BOARDING CALL ✈

Welcome aboard, and welcome to the Departure Brief

If you’re reading this in the cab to the airport, in the lounge, or halfway through boarding EK819, you’re exactly where we imagined you’d be.

Departure Brief was built for consultants in the Middle East who want to start their week a little sharper, without digging through the noise of the countless news sources out there. Every Monday, we’ll bring you a fast, focused update on what actually matters for you, plus a few tools and insights that will make you look good in front of your client and manager, director, partner… whoever’s reviewing your slides. And if you’ve had enough of airplanes, we’ve got you covered with the latest exit opportunities.

Enjoy your read!

SECTOR SCAN 🔭

Your weekly rundown of the most relevant business news in the region - for the sectors that matter to you

Public Sector & Government

• Saudi’s PIF reduced its investments on giga-projects by 12% in 2024, while their total assets under management grew by 20% - I see why we’ve been having a bit of slump lately (Full story)

• Tabuk’s governor announced 23 environmental, water, and agricultural projects worth SAR 3.8 Bn and laid the ground work for another 25 projects worth ~SAR 500 Mn; these include new desalination plants, water transmission lines, and a major waste water treatment plant - who’s down for weekly trips to Tabuk to help them implement? I googled pictures, looks beautiful (Full story)

• Egypt’s economy is seen as a standout performer despite global turbulence according to a recently-released Standard Chartered report, thanks to billions in investment pledges from Kuwait and Qatar, surging remittances, and export recovery. Inflation however remains high at 13-17% - why do I have the impression that Egypt’s economy is like a roller coaster? (Full story)

Energy

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) said this week that the oil market looks “bloated” after recent OPEC output hikes, expecting oil supply to rise much faster than demand - that means lower oil prices, and that’s not great news for us consultants (Full story)

• Kuwait just awarded a $3.3 Bn contract to double the capacity of the North al Zour power and water desalination plant; the country’s first privately-owned gas-fired combined-cycle project. Saudi’s ACWA Power and Gulf Investment Corp will design, fund, build, operate, and maintain it - seems like ACWA Power has been very active lately, I think it appeared in almost every edition of Departure Brief since we started it (Full story)

• A consortium led by BlackRock signed a $11Bn deal to lease and rent back natural gas facilities in Saudi Arabia; under the agreement, the consortium will lease development and usage rights for the Jafurah Gas Field and Riyas NGL Fractionation Facility, then lease them back to Aramco for 20 years - this is a good signal that Saudi is gaining traction in attracting foreign capital (Full story)

Technology, Media & Telecommunication

• Humain, a Saudi AI company backed by PIF, is launching Allam, the first foundational Arabic AI model developed in the Kingdom. It’s apparently trained to understand and converse in classical Arabic, Saudi, Egyptian, and Lebanese, while capturing political and cultural nuances - I guess Moroccan was just too hard for the AI to learn.. (Full story)

• Abu Dhabi’s AI sector surges 61% YoY to become MENA’s fastest-growing innovation hub. The emirate now hosts 670+ AI companies with 150 new firms registered in H1 2025 alone - cool AI race shaping up in the region (Full story)

Financial Services

• Oman’s Sohar International Bank is looking to enter the Saudi financial advisory market by acquiring 55% of Neo Group’s Saudi-licensed financial advisory arm (Full story)

• Dar Global, the luxury arm of Saudi real estate developer Dar al Arkan, is acquiring a DIFC-listed financial services company to expand into asset management, investment banking and advisory - synergies between real estate development and financial services? (Full story)

Transport & Logistics

• Kuwait Airways is having issues with its plans to grow from 4mn passengers in 2024 to 5.5mn in 2025 due to delayed airplane deliveries from Airbus and geopolitical issues (Full story)

Consumer Products & Retail

• Majid Al Futtaim built virtual versions of its malls (MOE, City Center) inside Roblox, complete with interactive maps and minigames to engage younger shoppers, mainly Gen Z - that’s how 2025 marketing is done (Full story)

• Abu Dhabi-backed NRTC, a leading distributor of fruits and vegetables, has made its first direct move into farming by acquiring 10,000 acres of farmland in Egypt’s Wadi al Natrun - here’s a real case scenario of your CP client’s favorite two words, “vertical integration” (Full story)

THE EXIT ROW 💼

Your bosses might not like this section, but that’s alright. Every week, we’ll provide you with a list of curated job openings for any of you that are tired of the travel routine and looking to have a life again after 7 PM - includes opportunities for all levels

FREELANCING

There is a bunch of freelancing opportunities I’ve been made aware of. If you’re interested, please register your profile on Ultra (“join Ultra”) - a top EMEA freenlancing platform that connects you with an extensive portfolio of clients in the region for freelance consulting projects. You can also book a call with Valentin Reyx, co-founder, to learn more.

