NEOM has awarded placements with global sustainable motorsport team the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, for two talented Saudi nationals from its GrOW program.  This announcement is part of the wider pioneering partnership between the two organizations and comes ahead of the highly anticipated Berlin season final on Aug. 15, where the team looks to clinch the championship and team driver Nyck de Vries to defend his lead position in the Drivers’ World Championship, following his astounding back-to-back podiums achieved in the London E-Prix.

This placement is the first of several unparalleled opportunities at the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team’s UK offices, designed to offer a range of roles in the motorsport industry to high-caliber candidates who are part of NEOM’s GrOW program; an initiative designed to provide Saudi graduates with an opportunity to work alongside some of the world’s brightest minds at NEOM.

The lender is looking to contribute to the financing of Saudi government and infrastructure projects in sectors including electricity and oil, said Abdulwahab Al-Roshood.  Saudi Arabia, a neighbour of Kuwait, is working on several so-called mega projects expected to require large financing, including NEOM, a $500 billion flagship business zone aimed at diversifying the economy of the world’s largest oil exporter.

KFH, which sold $750 million in Additional Tier 1 sukuk in June, does not plan to raise more capital through sukuk this year, but intends to issue new Islamic bonds in 2022.

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Two huge events in the Middle East could be the spark to ignite a host of visitor attraction projects to ease the region’s reliance on oil and gas income.  The visitor attraction market in the Middle East has always been of great interest because it has always offered opportunity.   This was all driven by oil and gas revenues, which has made Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE among the most cash-rich countries in the world. But oil revenues are not as dependable as they used to be, the Covid pandemic saw oil prices reach a 20-year low in 2020 and lying ominously ahead is a time when oil will run dry. 

The biggest project in the Middle East right now outside of Expo/World Cup is undoubtedly Qiddiya, located 40 miles from Riyadh City in Saudi Arabia. Qiddiya is one of the Kingdom's giga-projects – the others are NEOM, Amaala, and the Red Sea Project – to be rolled out as part of Vision 2030, the framework which aims to diversify the income of the country. 

The last 16 months have been hard for most sectors worldwide but tourism has been hit hardest and Saudi Arabia is no exception.

Global tourism GDP declined 49% in 2020 due to unprecedented lockdowns and travel restrictions. Saudi Arabia’s tourism economy declined 3% by comparison and accounted for 7% of national GDP.

Major business reforms affecting foreign ownership, procurement, and competition have been implemented since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016 to boost private investor confidence in the business potential of sectors where the public sector has historically dominated.  Major business reforms affecting foreign ownership, procurement, and competition have been implemented since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016 to boost private investor confidence in the business potential of sectors where the public sector has historically dominated.

NEOM, a sustainable region under development in the northwestern part of the Kingdom, has set a precedent that all its suppliers must adhere to the highest sustainable processes possible in order to secure contracts.  Companies in Tabuk close to NEOM are following suit and looking for ways to go green. One of these is the Tabuk Concrete Co., which is supplying concrete to contractors operating in the futuristic city of NEOM. It is sourcing new equipment to make sure its construction methods are as green as possible.

NEOM announced THE LINE earlier this year, an infrastructure megaproject that will develop urban areas to accommodate up to 1 million people. THE LINE and other regions to be developed in NEOM will provide huge opportunities to the companies in the Tabuk region.

“NEOM is meant to be a model where this region will be a semi-independent free zone, it will have its own laws, it will have its own regulations and its own authority as a semi-government," he told an online conference hosted by Nikkei, the Japanese media group. "The reason for this is because it is our vision to make this the most competitive free zone in the world,” said CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr.

The $500 billion mega-city planned as part of the drive to diversify away from oil, is destined to transform more than 26,500 sq. km in the Kingdom’s northwestern Tabuk region.