More than 40 multinational companies in IT, food and beverages, consulting and construction sectors have so far announced plans to set up or move their regional HQs to the Saudi capital and many more are planning to make their move soon.
The sudden surge in business activities of the multinational companies that have announced moving their regional bases to Riyadh was confirmed by Paul Arnold, Sovereign Saudi Arabia’s managing director in the Kingdom.
He underlined the increased volume of foreign direct investment is coming into Saudi Arabia, noting that the amount of interest in activity and questions around the necessity to have an HQ in Riyadh has been significant
The foreign firms were given deadline in February to set up HQs in the country until the end of 2023 or risk losing out on government contracts, giving a new momentum to the economic activities in the Saudi Arabia, particularly in Riyadh.
However, the strongest magnet for the foreign companies is the several ongoing giga-projects -such as NEOM, the Red Sea project, AlUla, Qiddiya, Soudah etc. – that are obviously attracting a lot of to do business as well as the improved regulatory environment changes.
According to the co-founder and director of Arabian Enterprise Incubators, Stuart D’Souza, most of the companies operating in Saudi Arabia have already had a significant footprint in the Kingdom and are now joining this very high-profile program.
He praised the Saudi Investment Ministry for the excellent job in attracting foreign companies and retaining them in the Kingdom, stressing again the necessity of having regional headquarters in the country for any significant business generating regional revenue from the Kingdom.
D’Souza stressed that Saudi Arabia has increased the opportunities for all sorts of other companies in the last couple of years, emphasizing the investment landscape in the Kingdom and the existence of a professional services company such as Sovereign that help foreign businesses in setting up their offices.
He noted that the spread of the abovementioned giga-projects all over Saudi Arabia means that their clients and major foreign companies are also all over the Kingdom, pointing they can access the services offered by them everywhere they decide to set up an office- whether it’s in Riyadh or in the Eastern Province.
Be the first to comment