RIYADH: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology recently announced new training within the Future Skills Initiative, offering specialized courses for students to excel in the digital sector as a part of the Vision 2030 Human Capability Development Program.
The program aims to develop the digital capabilities of students and employees in the information technology industry through digital empowerment.
The training includes courses in various fields with certificates of accreditation provided to the students upon completion.
Some of the topics that the training covers include: Project management methodology, information security, Linux fundamentals, user experience design, business analysis, certified systems security practitioner, computer vision, and fundamentals of development and operations.
In order to enrol in the online training program, students must be 18 years or older and qualified in the field of communications and IT. The program is open to Saudi citizens, both women and men.
The ministry shared that these training programs will assist and benefit students working in information security, cyber security, professional services, digital transformation, blockchain technologies, data analysis, AI, and more.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha aims to inspire the creative capabilities of Saudi youth.
One of the missions of the ministry is to drive the growth of educational digital content in the Saudi market and create new and innovative ways for people to excel in their careers in technology.
The Human Capacity Development Program aims to provide modern training courses in emerging technologies and digital fields using supportive techniques in cooperation with training partners within the Future Skills Initiative.
DUBAI: Until five years ago, most forms of mass entertainment were frowned upon in Saudi Arabia. No music blared from public concerts, no cinemas awed viewers with movie magic, and gender segregation was the norm in public places.
Fast-forward to present day: Saudi Arabia has gone from having close to zero entertainment venues to being a Middle Eastern hub for cultural events, art exhibitions, and movie screenings.
All of this is a result of Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reform plan launched in 2016 to transform the Kingdom socially and economically. The strategy envisions the annual growth of Saudi household spending on entertainment by approximately 2 percent.
In the intervening time, the Saudi entertainment industry has experienced explosive growth. Cinemas are in every city, and men and women can gather and socialize freely.
Major music concerts like MDL Beast entertain hundreds of thousands of people. International film festivals and contemporary art exhibitions are held regularly, and celebrities and performers are frequent visitors to Saudi Arabia.
“We want Saudis to enjoy their country, and we want to bring entertainment to them and become just like the rest of the world,” Kaswara Alkhatib, chief media officer at the Kingdom’s National Events Center, told Arab News.
“Saudis don’t need to travel anymore for their entertainment, and foreigners can come and be entertained in the Kingdom. In today’s world, you cannot be a closed country that does not have entertainment and allow your people to travel outside, and this has been the biggest factor of change influencing the mindset of the Saudis.”
The entertainment sector is one of several forces driving the social and economic changes opening Saudi Arabia up to the world. Vision 2030 envisages and supports the expansion of the entertainment market to SR30 billion ($8 billion).
Saudi Arabia has one of the largest populations in the Middle East and, with around half of its residents under 30, there is a large and growing appetite for entertainment. Hundreds of new cinemas, theme park projects, entertainment cities, and family entertainment centers are set to be built by 2030.
A 2021 study from the US-based Research and Markets said Saudi Arabia’s entertainment market was expected to grow from its current size ($23.77 million in 2020) to $1.17 billion by the end of 2030 — an annual growth rate of 47.65 percent.
“The Saudi entertainment industry moved from zero to hero in a matter of a couple of years,” said Alkhatib. “Before Saudi Seasons, entertainment in Saudi Arabia was not there. Entertainment before meant going to the mall or having dinner or a gathering between family and friends. Before there were very few places a family or friends could go to, with very few opportunities for celebrations or concerts.
“There were no movie theaters, plays, or international concerts. Saudis used to travel outside of Saudi Arabia to attend a concert and attend performances by some of Saudi’s most popular singers like Mohammed Abdu. Concerts were not done in Saudi; they were done outside of Saudi Arabia.”
Now, Saudis go out in droves to watch musical performances. Men, women, and children attend these events, enjoying concerts featuring not just local performers but also artists from abroad.
“Today we are proud that we have these concerts back home. Not only for Saudi performers but also because we have managed to get many international performers and celebrities from the region and the West,” said Alkhatib. “This has definitely been one of the major transformations.”
Saudi Seasons, an initiative launched by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage in 2019, plans and holds festivals in various regions to shed light on Saudi culture and heritage and bring entertainment to more Saudis.
The first Saudi Seasons organized 11 festivals throughout the Kingdom, a practice that continues. There have been seasons for Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province, Taif, Al-Soudah, National Day, Diriyah, AlUla, Hail, Ramadan, and Eid Al-Fitr.
The initiative is led by various Saudi authorities, including the Ministry of Culture, the General Entertainment Authority, the Ministry of Sport, and the Saudi Exhibition and Convention Bureau under the leadership of a committee led by the crown prince.
The Saudi Seasons’ main objectives are to increase spending on tourism in Saudi Arabia, provide more job opportunities, boost business initiatives and tourism in Saudi Arabia, and enhance the quality of life.
* 6% targeted household spending on entertainment under Vision 2030.
* 80% of current household entertainment budget spent abroad.
* SR30bn projected entertainment market size under Vision 2030.
