The Saudi market is the fastest-growing business-to-business Information and Communications Technology (ICT) market in the GCC and is projected to reach $53 billion by 2025, versus $33 billion currently, according to an interview Oxford Business Group (OBG) had with Omer Abdullah Al Nomany, CEO, Solutions by stc, and shared with Economy MIddle East.
The digital drivers include many things. The most important are mega-projects, smart cities, health care, education, and services, including tourism.
Solutions by stc is the biggest IT company in Saudi Arabia, which comprises 80 percent of the ICT market, offering one-stop-shop IT services. It has an advanced edge through its ecosystem, including 150 major IT global suppliers. It provides advanced services to the health care and education sectors, so they can conduct their businesses remotely, the report observed.
“Yes, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact. However, we believe that the positive impact of the pandemic has been growing the ICT market,” said Omer Abdullah.
The pandemic made more appetite for business, he added, noting, “If it were not for the pandemic, maybe we would have to wait for another six or seven years to grow our business rapidly.”
“The initial public offering (IPO) exercise was a successful story specifically for our investors,” Al Nomany stated.
“We got their confidence in our business and that is also reflected in their trust in Saudi Arabia’s ICT sector.”
Al Nomany highlighted that the IPO listing “Supercharged our strategy and will allow us to take ambitious projects and expand into new IT services as well.”
“The IPO listing strategy will allow the company to expand into mega-projects and other ambitious projects. Our strategy going forwards is to grow inorganically and organically; we maintain mergers and acquisitions as a major pillar to expand regionally, and globally as well.”
In September 2021, stc solutions was listed on Tadawul with a 20 percent share sale – approved by the regulator in June 2021 – and raised $966.35 million.
Vision 2030 is focusing on local content, and human capital is one of the pillars of that strategy, he said. “Today in 2022 we have reached a 70 percent Saudiisation rate. Of this, 30 percent are female – up from 2 percent in 2020.”
Moreover, Al Nomany said that “Within this, we are empowering females to become part of our ecosystem and we are developing their capabilities going forwards as well.”
“If you look at their capabilities over the last two or three years, females are making a massive effort to have the best certificates they are graduating from the best universities and they are gaining certificates specific to IT. So with this knowledge and capability, the growth of the IT sector will depend on the growth of females going forwards, plus the males as well,” he added.
“I expect that fast growth in the market will depend on ICT and for any business to grow, it will depend on IT services going forwards,” Al Nomany concluded.
