Executive Profile: Dr. Bader Ibrahim Saedan
Dr. Bader Ibrahim Seadan represents the third generation of the Al Saedan family in Saudi Arabian real estate.
Dr. Bader Ibrahim Seadan represents the third generation of the Al Saedan family in Saudi Arabian real estate. His family goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, before the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was unified. “At that time,” Dr. Badeer Ibrahim Saedan explains, “the most important aspect of real estate was security. That’s why the cities were secured by fortifications; they were gated cities. Nobody could build outside the city’s walls. But with the birth of the new unified Saudi Arabia, the cities gradually became larger and they doubled, tripled, or quadrupled within one or two decades. Development, at that time, was the number one priority for the real estate market – buying huge plots of land outside the boundaries of the cities and developing the land.
The patriarch of the family is Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdullah Bin Saedan, who entered the real estate business shortly after the future king of Saudi Arabia, then Sheik Abdul Aziz (known as Ibn Al Saud, 1876-1953), conquered the city of Riyadh in 1902. With this conquest, peace and order were established in the region, and people began pouring into the city.
By 1932, the country was unified, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was established. In 1934, Sheikh Mohammed Abdulla Bin Saedan opened the first real estate office in Riyadh. Thereafter, multiple members of the family entered the real estate business as individuals or partners on specific projects. Today, Al Saedan family is the most important family in the Saudi real estate sector. Sheikh Mohammad’s sons, Abdullah, Fahd, Hamad and Ibrahim inherited the business.
Dr. Bader Ibrahim Saedan explains the significance of this history:
As one of the oldest real-estate company in the Kingdom, we have in-depth experience proven and tested by decades. If you live through one complete cycle and you survive it, I think you can go forever; however, you have to transfer it to the next generation. For example, I have been working in real estate since I was 10 years old, so I have more experience than the majority of people my age. In a family business in Saudi Arabia, before – not at this time – we used to work at an early age with our fathers or grandfathers.
Dr. Bader Ibrahim Ibn Saedan son of the Chairman, Ibrahim Mohammed Bin Saedan is the General Manager of Al Saedan Real Estate Company and heads Al Saedan Real Estate.
Dr. Bader Ibrahim Saedan went to college at the King Saud University in Riyadh, where he received his bachelor of civil engineering degree in 1986. He subsequently studied civil engineering at the University of Southern California in the United States, where he received a master’s degree in construction management in 1990. In 2004, he earned a Ph.D. in construction management from the University of Dundee in Scotland, U.K. Over the next several years, Dr. Bader Ibrahim Saedan held the following positions:
– Deputy General Manager Ibrahim Mohammed Saedan Contracting Est. (KSA)
– Chairman of the Board Directors Olaya Real Estate Co. (KSA)
– Vice-Chairman of the Board Directors of Aqary Services Co. (KSA)
– Vice-Chairman of the Board Directors of Coldwell Banker (KSA)
– Board Member United Management Systems (UK)
– Board Member of the National Company for Glass Industries (ZOUJAJ) (KSA
At the present time, Dr. Bader Ibrahim Saedan is the Deputy General Manager Ibrahim Mohammed Saedan Contracting Est. (KSA). He has also been appointed to simultaneously occupy the following positions:
– Chairman of the Board Directors Olaya Real Estate Co. (KSA)
– Vice-Chairman of the Board Directors of Aqary Services Co. (KSA)
– Vice-Chairman of the Board Directors of Coldwell Banker (KSA)
– Board Member of United Management Systems (UK)
– Board Member of the National Company for Glass Industries (ZOUJAJ-KSA)
Because of his long and vast experience, Dr. Bader Ibrahim Saedan can confidently assert that, “The Saedan family always moved with the market, changed, morphed and followed new trends. Preparing for the cycles and moving with the market as well as cultivating in-house expertise makes Al Saedan Real Estate one of the leading companies in the Kingdom.”