Editor's note: In recent years, Saudi Arabia has adopted a positive policy of opening up to the outside world, proposed Vision 2030, and vigorously attracted foreign investment and enterprises to locate in the Middle East, which has also become a hot land for many investors.

 

In this lecture, Ms. Jessica Wong and Mr. Robin Zhou made a comprehensive discussion on the macro background and industrial opportunities of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's business environment, development vision, policy objectives and investment opportunities and many other hot issues, explaining the advantages and opportunities of capital market investment in the Middle East to the audience.

 

On the afternoon of June 16, 2024, at the invitation of Xiangjiang Business School, Ms. Jessica Wong, Founding Managing Partner of Etech Capital and Mr. Robin Zhou, Chairman of Sahm Capital and Chief Strategy Officer of Huasheng Group, were invited to "Hong Kong Financial Watch". The audience was presented with a wonderful online lecture on the theme of "Sharing market environment and Investment opportunities in the Middle East in 2024", which was streamed live online and received a total of 667 views and 2,479 likes.

Ms. Wong is Founding Managing Partner of Eltech Capital, Founding Managing Partner of Cyber Carrier Venture Capital Fund, Founding Partner of Ganesh Ventures Venture Capital Fund, Advisor to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia and member of the ten-member Committee of the Saudi National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Both of you have a rich understanding of the economic environment and capital market in the Middle East.

Before the lecture, Professor Ba Shusong, Executive Dean of HSBC Institute of Finance, Peking University and chief economist of China Banking Association, delivered a speech.

Professor Ba Shusong delivered a speech

In the lecture, Ms. Jessica Wong introduced the achievements of Eltech Capital in Saudi Arabia, and explained in detail the macro background and industrial opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

 

She noted that Saudi Arabia is becoming more international and modern. With a median age of 29, Saudi Arabia is young and dynamic, and its global competitiveness in areas such as economic performance and business efficiency has risen rapidly in recent years. Among them, "Vision 2030" is the most important reason for Saudi Arabia to achieve such development.

 

Vision 2030 sets out three vision goals for Saudi Arabia: to become the heart of the Arab and Islamic world, a global investment powerhouse, and a hub between Asia, Europe and Africa. This year marks the eighth year of Vision 2030, and Saudi Arabia has already exceeded many of its targets.

Jessica introduces Saudi Vision 2030

 

Jessica also explained the business environment in Saudi Arabia in detail.

 

She pointed out that in order to reduce its dependence on the oil industry, Saudi Arabia actively introduced the manufacturing industry, not only provided systematic support in all aspects of the foreign investment law, but also equipped the Saudi Industrial Development Fund to support foreign participation in Saudi industrial development, and set up the RHQ program to invite the regional headquarters of global companies to relocate to Saudi Arabia.

 

At the same time, Saudi Arabia's water, electricity, gas, oil and other production factors are relatively low costs, a large number of migrant workers, with obvious cost advantages.

Ms. Jessica introduced the Saudi RHQ program

Finally, Jessica shared the investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia from the four major sectors of finance, energy, technology and manufacturing and answered some questions from the audience.

Subsequently, Mr. Robin Zhou focused on the Middle East and Saudi Arabia's capital market situation to share in detail.

Starting from the background of Saudi Arabia's geographical environment, economic development level and demographic structure, Mr. Zhou analyzed the importance and unique advantages of Saudi Arabia in the global market with Sahm Capital's local business development as an example, and stressed that the capital market is an important part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 goals.

 

Mr. Robin Zhou explains the importance of capital markets in Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030

Subsequently, Mr. Zhou analyzed the basic situation of the Saudi capital market, shared the latest data such as the total market capitalization and IPO of listed companies on the Saudi Exchange, and detailed the latest policy requirements of the Saudi exchange for foreign companies to list.

He stressed that with the release of the Saudi Exchange's Guide to Listing Foreign Companies on the Saudi Main Board Market, providing high-quality companies around the world with methods and paths for local listing in Saudi Arabia will further stimulate the enthusiasm for listing in Saudi Arabia. Prior to this, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has included the Saudi exchange in the list of recognized stock exchanges, and the future development and deepening of the connectivity pipeline between Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia will have the opportunity to see Chinese and Saudi enterprises listed in the two places.

Mr. Robin Zhou introduced the SSE's policy requirements for foreign companies to list on the local main board

In the interactive question-and-answer session, the audience actively participated and actively asked questions on the investment opportunities and entry routes of Chinese institutions in Saudi Arabia, and Mr. Zhou gave in-depth analysis and detailed answers.

 

This lecture is the second installment of the Hong Kong Financial Watch. "Hong Kong Financial Watch" is initiated and hosted by Hong Kong Business School. It is committed to building a professional sharing platform with content, quality and depth, covering hot issues in the economic and financial fields. In the form of online live broadcasting, senior experts are invited to share the latest developments in professional fields, express original views, and communicate with the audience in depth.

 

 

Hong Kong Graduate Schoolof Business was established in Hong Kong as the teaching executive agency of the business Schoolof the Hong Kong Schoolof Finance and Management. Adhering to the school motto of "Knowing and doing, connecting the East and the West", Hong Kong Graduate Schoolof Business pioneered the teaching paradigm of "mentoring system - salary transmission", integrating the essence of Chinese and Western education. Develop business leaders with an international outlook.

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