GEMS Education has partnered with L’Oréal Middle East to give secondary school students direct experience of corporate, scientific and creative careers through internships, job shadowing and workplace learning. The collaboration forms part of L’Oréal’s global L’Oréal for Youth programme, which aims to improve youth employability and help young people make more informed career choices.
Under the agreement, GEMS secondary students will take part in internships and work-experience placements during the academic year and school holidays. They will also shadow L’Oréal Middle East professionals to observe how different teams operate and collaborate. L’Oréal will host career talks and industry sessions inside GEMS schools so students can hear directly from employees about their roles, career paths and the everyday skills required.
The initiative is designed to expose students to the full range of work that underpins a global beauty and consumer-goods business. Areas covered include science, technology, innovation, marketing, e-commerce, digital strategy and commercial operations. Organisers say the goal is to help students identify interests and strengths they may not yet recognise and to build a clearer picture of the many career options available beyond the classroom.
Dino Varkey, Group CEO of GEMS Education, said the partnership reflects a broader effort to link classroom learning with real workplace challenges. “When students can step inside a business, meet the people behind different roles and see how their learning connects to real challenges, they begin to discover possibilities they may never have considered,” he stated.
He added that GEMS continues to build relationships with industry partners so that young people gain early exposure to diverse sectors, organisational culture, industry trends and the workplace skills that will shape future employment. The collaboration with L’Oréal Middle East, he said, turns career readiness from aspiration into practical action.
Laurent Duffier, Managing Director of L’Oréal Middle East, framed the partnership as central to the company’s purpose. “Empowering the next generation is fundamental to our purpose at L’Oréal,” he said. Through L’Oréal for Youth, the company seeks to give students early and meaningful contact with the modern corporate environment.
By working with GEMS, L’Oréal aims to bridge the gap between school and workplace, allowing students to enter its offices, meet diverse teams and see how marketing, e-commerce and digital strategy operate, including the use of AI and data. Duffier said the company looks forward to welcoming GEMS students and helping them convert curiosity into real-world confidence.
The partnership sits within GEMS Futures, the network that connects GEMS students with opportunities to explore future careers and gain practical experience outside the classroom. By collaborating with organisations such as L’Oréal, GEMS seeks to make career discovery a more integral part of students’ education and to show clearer links between school subjects and later professional possibilities.
L’Oréal Middle East, part of the L’Oréal Groupe, has operated in the United Arab Emirates since 1998. Its UAE hub employs more than 500 people from 52 nationalities and manages a portfolio of more than 33 international beauty brands across Consumer Products, L’Oréal Luxe, Professional Products and Dermatological Beauty. The company states that it has grown alongside the UAE and maintains a long-term commitment to national economic, social and environmental goals. It works with government entities, local partners and NGOs on talent development, women’s leadership and sustainability.
Among its recent commitments, L’Oréal Middle East has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Emirati Human Resources Development Council to support national employment priorities and create pathways for Emiratis in the private sector. It is a signatory to the UAE Climate-Responsible Companies Pledge with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, aligning operations with the country’s Net Zero by 2050 agenda. It is also a signatory of the UAE Gender Balance Council SDG 5 Pledge and reports that women make up more than 56 per cent of its UAE workforce.
The new GEMS collaboration extends this focus on talent development by bringing secondary-school students into direct contact with a large multinational employer. Students will experience the day-to-day reality of roles that combine science, creativity, data and commercial decision-making. Organisers present the programme as a practical step toward better-informed career decisions at an age when many young people are still forming their ambitions.
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No specific numbers of placements or exact start dates were released in the announcement. The emphasis remains on structured exposure internships, shadowing and in-school sessions rather than formal employment. Both organisations describe the arrangement as mutual: students gain insight into contemporary corporate practice, while L’Oréal gains an early connection with a diverse pipeline of potential future talent.
The partnership underscores a wider regional trend in which schools and private-sector employers collaborate to reduce the gap between education and the workplace. For GEMS students, the immediate benefit is the chance to test interests in real settings and to hear unfiltered accounts of professional life from people already doing the work. For L’Oréal Middle East, it is another concrete expression of its L’Oréal for Youth commitment in the UAE market.
