PwC Middle East has received its regional headquarters license from the Ministry of Investment and Ministry of Commerce in the Kingdom, reinforcing its commitment toward Vision 2030, driving the transformation program, and supporting ambitious local talent.

Khalid A. Al-Falih, minister of investment; Dr. Hazim Zagzoog, adviser to the Royal Court; and Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner, PwC EMEA; among other senior officials attended PwC Middle East’s regional headquarters inauguration ceremony held at Al-Faisaliah hotel in Riyadh on May 31.

The Middle East’s largest professional services firm supports the government’s vision realization programs, government ministries, royal commissions, giga-programs, and the broader ecosystem to set strategy, drive transformation, and offer human-led, technology-powered solutions to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes. 

Al-Falih said: “I am delighted to join PwC Middle East as it inaugurates its new regional headquarters in Riyadh, which will help to build the regional headquarters ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and set global standards for how a professional services sector regional headquarters 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, said: “We are thrilled to have received our license for our regional headquarters and are honored to continue supporting the Kingdom’s remarkable transformation, as we accelerate toward 2030 and beyond. At PwC Middle East, we are fully committed to supporting Saudi Arabia’s next phase of its transformational agenda as we digitize, decarbonize, localize, privatize and modernize.” 

Riyadh Al-Najjar, PwC KSA country senior partner and chair of the ME board, said: “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.”

With a strong workforce of more than 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. Additionally, PwC Middle East is deeply invested in Saudization as part of its “Hemam 2.0” program, which aims to develop and retain top national talent, empower Saudi youth and enable their professional growth. 

PwC Middle East will also open a new flagship office in Riyadh, which will include an experience center, in 2024. As a hub for innovation and creativity, the new experience center 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 flagship office and headquarters sit at the heart of the Kingdom’s transformation and adds to PwC Middle East’s footprint of six offices across the Kingdom, including additional offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, Alkhobar, Dhahran and AlUla.