RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is working toward becoming a producer of technology by using its local talent as it shifts gears from being a consumer and builds a domestic digital ecosystem.
Announcing the opening of its headquarters in KAFD, NextEra, a Saudi IT company, said that it was established as a strategic partnership between Aramco Digital and LTIMindtree.
The company aims to bridge international expertise and local talent by providing solutions across a wide array of sectors in the Kingdom.
At the opening, NextEra highlighted its long-term commitment to pursuing growth in a way that prioritized localization of technology and digital solutions.
Speaking to Arab News at the launch, executives emphasized the importance of encouraging innovation, local careers and digital sovereignty as pillars for NextEra’s long-term plans in the Kingdom.
Nabil Al-Nuaim, CEO of Aramco Digital, told Arab News that the emphasis on building local talent was one of the core factors driving NextEra’s transformation. He elaborated on sourcing local talent by pointing to universities as prime entities that generated human capital capable of pursuing targets set by NextEra, Aramco Digital and the Kingdom’s digital ecosystem as a whole.
Al-Nuaim placed emphasis on young talent and the streamline of that localization innovation into local companies. “Once NextEra or, you know, other companies, have centers close to universities, you are very close to the talents,” he said. He added that putting emphasis on that streamline of talent also added another benefit; cost effectiveness.
“There will be entrepreneurs coming out from companies like NextEra that will start their own companies as well,” he said.
Al-Nuaim highlighted the importance of encouraging the skills and tools that created entrepreneurship, which would contribute to allowing the Kingdom to transform from consumer to producer: “We are bringing talents to help in NextEra, hoping that some of them will exit and start their own companies … this is where you shift from being only a consumer to a producer,” he said, adding that the process extended beyond a single company to a wider ecosystem.
One of the most big conversations surrounding technological and digital solutions is about digital sovereignty. Al-Nuaim tied that dialogue back to the localization of digital talent. He underscored that management of digital sovereignty, such as saving data, constructing digital platforms, and operating AI in accordance with country regulations, should be managed by local talent.
Al-Nuaim’s core motivations behind his leadership are an echo of what Dina Abo-Onoq, NextEra’s CEO, pursues as she leads a company that aims to create local, reliant and new Saudi-made digital solutions. NextEra exemplifies what alignment with Vision 2030’s pursuit of long-term digital transformation and providing local support to growing sectors through Saudi talent looks like.
On digital localization, Abo-Onoq emphasized the strategies behind NextEra’s goals: “We are bringing the global expertise and doing the knowledge transfer, we are hiring a big amount of Saudi fresh graduates, mid-level, senior-level, so we are bringing global expertise and translating it in Saudi Arabia.”
As NextEra advances, Abo-Onoq explained that part of that localization was understanding which sectors were to be prioritized: “Government and giga projects are number one, number two is banking and insurance, number three oil and gas manufacturers, last but not least, entertainment and tourism.”
As the Kingdom’s domestic technology ecosystem continues to expand, its abilities to provide solutions and security to a variety of leading industries are supported by the ecosystem’s reliance on the development of local talent. NextEra’s launch highlights that progression as it links local Aramco Digital and international LTIMindtree.
