PIF: Creating a Promising Future for the People

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) today occupies a prominent, influential position as a major investment force among the world’s top sovereign wealth funds. Its strategies act to boost national economic growth through investment in projects and opportunities on the national and international levels, and the support of portfolio companies to enable them to operate smoothly and effectively. All of this contributes to improving the quality and efficiency of the services offered across numerous vital sectors.
At PIF, we have adopted an ambitious growth strategy under the leadership of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Chairman of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development, and Chairman of the Public Investment Fund. This strategy seeks to support the Kingdom’s drive for economic diversification and create developmental value that positively impacts the Saudi citizens and future generations, in line with the goals of Vision 2030.
Planning and execution are key to enabling major economies achieve their ambitions. With this in mind, PIF has given special attention to creating a positive impact on the lives of both citizens and coming generations by helping develop new sectors, creating job opportunities, accelerating the transfer of technology, and localizing expertise. PIF works through its portfolio companies and Giga-projects to bolster investment, empower young Saudis, and create quality jobs, as we believe that strengthening the local talent pool is a fundamental part of accomplishing PIF’s mission and achieving our future targets. Our team has grown from just 40 employees in 2016 to more than 1,500 at the beginning of this year.
We enthusiastically invest in the coming generation through three main enablers: unleashing the capabilities and inspiration of the nation’s youth, empowering current and future generations to achieve their professional ambitions, and encouraging a culture of diversity among employees. This was the starting point from which we launched the Graduate Development Program in 2017, which has successfully graduated 480 young female and male students to date. The program aims to nurture local talents, enable the transfer of knowledge and skills to Saudi youth, and create new employment opportunities for tomorrow’s leaders. In addition, PIF has participated in many initiatives designed to bring together leading specialists and younger generations, helping students broaden their horizons by connecting with industry experts.
Having set development as a key priority, we also launched the PIF Academy with the goal of offering world-class training programs, to develop local capabilities and meet the current and future needs of the market. In addition, we have established a first-of-its-kind scholarship program for employees of PIF and its subsidiaries, in cooperation with HEC Paris business school in France. The program offers a unique combination of learning and professional experience to develop the knowledge and skills of participants across a range of specialized fields, all of which will help to ensure PIF accomplishes its strategic objectives.
In another example of the transfer of skills and capabilities through strategic partnerships, PIF invested in Lucid Motors, which develops and manufactures electric vehicles. As part of the agreement, Lucid has trained 34 Saudi students through special programs that provide opportunities to work with leading engineering experts, contributing to the development of the electric car industry in Saudi Arabia.
Within a short period of time, PIF has succeeded in developing the digital economy, with major milestones achieved in information technology and digital transformation. By the same token, we also ensure the effective performance of PIF’s portfolio companies and projects by offering comprehensive integrated services, supporting them from the start to help develop their corporate capabilities and ensuring that each goes into business at the right time according to the best international standards.
As an active driver of diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy, PIF has established 54 companies since 2017, and directly and indirectly created more than 500,000 jobs in dynamic sectors including entertainment, utilities and renewables, and real estate. With several important targets to be accomplished by the end of 2025, PIF is contributing to Saud Arabia’s economic future. PIF aims to increase local content contribution to 60% across PIF and its subsidiaries, which will create further investment opportunities for PIF to enhance the local supply chain. PIF also targets to create 1.8 million direct and indirect jobs by the end of 2025.
I believe that we will witness great and distinguished successes under the leadership of the Chairman of PIF, HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, and that we are on track to take the achievements to the next level across all of our sectors in the coming years. PIF will continue to support the launch of new sectors, creating opportunities that will help shape the future of the global economy and drive Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation, whether through building strategic partnerships, localizing the latest technologies, or broadening opportunities for local companies to contribute to PIF’s projects. On any given day, everyone at PIF is working together as a team with integrity and dedication to build a brighter future for the Kingdom. Harnessing the power of creativity and our strong spirit of collaboration, we will make the Saudi economy more prosperous, diversified, and sustainable to meet the ambitions of Vision 2030.