There is a call for change in Saudi Arabia, in a manner that has hitherto been unseen. Mohammad Bin Salman, son of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince of the Kingdom, has got the world sit up and take notice of what is being dubbed a new era of leadership in the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Fresh from what Vision 2030 will imply for the Kingdom, the news making headlines these days is the attempted Saudization of the telecom sector. According to this new nationalization program, the telecom sector can employ only Saudi nationals in their work force. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development has set June 6, 2016 as the deadline for 50 percent Saudization of the sector as the first stage and September 2, 2016 for 100 percent in the second and final stage. Investors in the telecom sector, including shops dealing in sales, repairs and accessories of mobile phones, have been warned that failure to meet the 50 percent Saudi quota by the today will mean a fine of SR. 20,000.
To help the move, the Saudi Credit and Savings Bank has also committed to finance projects by young male and female Saudi entrepreneurs in the telecommunications sector up to SR 200,000.
The move towards Saudization with deadlines associated to it, means that most expats working in the Saudi telecom sector should by now have new jobs, begun the hunt for new jobs or are preparing to return home or to another market. Some of these would have had been experts who would now have to make way of younger, fresher talent that may lack experience. For reasons such as these, critics will see contradictions between Saudization and Vision 2030.
However, a closer look at the determination of the 30-year-old Crown Prince may indicate that Bin Salman is looking to maintain a required balance, while calling for change.
The clear aim of the move is two-fold – keeping only Saudi nationals at the helm of services that are critical to communication and to create jobs for Saudi men and women. Media reports indicate that a very strong effort is being made towards enabling women with entrepreneurial ambitions in this sector. The move will also impact the younger Saudi nationals. It is hence likely to further consolidate Bin Salman’s popularity among the Saudi youth, who have been supporting him through the Yemen war. About 70 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia is under 30, and 40 percent is unemployed.
If achieved, the Saudization of the telecom sector will be unprecedented in many ways. While the idea of reservations for Saudi nationals has been there for decades, until now a blanket implementation was never achieved. The move will also make the Crown Prince more powerful with the country. This would in turn increase the chances of him receiving support from more than expected quarters for Vision 2030 that calls for relaxing stern social strictures, which have governed the Kingdom for decades.
Creating more jobs locally, while empowering the local youth and women, and opening up the Saudi economy to the world at the same time are very important goals and not very easy to pursue at once. Bin Salman’s plans so far however aim at achieving exactly that, and do so by including the people of Saudi in the plan. It would be worth the wait to know what direction these steps eventually take Saudi Arabia into.
