The World Economic Forum (WEF), an independent international organisation committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas, has selected the National Technology Group (NTG), a leading information and communication technology (ICT) company, to be part of this year’s World Global Growth Companies, a list of the most dynamic, high-growth companies from around the world.

The announcement was made after the WEF’s completion of a strict and comprehensive assessment on thousands of candidates according to different criteria, said a statement.

The companies named in this list are best described as the trailblazers, shapers and innovators that are committed to improving the state of the world, it said.

David Aikman, managing director and head of the new champions, WEF, said: “When choosing entrants to our Community of Global Growth Companies, we assess companies on their business model, annual revenues and growth rates, executive leadership and market position. NTG of Saudi Arabia is a dynamic group with clear potential to shape the future in its relevant business sectors and so is a perfect fit to our GGC community.”

The NTG received its Global Growth Companies certificate during a ceremony honouring the 28 new companies, which was held earlier, on the sidelines of the WEF’s ‘Special Meeting on Unlocking Resources for Regional Development.’

Mohamed Rashid AlBallaa, chairman, said: “This recognition came as a result of the great effort made by our team over the last 30 years and the growth achieved by NTG companies like Arabic Computer Systems (ACS), Ebttikar, Mubasher, DirectFN, N2V, AIM, AGCN, FCGI, and their business units and subsidiaries.

“This does not mean that we have achieved our goals and our ambitions in the group as our vision does not stop here--we are honored but still consider ourselves still at the beginning of our growth journey. We are excited to join this great community of global leaders and will strive to represent the Saudi and Arab Information Technology society in WEF and benefit from other member’s experience and best practices in ICT and transfer them to our region.”

The NTG chairman pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s IT industry exceeds by SR50 billion ($13.3 billion) annually, with an annual growth rate of 10 per cent. In line with this, he added that IT is one of the main drivers of economic growth today and a main component in the shift towards becoming a knowledge-based economy.

“Being the largest IT group in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the region, NTG is steadfast in its continued commitment to do its best efforts in introducing and implementing cutting edge technologies, which in turn will help empower our economies to grow at a faster and stronger pace,” said AlBallaa. - TradeArabia News Service