It has also generated enormous job opportunities for Saudi youth. The 2019 Jeddah Season alone created 5,000 job opportunities for young men and women.
The Saudi film industry has expanded in tandem with the Kingdom’s rapid strides in entertainment. In the past few years, young filmmakers have returned to the country after years of working abroad to reap the benefits of the Kingdom’s investments in entertainment.
In February 2020, the Ministry of Culture established the Film Commission, a government body dedicated to “developing and organizing the film sector, raising its level of production, marketing Saudi films, encouraging finance and investment and developing content. The commission also supports young creative talent, defines the laws and regulations as well as represents the Kingdom in regional and international forums related to films.”
Other bodies that support film in the Kingdom include Film AlUla and the Misk Foundation, established by the crown prince, to empower Saudi youth and support the social transformation of Saudi Arabia. Misk runs a screenwriting program, among other initiatives, to help filmmakers.
Saad Abutaily, a 29-year-old national who works for Riyadh-based Nebras Films, was born and raised in London, where he lived for most of his life until returning to the Kingdom in 2019.
Abutaily emphasized how much funding there was to help Saudi filmmakers. “Everything is coming back to life now,” he told Arab News.
At Nebras, Abutaily said he regularly witnessed fresh graduates getting aid from the government to produce their films and advance their careers.
In May, it was announced that Saudi Arabia’s expanding Telfaz 11 Studios had made a deal with France’s Easy Riders Films to jointly produce four Saudi films. Abutaily said Nebras was currently producing another movie independently.
Last November, Saudi authorities announced investments totaling $64 billion in the nascent entertainment industry as part of a broader effort to wean the economy off oil and, in due course, become the region’s leading destination for movies.
“In 2019, things started to change. In 2021/2022 the country is totally different,” Abutaily said from Riyadh, where he is based. “I now enjoy my weekends here better than in Cannes and London. There’s so much you can do here now. There are artists, scriptwriters, movie producers, and filmmakers. The list goes on.
“This is what is making it healthy for us to live back in Saudi. We are finally accepted by our government and security, and every few months there is even more change and new announcements.”
Abutaily said it was a great time to be in Saudi Arabia, not just for Saudis but foreigners too. “Music producers are now producing music in Saudi Arabia. Artists, filmmakers, and many others have now come back to the country from the US, UK, and the UAE. They came back when they realized how many new opportunities there were.
“COVID-19 slowed us down, but now things are back on track and in full swing. The culture was always there in Saudi Arabia, but it was very limited. There were just restaurants, malls, and cafes. Now, I see Saudis returning from abroad to go to big public gatherings and shows here.”
Saudi filmmakers are also traveling around the Kingdom more, visiting Abha, AlUla, NEOM, Taif, Jeddah, and the Eastern Province, gaining inspiration from their own country, and shooting films on location in various regions.
“The whole world is curious about the Saudi story,” Mujtaba Saeed, a 35-year-old filmmaker who divides his time between Saudi Arabia and Germany, told Arab News.
“We have a lot of untold stories, and we want to share our human experience with the world. As a filmmaker, we now have a lot of support from the Film Commission established by the Ministry of Culture, which has supported us to tell our story to the world.”
His recent short film “Zawal,” which shows the pandemic from the perspective of a refugee, won the Golden Palm award at the 2022 Saudi Film Festival and was recently awarded the Golden Sail at the Gulf TV and Broadcast Festival in Bahrain.
“We are living a historic moment in Saudi Arabia right now,” Saeed said. “We want to express ourselves, tell our stories, and show the world that we are similar, that our needs and goals are universal.”
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center on Friday distributed food aid and shelter assistance to flood-affected families in Sudan.
The move came under the directives of King Salman and forms part of the Saudi airlift efforts that KSrelief recently dispatched to support the Sudanese people who have been affected by the torrential rains, which have swept through several cities and states and led to heavy losses in lives and property.
The center’s specialized technical team was able to reach isolated and flood-hit areas and succeeded in delivering shelter and food assistance to the locals, to alleviate their suffering and improve their living conditions.
On Thursday, two Saudi relief planes arrived as part of the Saudi relief airlift to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, carrying more than 100 tons of food and shelter aid to alleviate the suffering of those affected by the floods.
This comes within the ongoing framework of humanitarian and relief assistance provided by the Kingdom, represented by the Center, to help the needy and affected countries around the world.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) will launch the second phase of its emergency intervention plan to help the people of Somalia affected by drought and famine next week.
Supplies and provisions will be provided for displaced families, and food security programs will be launched in coordination with KSrelief’s partners, including the UN, international organizations and civil institutions, a Saudi Press Agency report said Friday.
Supervisor General Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said drinking water and more than 52,000 food baskets will be distributed in the worst-hit areas of Somalia, while Dates will also be distributed to the neediest people in the country.
Projects to be carried out as part of the second phase are worth more than SR47 million ($12.5 million) and will be followed up on site by KSrelief’s branch in Somalia.
Al-Rabeeah also said that during the first phase 78,000 food baskets were distributed, drinking water was provided and meat distributed to families affected by the drought, amounting to almost SR23 million.
