Prince Fahad bin Mansour Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia launched a $100 million Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Tech House on Monday, to create partnerships with IT companies and enterprises in Pakistan.
The tech house will be established under ILSA Interactive, a company co-founded by Prince Fahad and Pakistani entrepreneur Salman Nasir in 2009, which has offices in Riyadh and Lahore.
“Our venture in Pakistan will be a catalyst for this partnership to provide a platform for greater collaboration and growth,” Prince Fahad said during the launch ceremony in Islamabad.
He highlighted that the venture was a new dimension for greater cooperation, partnership, and growth, between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He expressed confidence in Pakistan’s workforce and startups to form collaborations that would be a game-changer for both countries’ IT sectors.
“I would like to reassert that we are looking forward to creating more than 1,000 jobs in Pakistan and are expecting to have more than 300 projects with a minimum cost of $100 million in the next five years,” he added.
Prince Fahad plans to have a Saudi Tech House in every region of Saudi Arabia under the Vision 2030 plan.
Appreciations
The Saudi ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, appreciated the opening of the tech house, saying that the Saudi leadership had developed a massive plan for digital transformation to achieve the goals of Vision 2030.
Pakistan’s Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, Shaza Fatima, praised the Saudi crown prince’s leadership in modernizing the kingdom and said Pakistan is open to sharing its talent in the technology sector with Saudi Arabia.
“Pakistan is open to sharing its talent in the technology sector with the Kingdom and is open for any type of collaboration with Saudi Arabia,” she said
Dr. Muhammad Manshad Satti, CEO of IT Butler E-Services, called the initiative a significant development and a great opportunity for Pakistani talent. He said that once the project achieved its initial key performance indicators, more Saudi companies would invest in Pakistan’s IT sector.
Prince Fahad announced plans to launch the tech house in Pakistan earlier this year during the largest tech conference, Future Fest, in Islamabad, hoping the initiative would improve business relations between the two countries. Arzish Azam, Future Fest founder, said the main goal of the conference was to promote Pakistani talent in technology by connecting skilled Pakistanis with Saudi Arabia.
