MAKKAH: Foreign companies intending to invest in wholesale and retail enterprises in the Kingdom will have to recruit Saudis for leadership positions as a precondition for receiving licenses.
These companies will have to maintain the ratio decided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, according to an online newspaper.
For leadership jobs for Saudis, according to conditions announced earlier this week, companies will have to create a plan and implement it for the first five years, and ensure that they will continue to implement it. These companies will have to train not less than 30 percent of their Saudi employees every year.
These companies will also have to distribute products, 30 percent of which have to be Saudi made. It has also been made mandatory to allocate at least 5 percent of their total sales for research and development within the Kingdom. But from this condition, companies with less than SR300 million investment have been kept exempted.
The general authority for investment can give exemptions as per the rules and general standards without any discrimination. It will also review that all terms and conditions are fully implemented, and the outcome of their implementation over a period of five years.
These measures are understood to have been taken to ensure employment of Saudis in senior management positions in the private sector. The government is strongly pushing to deal with the high unemployment rate among citizens.
Recently the entire communication sector, particularly mobile phone sales and maintenance, was Saudized. The program is being implemented in different phases and local manpower is also being trained.
Foreign firms have to hire Saudis in leadership positions
Foreign firms have to hire Saudis in leadership positions
