Global Islamic bond issuance is expected to reach $175 billion in 2015, up from $110 in 2014, and is projected to hit $250 billion by 2020
Interview with Hani O. Baothman, Managing Director & CEO of Al Murjan Holding.
List of all articles filed under “saudi-arabia-sectors” category.
Interview with Hani O. Baothman, Managing Director & CEO of Al Murjan Holding.
With over 27 million consumers and a number of global enterprises, Saudi Arabia is the largest ICT market by far in the Middle East. For example, the Saudi telecoms and information technology industry represents about 51 to 55% of the total Middle Eastern market.
Our focus in investment will definitely be on 4G. It will take almost two years of testing for 5G to see the light. For us, LTE will be our main investment.
I think this is a transit period and that probably over the next 6 to 9 months it will recover again. However I see big potential in the African and North African market. This will be our focus for next year.
We have two issues here. As you said, there are many new laws, but there is also development. There has been substantial development of the e-platforms in Saudi Arabia for interacting with the government and that has substantially eased the burden when it comes to operations. Most of the materials that we deal with here in Saudi Arabia are available locally.
The market for IT services grew at about 12 to 13%.
L’Azurde started in Saudi Arabia 35 years ago. We have expanded to become the largest gold and jewelry manufacturer in the Middle East and North Africa region. We are the fourth largest in the world. This has happened thanks to continuous investments in technology, innovation, and manufacturing. Today, we invest in talented people and machines. We have more than 2,500 craftsmen and more than 600 different kinds of machines developing jewelry.
The top 10 companies are still fairly profitable, and their profitability has increased, but the other companies– some 32 beyond the top 10– are not experiencing the same results.
I believe our government will support the mining sector as the third pillar of the Saudi economy, and in the near future, I am sure that new investors will come to invest in the mining sector especially for precious, base metals and also in the industrial minerals.
We were established in 2010 and since then we have invested in around 16 companies but it is common to pull your investments out of certain companies sometimes which we have done two or three times. Of those 16 companies, 3 are international, 3 are JVs locally here but with international partners and the remaining companies are start-ups based on Intellectual Properties emerging from the university.