JEDDAH: A Dubai-based firm specializing in company formations is planning to expand to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks. It believes that, given the opportunities in the Kingdom, its Saudi office will eventually outperform its existing operations in the UAE and Qatar.
Pro Partner Group was established in 2014 and has offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman and Qatar. The company helps new entrants into the market to manage the legal requirements, arrange employment visas and other paperwork.
The company aims to take advantage of the Riyadh Strategy 2030 announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in January and is expanding its operations into Saudi Arabia within the next six weeks. Under the ambitious plan, the government wants to attract up to 500 international companies to set up their regional bases in the city, creating around 35,000 new jobs for Saudi locals and doubling the capital’s population. The strategy aims to invest up to SR70 billion ($18.67 billion) in the national economy by the end of the decade and it is already attracting international players eager to expand into the Kingdom.
“I see Saudi Arabia as our biggest opportunity of the region by far. And I think in the next two to three years, our business in Saudi Arabia should eclipse our UAE business and Qatar business,” said Nazar Musa, CEO of Pro Partner Group.
“This year, we are 60 percent more than Q1 of last year, and Q1 of last year was 30 more than the year before,” Musa said of the company’s recent growth.
Musa said the recent announcements by the government had spurred interest among companies to expand their operations to the Kingdom. “Obviously, there are businesses that have been there for years and years, but I’m talking about the kinds of companies that are starting to speak to us for the first-time about opportunities in the Kingdom,” he said.
The signs are positive, according to Sovereign AEI, a firm which also specializes in helping companies set up operations in the Kingdom.
Stuart D’Souza, co-founder and CEO of Arabian Enterprise Incubators (AEI), one of the partner firms that makes up Sovereign AEI, told Arab News in April: “The beginning of this year has been very encouraging as we have seen a 40 to 50 percent increase in Saudi Arabia market-entry activity, when compared to pre-pandemic levels.”
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2020/2021 report, which surveyed adults aged between 18 and 64, found that 90.5 percent of those surveyed in Saudi Arabia believed there were good opportunities to start a business in their area, ranking it first in the world among 43 countries surveyed.
