For years, the Kingdom has been the region’s largest economy, boasting consumers of the highest purchasing power, and a young tech-savvy population, but recent developments make this an especially opportune time to move into the Saudi tech scene.
First off, the Saudi government has a massive mandate for digital transformation. In line with its Vision 2030 objectives, it is heavily investing in shifting economic growth away from a dependency on oil, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship instead.
It’s pouring billions of dollars into high-tech infrastructure, launching funds, and moving ahead with a multitude of economic reforms to strengthen the digital sector, and make doing business easier. There are tremendous opportunities here for the people and companies who can be part of this transformation.
Saudi Arabia has also been building itself as an entrepreneurial hub; both on a public and private level. For over a decade, the Badir Program for Technology Incubators has been a center for startup support, and has helped hundreds of companies to grow and delivered more than SAR2 billion impact on the Saudi economy.
Monsha’at (Saudi’s General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises) was established just three years ago, but already has had tremendous impact on the ecosystem- supporting the launch of coworking spaces and hubs, raising the skills of Saudi founders, and building a culture of entrepreneurship.
It also launched the Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC) in 2018, with funding worth US$1.33 billion to match investments or invest in funds. The government also aims to raise the contribution of SMEs to the GDP from 20% to 35% by 2030.