It is day two of Money 2020.
Middle East and Riyadh.
Our team has been live on the ground broadcasting from the event at the conference, FinTech TV contributor and special events anchor Patricia Wu spoke to Adele L.
Harvey.
Adele is an executive advisor.
On Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, a strategic framework aiming to reduce the kingdom's dependence on oil through diversification.
Here's what Adelle had to say about how Saudi Arabia's transformation to a digital economy is going.
Take a look.
Welcome, we're here at Money 2020 Middle East.
We're at the Riyadh exhibition and Convention Center, and we're delighted to have Mr.
Adele LRV here with us, and you are an adviser on sovereignty, technology, and data.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Well, uh, first of all, thank you for having me.
Uh, sovereignty is a new subject of interest within the technology world, and it's fairly simple to understand what it represents.
It's where does the country's control starts and where it stops within technology, uh.
Because just like any other trade or business, uh, countries trade, there's international trade happening and uh there's always a need to solve disputes on what happens in there.
So, uh uh whenever uh an international company like a hyperscale like AWS or Microsoft Asia, uh, they come into the country.
Uh, they established talks.
Uh, those talks, uh, touch on many subjects.
One of them is sovereignty, one of them is the incentives that we get for coming in here and what they bring with them to the country.
Um, so.
Well, speaking of big international companies, we've got a lot of them here with over 40.
5000 people expected at this inaugural Money 2020 Middle East and I was thinking this is such a great example of Saudi Arabia's vision 2030.
Like tell us about how something this big and ambitious, you know, encompasses the core goals of that blueprint for the future.
Well, the vision comes with a plan, and it's a very strategic approach that was started over 10 years ago, and Hamdala so far we've been seeing reaping the benefits of that.
The financial sector, especially the Fentech, are set to gain the most in the coming couple of years due to everything else that is moving.
The presence of all the global hybrid scalers within the country.
Uh, the incentives for them to join the economy, uh, what they promised to offer in terms of it being one of the competing cloud regions all over the globe means that the computational costs for fintech are going to be the most affordable within Saudi.
So that is a big push for the Fintech ventures within the country that when GCC.
And speaking of fintech, we have to talk about blockchain.
Tell us a little bit about the kingdom's stance on the technology.
So Saudi Arabia is uh uh uh right now is a digital first economy.
That's that's the move, that's the plan and uh we're diversifying from uh an oil based economy to uh uh uh a bigger economy.
The uh blockchain is a very promising technology.
And uh the public sector has been uh.
Supportive of it and and it's present, especially at one of our biggest events in technology.
One of the accompanying events is specifically for blockchain, where a lot of the big names on the globe have been present and they've signed deals and contracts in there.
So you know as you transform from the oil base to this digital first economy, every transformation has its challenges and its opportunities.
You tell us a little bit about those.
Definitely, we have, we have been fortunate in terms of our digital transformation by a big support from the government side all the way from the top, and that is where we got centralized systems where it made it much easier for all the services to be offered.
If you are looking to establish a company in the country.
A commercial registration would take 3 minutes, up to 10 minutes to get.
Get a visa, I'm sure you know that's very easy.
I did it in minutes.
Exactly.
So most of the services that you would need to be present yourself or to operate within the country are extremely aligned.
This doesn't just happen.
It took years of planning and years of organization for it to get to that part.
So you know you mentioned the government support.
In addition to that, what would you say is the single biggest catalyst that you know is driving this rapid shift that we're seeing this digital transformation, especially in the financial and tech landscapes?
Well, it's a very unique position that Saudi found found itself in.
And that was uh the economy was mostly a reserved economy for decades and nowadays it's open for public or international investors to come into the country. uh, it's uh uh a fertile land for investment, uh, so there's a lot of uh expats moving into the country.
There's a lot of uh international businesses that are moving into the country.
And it's uh a logistics hub as well.
All of that played a role in making it a jumpstart its push for 2030.
So it seems like a very ambitious plan, but I'm very sure that we are on track to making it happen.
And as these businesses and investors and people move here, what would be the one thing you would want them to know?
Uh, this is the place to invest.
The, uh, population is a young population, uh, like I'm considered an elder in here.
I'm, I'm less than 40 years old, and I'm already an elder because over 60% of the nation is about 30 or less.
So, uh, there's a lot of push for uh new technologies, uh, a new ventures, new ways of doing business, and a new high rise everywhere, as you can see.
So.
That's one thing that has to be seen to be believed.
Yeah, when you're dealing with new technology, things move so quickly.
How do you balance that innovation with also ensuring stability? that is only done when you have a very attentive government, so the public sector in here we have been fortunate that they they have a seat on the table.
Everyone has a seat on that table, whether it's the auditors.
The security, the enablers like the Ministry of Telecom, for example, or the NDMO, the National Data Management Office, they all have a seat on that table, and if something is is causing a hurdle in the way of a new technology, you have the right to sit with them, talk to them and explain what it is, what it brings to the country, and what is needed for it to happen.
Well, certainly exciting times and we have a front row seat.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's a pleasure.
