Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting firm, recently opened its third regional office in the Middle East at Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

The multi-national consultancy also has a presence in Dubai, UAE and Bahrain in the Middle East.

The large and growing population of Saudi Arabia presents one of the most sizable domestic markets in the Middle East region.

Over past several years, Frost & Sullivan has been working with many leading companies and family owned businesses in Saudi Arabia, assisting them with various aspects of strategy and growth, a statement said.

Y S Shashidhar, managing director, Mena and South Asia, Frost & Sullivan said: “Close to half of Saudi Arabia’s GDP is still dependent on oil production, which also constitutes 80 per cent of the Government’s income.”

“A large number of basic products consumed in the country are imported, whereas exports mostly consist of petroleum products.  Therefore, Saudi Arabia continues to have a strategic need to diversify its economy to non-oil sectors, primarily manufacturing, that currently constitutes just around 10 per cent of the GDP.

“The growth in manufacturing sector is also needed, to employ the fast growing population of young engineers and graduates coming out of the universities and technical colleges,” he added.

Saudi Arabia’s economy is expected to witness remarkable growth in manufacturing, healthcare, education, infrastructure and utilities sectors over the next several decades, Shashidhar noted.

Service sectors will also simultaneously grow immensely in size and scale as it does in the time of economic growth and prosperity. Frost & Sullivan through its global presence, strategic consulting and with a vast industry knowledge will provide solutions on expansion, portfolio optimisation, sustainable businesses, operational improvement, benchmarking etc. which will enable the businesses in Saudi Arabia region in their transition to growth, said Shashidhar.

The companies that are best positioned to be benefited from the impending diversification and expansion of Saudi Arabia economy are the large number of family groups. These true local entities have been the workhorse of the country’s economic growth in the past and will continue to lead the country to the future.

Frost & Sullivan with its local foothold in Saudi Arabia will work on strategising the localisation initiative for manufacturing in critical areas, which are dependent on imports for the largest oil and gas conglomerate, thereby supporting the local family owned businesses and new entrepreneurs to tap into these opportunities and exploit the potential for the future business.

“Leveraging Frost & Sullivan's global industry specific expertise to structure and implement actionable strategies will help clients make lasting improvements to their performance and realize their most important goals,” added Shashidhar.

“Together, we find value across boundaries, develop insights to act on, and energise teams to sustain success. The value we bring to them is a combination of strategy consulting expertise, and a proven track record of delivery, with unrivalled global scale and experience,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service