12/12/2009
Saudi Youth: Fountain of Innovative Ideas
By Shamsul Huda
Saudi young generation is the source of innovative ideas to reform thecountry's trade and businesses in order toalign them with the changing world. This was the view expressed by a young successful Saudi businessman, Mr. Abdulla Fouad Jr. in an exclusive interview with the Saudi Commerce and Economic Review.
Saudi young generation of business people are mostly generated under the shadow of their visionary fathers and forefathers who created large scale family-owned business groups following the discovery of oil wealth in 1940s. They are now well educated and have started toplay an active role in achieving sustainable economic growth of the country, said Mr. Fouad Jr.
He believes that the success of the Kingdom's economic development plan aimed at diversifying its economy away from oil mostly relies on the strength and ingenuity of the young people. "They are capable of leading the country towards peace, happiness and prosperity," said the scion of the Abdullah Fouad family.
Talented Peers
He explained his own experience about his talented peers, who have been holding key positions in different companies. He pointed out that these brilliant young chaps have possessed distinguished qualities and virtues and mastered the skills in managing their affairs in their family-owned businesses as well as in other government departments and agencies. " They are eager to learn the lessons from their own mistakes and the mistakes from their predecessors in order to put their businesses in the right track", said Mr. Fouad Jr. adding that they are also very much active and willing to accept challenges necessary to help catch their businesses up with the rest of the world.
Global Slowdown
While talking about the on-going global financial slowdown, he claimed that young executives who has held important posts in different business groups have played a vital role in keeping their businesses relatively unscathed from the crisis by advising their managements. " Our efforts have paid off as our businesses were comparatively unaffected by the meltdown," observed Mr. Fouad Jr.
He said: " We were fearing the global turndown to come as a great depression and result in a disaster in the economy. But thanks God, the recession has not hit us too much and iscurrentlystarting to heal. Saudi economy is now turning around, he added.
Scapegoats
Mr. Fouad Jr. highlighted the role being played by the Saudi youth particularly students studying abroad in dispelling a stigma attached to the Kingdom following some 'unwanted stray incidents'. Recalling the warm welcome by the western countries to the Saudi students during the 1980s and 1990s, he is confident that those golden days will come back again and everything will be normal. "We are made scapegoats for something which does not reflect the views of Saudis. We still consider Americans and Europeans our best friends," he said adding that the misperception about the Muslims must be addressed through mutual understanding and cooperation between the citizens of the western and Arab countries. He blamed the unwanted misunderstanding between the west and the Gulf on the media campaign dominated by a vested quarter.
Role of Asharqia Chamber
Mr. Fouad Jr. hailed government support and policies and the activities of the country's chambers of commerce for the development of a new pool of young businessmen. He particularly noted various programs undertaken by Asharqia Chamber to hone the skills of young people in order to help them initiate their own businesses . Asharqia Chamber has launched an entrepreneurship development program, under which hundreds of males and females have already been trained to start their own business projects. He also noted the establishment of the Young Businessmen's Club (YBC) by Asharqia Chamber to support young people. In the recently concluded YBC conference, Mr. Fouad Jr. conducted a lecture session and exchanged his views and experience with its members.
Bureaucratic Systems
He talked about the labyrinth of bureaucratic systems in various government agencies dealing in country's trade and businesses.He gave his own experience in the import of chemical raw material saying that there is unnecessary delay noticed in the import of this kind of product. This delay can be eased if there is clear and transparent terms and conditions for the import of this material, said Mr. Fouad Jr. He added: " I am not ruling out the security concerns in dealing with the chemical products, but these materials have to be brought into the country for the manufacture of various consumer and industrial products, so that all sorts of instructions and regulations regarding the import of these products should be easily available in the interest of growing trade and businesses."
Nowadays, there are signs of great improvement in the efficiency of various government departments, which, Mr. Fouad Jr. noted, will expedite Kingdom's privatization drive and sharpen the competitive edge of Saudi companies in the international markets. He earnestly urged the government to make trade related update information available through on-line or other channels of the concerned government agencies.
Family-Owned Businesses
Mr. FouadJr. gave his views on the pros and cons of the family-owned businesses saying that these private groups are now slowly turning into joint stock companies in the Kingdom. It is a good sign for the family businesses to adapt themselves to the changing world. " We can't afford to keep our companies isolated from the outside competitors since Saudi Arabia has entered the World Trade Organization, " he said adding that management and ownership of local firms should be separated to become more competitive and to bring about more professionalism in their day-to-day activities. The most important drawback of the family-owned businesses is that the ownerships of these companies may not fall on professional successors. These successors may prefer other professions to managing their family businesses, he added.
Women's Participation
He is very much in favor of women's participation in the country's economic development activities saying that they should be given the options to work as full-timers or part-timers since they are generally engaged in rearing their children. He stressed the need for creating a friendly environment for women in both private and public sector companies and organizations, so that they can work upholding their own tradition and prestige. He came up with a host of suggestions to encourage women to work outside their houses. These include motivational programs to be undertaken by the different agencies and chambers of commerce and publication of success stories of the country's top businesswomen and executives.
Abdullah Fouad Jr. is now playing an active role in the growth and development of the Abdulla Fouad Holding as its Executive Vice-President. It has now diverse interests in real estate, construction, telecom, exploration & petroleum engineering, medical supplies, industrial security & safety, children's toys and information technology. The Group was founded by its chairman, Sheikh Abdulla Fouad in 1948. Over the last 60 years, the company has grown significantly and become a household name in the Kingdom's business arena.
