating and retaining its loyal senior consultants and managers.

In 1994, Meirc launched an educational scholarship program in memory of its founder and targeted at children of Meirc employees.

In 1995, Meirc facilitated a training course on management and leadership in a wildlife safari in Tanzania.

In 1996, Meirc held its first “Women in Management” forum in Dubai.

In 1997, Meirc became the 1st training company in the Middle East to be ISO certified.

In 1997, Meirc changed its name to the current “Meirc Training & Consulting”.

In 1997, Meirc re-opened its offices in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 1997, Meirc became the 1st training company in the region to launch its own website.

In 1998, Dr. Farid Muna became the company’s Chairman and Dr. Ramsey Hakim its Managing Director.

In 1998, a major Libyan client requested several managerial courses to be conducted in Libya. Because of the boycott at that time, Meirc consultants flew to Malta and then went to Libya by ship to run the courses. The journey from Dubai to Libya took 3 days!

In 2003, Dr. Farid Muna (Meirc Chairman) wrote and published another book on management titled Seven Metaphors on Management.

In 2004, the training newsletter published by Meirc became electronic.

In 2004, Meirc opened its offices in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

In 2007, Meirc opened its offices in Jeddah, KSA.

In 2009, Dr. Ramsey Hakim became Meirc’s Chairman.

In 2009, Meirc introduced the Meirc Professional Certificate (MPC) courses.

In 2010, Meirc introduced training courses to help professionals prepare for international certification exams.

In 2010, Meirc recruited its first agent for marketing its services in Africa.

In 2010, Dr. Farid Muna (Meirc Board Member) and Dr. Ziad Zennie (Partner) published their book titled Developing Multicultural Leaders.

In 2011, Mr. Samer Taher became Meirc’s Managing Director.

In 2013, Meirc offered its 1st webinar.

In 2014, Meirc established PLUS Specialty Training, a new division specializing in technical and industry-specific courses.

In 2015, Meirc moved to its newly purchased 20,000 sq. ft. premises in Business Bay, Dubai.

In 2016, the number of Meirc’s clients exceeded 4,000 companies.

In 2017, the number of professionals trained by Meirc reached 400,000 participants.

In 2017, two Meirc consultants earned doctorate level degrees due in part to Meirc’s ongoing investment in developing its employees.

In 2017, Meirc pioneered its Course Selector, an innovative solution to help clients select efficiently their training courses.

In 2017, Meirc introduced blended learning to support course participants who wish to extend their professional education after completing the training course.

In 2018, Mr. Chaouki Eid became Meirc’s Managing Director and Mr. Samer Taher joined the company’s Board.

In 2018, Meirc planned 500+ public training sessions in 14 different cities spanning the GCC, Europe, Africa and Asia.

In 2018, Meirc celebrated its 60th anniversary and adopted a new slogan “Passionately Developing Careers for 60 years”.

2019: Meirc launches its Professional Qualification training and introduces Hands-on Automation and Process Control Courses

2020: Meirc launches its virtual learning solutions

Today, the name Meirc stands for the company’s 5 values which are: Mastery, Excellence, Innovation, Reliability and Client-centricity.

Meirc’s average employee tenure is 10.23 years.

Meirc today is truly a multi-national company with a team representing 17 different nationalities whom we call the “Meirc Family”.