Al-Mady highlights SABIC’s success story at MIT alumni meeting

The MIT Club of Saudi Arabia received Mohamed H. Al-Mady, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation’s (SABIC) vice chairman and CEO, as its guest of honor and keynote speaker at its 15th annual meeting in Riyadh. Shoura Council members, government officials, and private and industrial sector leaders from the Kingdom and Dubai were among those present.
In his welcome remarks, MIT Club President Mohammed bin Abdulkareem Bakr explained that MIT is a private non-profit educational institution, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the East coast of the United States. Three years ago, MIT celebrated 150 years of its establishment. Over the years, it has witnessed many important technological achievements and discoveries.
MIT is one of the major global centers of scientific research, and its name has become synonymous with innovation and creativity. A total of 78 current and previous MIT faculty members have won Nobel prizes.
The university has many specialized laboratories, including those for electronics research, media, Lincoln, and computer and artificial intelligence.
Ten years ago, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which focuses on the enhancement of impoverished lives around the world, joined this select group of outstanding laboratories. Studies conducted at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab helped over 160 million people around the world.
Bakr gave an overview of the MIT Alumni Club of Saudi Arabia, which was established in 1998 as an initiative by MIT. The club now enjoys membership of around 90 members, representing the largest number of MIT alumni in the Arab world.
Bakr added that the number of Saudi undergraduate and graduate students in MIT has doubled during the past years. With time, and through holding periodic meetings, the club’s goals developed to include propagation of programs that open new horizons in the business and technology fields in the Kingdom, as well as supporting MIT programs that focus on cultural understanding and respect.
Bakr mentioned that Al-Mady’s achievements cover areas of manufacturing, scientific research and innovation and congratulated SABIC for the appreciation it received from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for its recognition from Transparency International.
Al-Mady spoke of the relations between SABIC and MIT and explained the key strategic elements, which have enabled SABIC’s tremendous global business growth, especially in innovation, which is a cornerstone of its business. He also talked about the company’s contributions to the Kingdom and strategy aimed at becoming the preferred global leader in chemicals.
“SABIC had humble beginnings and has risen today to be a global challenger in our industry. Our ambition is to be the global leader in chemicals. From the company’s earliest days, strong government backing, a clear vision combined with strong values of integrity, loyalty, commitment, honesty, determination and respect, provided the cornerstones of our future success and business growth,” Al-Mady added.
On the company’s strategy, Al-Mady said: “SABIC is no stranger to change and is constantly undergoing transformation. Further transformation is necessary to continue our journey toward global leadership. To realize this ambition, we have developed our 2025 strategy.”