From Dial-Up to Unicorns: SAFCSP Head Recounts Saudi Entrepreneurial Evolution
According to a report by Al-Marsad Newspaper, Faisal Al-Khamisi, Chairman of the board of Directors of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), recently discussed the dramatic changes in the Saudi entrepreneurial landscape over the past two decades. The conversation,featuring Yasser Al-Rumayyan,highlighted the challenges faced by early entrepreneurs and the transformative impact of vision 2030.
Al-Khamisi began his entrepreneurial journey in 1998 as a first-year computer science student captivated by the internet, but hampered by its prohibitive cost. He recounted needing to make calls through Bahrain at a rate of 3 riyals per minute to access the technology. He then took a part-time position with a small internet service provider,which was acquired by a larger company two years after the internetS official arrival in Saudi Arabia.This acquisition resulted in his earning his first million riyals and spurred him to launch his own venture in 2002.
That venture,”Shabek,” aimed to provide a free instant messaging service for mobile phones. Al-Khamisi explained the difficulties of building this service in an habitat lacking both qualified developers and necessary infrastructure. He partnered with a Singaporean company, “Mozat,” to develop “Shapek,” a platform allowing free dialog between Nokia and Sony phone users, bypassing SMS costs. “Shabek” ultimately reached 10 million users across the region and generated 150 million riyals in revenue.
However,Al-Khamisi noted the meaningful hurdles faced at the time. “There was no support for entrepreneurship in the Kingdom, not even a single event, and we were concluding our deals outside the country,” he stated. The Kingdom lacked essential components like electronic payment systems, data centers, and venture capital funds, forcing entrepreneurs to rely on self-financing and negotiate unfavorable terms with telecommunications companies.
The success of “Shabek” was ultimately disrupted by the emergence of WhatsApp in 2009, which Al-Khamisi described as a “black swan” event. The completely free service led to “Shabek” losing millions of users within two years.
Al-Khamisi expressed strong approval of Vision 2030, stating it has instigated a “qualitative shift” in the Saudi entrepreneurship ecosystem. He highlighted the dramatic increase in available funding, noting the presence of over 100 venture capital funds, alongside national and private funds supporting emerging companies. This new environment, he explained, has enabled the rapid creation of billion-dollar companies.
His current venture, the saudi company “Jaco,” exemplifies this transformation. Al-Khamisi stated that “jaco” has already surpassed 26 million users in the region and achieved a billion-dollar valuation in under two years, directly attributing its success to the supportive environment fostered by Vision 2030.
