Faisal bin Saud Al-Khamisi has been chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP) since September 2019.
In November, the Tuwaiq Academy, run under the SAFCSP, was included in Apple’s Authorized Training Center for Education (AATCE) program, becoming Apple’s first educational training center in the Middle East.
Al-Khamisi said that obtaining the Apple accreditation reflected the global and advanced status of the Kingdom in the technological field.
After completing his school education, Al-Khamisi joined the College of Computer and Information Sciences at King Saud University. However, it did not prove to be the place to match his big dreams as his personal knowledge about computer sciences “was much deeper than what the university books provided at that time,” he told the “Alliwan” program on Rotana Khalijia satellite TV channel.
Al-Khamisi discontinued his academic studies and joined one of the few licensed internet service providers in the Kingdom. After working for that small business for a few months, he became a shareholder in the company, which was later sold to a bigger operation. Al-Khamisi, who at that time was under 20 years old, received more than SR1.1 million ($293,249) from the deal, in addition to becoming a vice president in the new company. He said that he used most of the money to help his family overcome their financial difficulties.
In 2006, he acquired Pte Mozat Ltd., one of the largest mobile applications companies in East Asia, and became its chairman. Headquartered in Singapore, the company expanded to reach Saudi Arabia, the US, China, Morocco, Egypt, Indonesia and Jordan. It is ranked among the top 10 Google and Apple partners in the Middle East.
With more than 20 years of experience in his field, Al-Khamisi, a board member of Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), is considered one of the leading national experts in cybersecurity and information technology, with a special focus on mobile apps, the Internet and artificial intelligence.
