Entrepreneurship in the Kingdom is on the rise, the second annual list of Saudi Arabia's fastest growing emerging businesses released on Wednesday at the 4th Annual Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh revealed. The list also showed a diversity of robust companies founded mostly by young and aggressive entrepreneurs of both genders. They are growing fast and expect to accelerate the pace, expanding nationally and throughout the Middle East. The winners of the Saudi Fast Growth 100 for this year all have a track record of extraordinary revenue growth, while accounting for the creation of thousands of new jobs. The Saudi Fast Growth 100 index also separately listed the top 30 start-up companies. Technology and telecommunications companies dominated the list of top 45 growth companies in this year's Saudi Fast Growth 100. The 2010 Saudi Fast Growth 100 list said that these 45 companies have created 28,000 employment opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Of these 15,000 employment opportunities were created in the past five years, Saudi Fast Growth 100 showed. The winning companies grew an average of 40 percent a year and over 70 percent of the CEOs have founded other companies of which an impressive 90 percent are still in business, Saudi Fast Growth 100 noted. In the next two years, most of the CEOs have plans to start another business and nearly a quarter plan to do an Initial Public Offering, it added. The CEOs of these companies had an average age of 30-33 years when they formed their companies. However, the list was led by Worley Parsons Arabia, an Al-Khobar-based construction and engineering company, having posted a five-year standard growth of 4,357.94 percent. The company stands in the revenue range of SR200 million to SR500 million. Full Stop, the second company in the list, is a Jeddah-based company that specializes in public relations, media and publishing, advertising and marketing. The company recorded a five-year standard growth of 1,766.3 percent. The company, with the third highest growth in the region, was SecuTronic, a Jeddah-based technology and telecommunications company that grew at 1,610.82 percent. The second and the third ranked companies on the list generated revenue in the range of SR10 million to SR15 million. The Saudi Fast Growth 100 is national program to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in Saudi Arabia that ranks the fastest-growing emerging companies in the Kingdom. The list was created by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority's (SAGIA) National Competitiveness Center. “Compiling the Saudi Fast Growth 100 list led us to several encouraging conclusions,” said Amr Al-Dabbah, SAGIA's governor. “The dynamism of the applicants demonstrated clearly that Saudi Arabia is creating a business climate that supports and rewards innovation and entrepreneurial initiative. This vital group of emerging growth companies provides the oxygen of the economy. The winners of the Saudi Fast Growth 100 list will be the guides to our future. These trailblazers will be the most potent signal that Saudi Arabia is a dynamic economy full of creativity and opportunity,” he added.
