A Letter from Dammam

I had not visited #Dammam  in #SaudiArabia for 5 years, what a change! This may be a city of 1 million people verses 8 million in #Riyadh but the rapid change both culturally and physically is just as obvious and exciting. Yet another week in the Kingdom so here are some of my observations:

 1.In my personal experience, interacting with Saudis from the #Easternprovince has always been a pleasure. I find them outgoing, transparent, fun and in many ways similar in character to their neighbors, the #Bahrainis. However, with an openness spreading across the Kingdom like a welcome virus, I found men and women free to discuss the most challenging of subjects. All very refreshing.

 2.Still under construction, the Dammam Corniche is beautiful with a vast choice of café’s and restaurants. Between meetings I found time to stroll along the surprisingly long sea wall promenade to take in some cool sea air and meet the many walkers and joggers. In the evening, children and families come out to play in the many children’s parks dotted along the coast. There is one of the prettiest Mosques on the waterfront I have ever seen. One street in from the Corniche, a row of cafes was packed with wind swept locals and I guess Saudi tourists, laughing and guzzling their way through hot coffees and shisha. The atmosphere was wonderful.

 3.Commercially, the region, like the rest of the #GCC, has not been immune to challenges since oil dropped below $30pp in February 2016 and more recent, when the Kingdom faced a range of new taxes and government initiatives. Many companies in Dammam are JV’ed with or connected to #SaudiAramco and the oil industry. In open and honest discussions, all I met admitted that the past two years have been difficult. Companies had to reduce costs and restructure. However, everyone I spoke to was positive about their future. Feedback varied from “we have returned to profit” to, “we are very positive about Q3 and Q4 this year”

 4.Whilst today, there are many new career opportunities in the capital #Riyadh, I believe Dammam is perfectly situated to benefit from its location: (a) Connected to #Bahrain by the Causeway. Bahrain was the regional hub for financial services and civil aviation before losing it to Dubai. Now, Bahrain is fighting back by reinventing itself as a FinTech center, a ‘Silicon Valley’ for the Gulf and investing in tourism. I met Saudis in Dammam who have recently bought homes in Bahrain for the first time because they see a future there. (b) The King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam is the 2nd largest Port in the Gulf. New #technology has been installed to improve efficiencies and the future looks bright. (c) #IMI at #RasAlKhair, just 200km north of Dammam. Saudi Aramco and #Bahri are majority partners in a joint venture, alongside South Korean shipbuilder #HyundaiHeavyIndustries and UAE oil rig builder #Lamprell. This US$5.2bn Dockyard will build and repair ships and oil rigs and create an estimated 80,000 jobs.

5.In the past Saudis did not move easily between cities, preferring to stay close to the comfort of family and friends. Today we see far more appetite to move cross border for career opportunities. That said, many people from #Jeddah, Riyadh and other cities have always migrated to Dammam, #Khobar and the Eastern Province. Saudi Aramco has of course been a significant employer in the Kingdom for many years, but I get the sense that Dammam also benefits from a rich and diverse group of nationals whose common denominator is to look forward in life and achieve. This may be why I met so many successful local men and women in senior positions in both regional and international organizations. There is a wealth of talent in Dammam.

6.This may not be unique to Dammam but I met a new type of Saudi, at least, new to me. A gentleman who left Saudi Arabia nearly 30 years ago to settle in the USA. He admitted that until recently he had no plans to return. That was before @MohammedbinSalman began his mission to modernize the Kingdom. He told me that there are many more long servicing Saudi expats like him returning, equally excited about the countries future.

In fact, I remember talking to executives at #SAGIA in 2006 when The #KingAbdullahEconomicCity was under way, and part of the governments initiative was to offer sponsorships to young Saudis and package them off to the four corners of the global for education in leading universities, to remain and work in global organizations specifically to understand other corporate cultures and to bring this knowledge back to the Kingdom. This is clearly happening. One very impressive Saudi head of human resources informed me that whilst searching for engineers, even he was happily surprised to find over 200 well qualified and experienced Saudis in #SouthKorea, all happy to relocate to Dammam. Impressively, they all spoke Korean!

Next trip and letter: Bahrain