Amazon, the world's biggest e-commerce company, has launched a new academy in Saudi Arabia as it seeks to support the kingdom's human capital programme for the digital economy.
The academy, which will offer the “largest talent development programme of its kind in the Middle East”, aims to train more than 30,000 Saudis, issue 35,000 certificates and offer 100 internships by 2025, the Seattle-based technology company said at the Leap technology exhibition in Riyadh on Wednesday.
The academy is being built in co-operation with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and will be operated by the Saudi Digital Academy and the Tuwaiq Academy.
Amazon and the ministry did not disclose the investment details.
“We continue to empower small and medium enterprises and partner with thousands of Saudi companies. Our aim continues to focus on delivering meaningful progress,” Abdo Chlala, director for the GCC at Amazon's Mena division, said at the launch.
“The academy closely aligns with the MCIT’s skills programme and develop capacity goals in the kingdom.”
The kingdom is diversifying its economy away from oil as part of its Vision 2030 strategy, with technology one of the key pillars of the plan.
Saudi Arabia is encouraging entrepreneurship and seeking investments into its digital transformation programme as it promotes the use of new age technology in preparation for the future economy.
The global digital transformation market is projected to hit about $3.95 trillion by 2030, from about $608 billion last year, growing at a compound annual rate of more than 23 per cent, according to data from Grand View Research.
Empowering people with the mix of skills needed to succeed in a digital world of work is critical, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
This can be achieved by improving education and training systems, supporting job-to-job transitions and ensuring adequate social protection, it said.
The Amazon Academy's curriculum has been designed by Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud computing unit, as well as its operations and customer experience teams.
Training programmes will be conducted by combining virtual self-paced modules with in-classroom sessions and hands-on workshops, Mr Chlala said.
Among the courses that will be covered are cloud architecture, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, end-to-end customer fulfilment and last-mile logistics and entrepreneurship.
We invite Saudi talent from all walks of life and educational backgrounds, as we move one step forward to a common goal to build a digital future for Saudi Arabia
Abdo Chlala,
director for the GCC at Amazon's Mena unit
The academy will provide a boost to the kingdom's ambitions of creating the local talent necessary to support the goals of Vision 2030, said Faris Alsaqabi, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of Future Jobs and Capabilities at the MCIT.
“Saudi Arabia has the largest market for technology and innovation, and ... we are among the 10 fastest-growing countries in digital content and commerce,” he said.
Amazon set up shop in Saudi Arabia in 2020, and its operations have grown more than 80 per cent since then, Mr Chlala said.
“We invite Saudi talent from all walks of life and educational backgrounds, as we move one step forward to a common goal to build a digital future for Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The launch of the Amazon Academy comes after a similar move by Meta Platforms, which unveiled the Mena region's first metaverse academy in Saudi Arabia at Leap, as the Facebook parent aims to accelerate the development of the emerging technology.
Amazon has been actively investing in the Middle East. In the UAE, it is building the Middle East's most technologically advanced warehouse and also opened a major warehouse in Abu Dhabi.
Amazon also operates the AWS Academy, which provides higher education institutions with a free, ready-to-teach cloud-computing curriculum.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
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