PwC Middle East inaugurates regional headquarters in Riyadh

This comes as part of the firm’s broader commitment to the region to create 6,000 new jobs and continued investment in digital technology and ESG

by Divsha Bhat

May 31, 2023

Image credit: Supplied

PwC Middle East has received its regional headquarters licence by the Ministry of Investment (MISA) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in Saudi Arabia.

The inauguration ceremony took place at the Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh on May 31, 2023, with the presence of guests including Khalid A. Al-Falih, Minister of Investment, Dr. Hazim Zagzoog, advisor to the Royal Court, and Kevin Ellis, PwC EMEA.

As one of the largest professional services firm in the Middle East, PwC supports various entities such as the Centre of Government, Vision Realization Programs, Government Ministries, Royal Commissions, Giga programmes, and the broader ecosystem.

Its aim is to assist in setting strategies, driving transformation and providing human-led, technology-powered solutions to build trust and achieve sustainable outcomes.

Al-Falih said: “I am delighted to join PwC Middle East as it inaugurates its new Regional Headquarters (RHQ) in Riyadh, which will help to build the RHQ ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and set global standards for how a professional services sector RHQ should operate.

It is a natural continuation of a longstanding, trusted and mutually beneficial relationship and I also commend PwC on its strong record of employing more than 1,000 talented Saudis in its workforce.”

Hani Ashkar, PwC Middle East senior partner: “We are thrilled to have received our licence for our regional headquarters and are honoured to continue supporting the Kingdom’s remarkable transformation, as we accelerate towards 2030 and beyond.

At PwC Middle East, we are fully committed to supporting Saudi Arabia’s next phase of its transformational agenda as we digitise, decarbonise, localise, privatise and modernise.”

Riyadh Al Najjar, PwC Saudi country senior partner and chair of the ME Board, added: “We’re proud of our journey in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for over 40 years, building trust and delivering sustained outcomes. We are committed to the kingdom’s ambition and efforts as it strengthens and diversifies its economy to deliver opportunities for its people and deliver on the promise of a remarkable future.”

Meanwhile, with a strong workforce of over 2,000 employees in Saudi Arabia, more than a 1,000 of whom are Saudi nationals including over 400 Saudi women, PwC Middle East is a significant contributor to talent development in the kingdom and is committed to expanding its staffing numbers over the next three years in the region.

This year PwC Middle East has recruited more than 200 Saudi graduates, over half of whom are women.

We are proud to announce that we have inaugurated our Regional Headquarters in Riyadh in the presence of His Excellency, Eng. Khalid Al Falih, Minister of Investment. We remain committed to the Kingdom’s ambition, and supporting the realisation of its #Vision2030 from strategy to… pic.twitter.com/Kx6JzodImU

— PwC Middle East (@PwC_Middle_East) May 31, 2023

Additionally, PwC Middle East is deeply invested in Saudisation as part of its ‘Hemam 2.0 programme’, which aims to develop and retain top national talent, empower Saudi youth and enable their professional growth.

The centre will provide a platform to ideate with clients and to showcase innovative products, services and disruptive technologies to solve the region’s most pressing problems.

The Riyadh office and headquarters adds to PwC Middle East’s footprint of six offices across the kingdom including additional offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Dhahran and AlUla.