Emergency relief to Somalia is an extension of the Kingdom’s humanitarian efforts to help brotherly peoples during crises and hardships, he said.
JEDDAH: Saudi inventor Nasser Al-Shemaimry showed a method to harness energy from ocean currents using turbines at a press conference at the Movenpick hotel in Jeddah on Wednesday.
The press conference was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Nasser, who served at the Ministry of Interior for more than 40 years.
Al-Shemaimry, CEO of OceanBased Perpetual Energy, founded in Miami, signed a memorandum of understanding with Prince Abdulaziz.
“This memorandum will be presented to the inventor Nasser Al-Shemaimry for engineering supplies and most office services,” he told Arab News. “And to connect with ministries, and we will help him with anything he needs.”
Al-Shemaimry’s project was first used in south Florida to harness the Florida Gulf Stream current and convert it to clean and renewable power.
“Oceans and seas have some currents that go from one direction to another, the current varies in speed, but the current we are using is 5 to 6 miles per hour,” he told Arab News.
“Five-six miles per hour is enough to make the propellers turn, and our propeller is 64 meters long, so as it turns, it turns the turbines inside of the cowling, and that turbine rotates the generator, which produces electricity,” he said.
He said that his project takes the electricity from the generator to a substation then the substation regulates the electricity to what is needed.
“Then it goes to the shore and we connect it to the main substation on shore, then it is up to the city hall or the people who are in charge of the town, city or country to take it from there and take it to the power lines,” he said.
Highlighting how it compares to other sustainable power sources such as solar or wind, he said the ocean provided a continuous and uninterrupted supply of energy.
For solar energy requirements, he said as long as the sun was up the panels would work and charge batteries.
“Each energy source has its own advantages and disadvantages. Solar energy has been around forever, it works and serves its purpose, it’s inexpensive and on land,” he said.
“Windmills are everywhere, but the difference in my opinion is that our energy is perpetual; it doesn’t stop, it works 24/7 and 365 days a year.”
Since the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in 2016, Saudi Arabia has made effective efforts to protect the environment and reduce the effects of climate change to achieve sustainability.
Extensive studies within the Green Saudi Initiative revealed a reduction of carbon emissions by more than 4 percent, and efforts to provide 50 percent electricity through renewable energy projects by the year 2030.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has always been open for business according to Sarah Elzeini, founder and CEO of SMZ International, a boutique strategic advisory and activities firm based in the US.
In her portfolio of work are efforts to grow cultural bridges and facilitate business deals that serve the mission of Saudi Vision 2030. Speaking on the latest episode of “The Mayman Show,” she said “Saudi (has) always been open, first of all, to engagement in business. But just what it looks like today is much different.”
She added that, with many new sectors opening up, such as tourism, advancing AI and technology, events such as the Global AI Summit, and sustainability with the Saudi Green Initiative, the Kingdom is very attractive for the international community, and in particular, the US.
Elzeini said that there is interest for international collaboration in terms of inter-governmental agencies like the UN, and the US government itself. She added that there is also a lot of engagement in educational and research fields, especially around universities.
She also said that dialogue was increasing due to the Kingdom’s economic evolution. “They (the Saudi leadership) have been investing so much in tech and sustainability, and now we’re leaning into their knowledge … talent, and their stories.
“So now, it feels like a really robust bilateral relationship,” she said.
In Sarah’s opinion, Saudi Arabia has become particularly exciting for entrepreneurs. “It’s kind of like (for) an archeologist, a new site, you know — to dig up and discover treasures in a way. Entrepreneurs are looking for new spaces to kind of breathe out their ideas. Yeah, so we have a lot of interest, I think, coming from Silicon Valley,” she said.
Elzeini explained that she is in discussions with several companies trying to bring them to the Kingdom, some of which are startups in the AI and tech space.
“They’re creating these phenomenal ideas. And actually the market isn’t US, it’s not fit for the US. It’s even better for Saudi and the MENA region. So Saudi just being open and the largest market,” she said.
SMZ International Group facilitate partnerships and new opportunities for businesses in social impact. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m in the Kingdom this week, there’s several companies I’m looking forward to bringing to the Kingdom. So I’ve been between Jeddah and Riyadh, and also there’s one company that I’m part of which is really exciting. It’s a tourism tech company. It’s the world’s first social city guide, which is the world’s first social media for tourism,” she said.
“We’re here just kind of seeing the market opportunity and how we can engage with the Kingdom, and we’ve been having meetings with the Ministry of Tourism, venture capitalists, some others in the private sector. And so it’s been exciting.”
SMZ International aims to create vehicles for organizations, whether for a foundation or a program that offers an initiative or a vision.
“Washington, D.C. (is) the intersection of not just the US domestically and culturally, but it’s the world’s capital, in a sense, too. So you have a lot of countries engaging there. And so it’s very important for foreign countries to engage there. And I do a lot of work mainly with the Middle East and with a focus on Saudi,” Elzeini said.
“I’m in this phase of business, and then just my passion is being in public affairs and kind of helping live out those initiatives and dreams that (are) coming from the region here, which I feel really connected to.”