UAE

• Uber | Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Operations Strategy Fleet Lead | Dubai (Apply here)

• Property Finder | Manager, Strategy & Operations | Dubai (Apply here)

• Dubai Holding | Senior Manager - Strategy & Value Creation Office | Dubai (Apply here)

• Dubai Holding | Senior Manager - Strategy & Product Development | Dubai (Apply here)

• Talabat | Sr. Specialist Strategy | Dubai (Apply here)

• Checkout.com | RevOps & Commercial Strategy Partner | Dubai (Apply here)

• Bel | Middle East Commercial Strategy Manager | Dubai (Apply here)

• Arise IIP | Strategy Manager | Dubai (Apply here)

• NymCard | Corporate Development Analyst/Associate | Dubai (Apply here)

• Neuratek Search | Head of Energy Strategy Energy Transition & Infrastructure | Dubai (Apply here)

• Amazon | Sr. Program Manager, Last Mile, Strategy & Performance | Dubai (Apply here)

• Keeta | Senior Strategy Associate | Dubai (Apply here)

• Al Futtaim Automotive | Transformation Manager | Dubai (Apply here)

• Multiply Group | Strategy Analyst | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Multiply Group | Strategy Manager | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Tendem Search | Senior Manager - HR transformation | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Imkan Properties | Senior Manager Investment & Strategy | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

KSA

• Amazon | Head of Marketplace Strategy | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Keeta | Sales Operations Strategy | Riyadh (Apply here)

• QSAS | Strategy & Venture Leader | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Takamol Business Solutions | Senior Team Leader - Strategy Management Office | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Siemens Energy | Strategy & Business Development Manager | Dammam (Apply here)

CABIN DEEP DIVE 🔎

Every week, we give a focused look on a topic, news, trend that is shaping the region; no fluff, just the insights you need.

PIF’S 2024 ANNUAL REPORT - THE MOST IMPORTANT INSIGHTS FOR YOU

This week, our beloved PIF released its 2024 annual report. 150+ beautifully-designed pages with some very interesting insights. So if you want to go through all of it in your sunbed by the beach in Batroun, Monaco, Ibiza, or wherever you are in this beautiful month of August, click here for the full report. And if you can’t be bothered, we’ve got you covered; here are the most important insights:

1. Assets under management (AUM) was up by 19% to SAR 3,425 Bn ($ 913 Bn) positioning it as the 6th largest sovereign wealth fund in the world (full ranking here if you’re interested)

2. Revenue jumped by 25% to SAR 413 Bn on solid performance across several portfolio companies including Savvy, Ma’aden, STC, SNB, AviLease, and GIB, as well as dividend income from Saudi Aramco

3. Net profits fell 60% to SAR 25.8 Bn, hit by higher interest rates, inflation, and significant impairment on some giga-projects

4. Giga-projects took a SAR 30 Bn write down (yup, I’m not being MECE here but this deserves a separate point) - writedown (or impairment charges) is when you reduce the value of some of your assets on your balance sheet; these need to be reflected as expenses in your P&L. So PIF had to reduce the value of some of its Giga-projects (notably NEOM) to reflect cost overruns (including the millions to consultants I presume), project delays, and changing market conditions.

5. Share of foreign holdings declined to 17%, down from 20% in 2023, signaling a shift towards domestic investments

6. New sectoral national champions were created including Alat (sustainable electronics), Adeera (hospitality), Neo Space Group (satellite services), and QSAS (interactive entertainment) showing a focus shift towards assets with faster commercialization potential - check them out!

7. Secured new high-profile international stakes including investments in Heathrow, Selfridge, and Rocco Forte

8. Claimed a new PIF Era transitioning from digital transformation to digital leadership, with AI and automation becoming embedded across every layer of the organization

If you really want to summarize this into one simple sentence, it would be: less giga-projects, less international investments, more national champions, more AI. You can see it here in the evolution of the AUM split:

LIFE UPGRADE PICK 💎

In this section, we pick one product or service that would make your life easier, or better; and we review it for you.

PROMPT COWBOY - YOUR TOOL TO UPGRADE YOUR CHAT GPT PROMPTS

“It’s all about the prompt”. I’m sure you heard that one before. The output that ChatGPT or other AIs will give you highly depends on your prompt. I took an online prompt course not too long ago and thought I became a pro. That’s until I discovered Prompt Cowboy, an AI that helps you create prompts for AI. It’s a bit like having a very good translator for a language you’re not great at yet.

Here is a quick example:

So we learned that PIF is all about creating national champions now. So let’s assume I just won a project to develop the strategy for a new car manufacturing national champion (whoever’s thinking that’s stupid because they have Lucid, please… this is just an example). I want chatGPT to develop an 12-week detailed work plan for the project. My prompt would be the following:

“I am a management consultant and I just won a project for PIF. They are looking to develop a new company to be national champion in the car manufacturing sector, and I’m supporting them to establish a full strategy to establish and scale the company. Please help me develop a detailed work plan for this project. It must be completed in 12 weeks”

Not bad, no?

Now let’s try Prompt Cowboy. You open the website and it tells you to fill in the phrase “I want a prompt that…”. So I write: “I want a prompt that helps me, a management consultant, lay down a detailed work plan for my new project with PIF, whom I am supporting in developing a complete strategy to set up and grow a new car manufacturing national champion. The project needs to be completed in 12 weeks.”

Here is the result:

Much better.

Go ahead and play around with it and see if it’s actually useful.

Promptcowboy.ai

And that’s a wrap…

Thank you for being on board the Departure Brief this week.

Let us know how we did!

Have a safe flight, an amazing week, and see you next Monday!