RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has been awarded the 2024 Middle East Project Management Office of the Year, recognizing its role in advancing the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 transformation plan.
In addition to the regional honor, PIF ranked second globally and received three Excellence Distinctions at the PMO Global Awards.
The PMO Global Alliance presented the awards, highlighting PIF’s leadership in the project management field. “This recognition exemplifies the superior role that PIF is playing as a leading organization in the project management field,” PIF said in a post on X.
The sovereign wealth fund has been a key driver of Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification efforts since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016.
The fund, which manages $925 billion in assets, is involved in numerous large-scale projects to transform the Kingdom into a global tourism hub by the end of the decade.
“The PMO is considered as one of the critical functions and the main enablers in achieving PIF targets under Vision 2030,” said Saad Al-Kroud, the chief of staff and secretary-general to the board of directors at PIF.
PIF launched its PMO in 2016 and it has since expanded from a five-person team to 77 full-time employees, according to PMOGA.
The PMO currently operates with an annual budget of $7 million and oversees 66 active projects valued at $17 billion. PMOGA said that the number of projects managed by PIF’s PMO increased by 76 percent from 2016 to 2023, with the project success rate rising by 94 percent during the same period.
“We initially were primarily focusing on managing our strategic projects, in addition to establishing our giga-projects and the portfolio companies across various sectors and domains,” said Areej Naqshbandi, senior director and PMO head at PIF.
Globally, PIF’s PMO ranked second, while SPC Brazil was named the 2024 World PMO of the Year. SPC Brazil’s office manages between 35 and 65 projects annually.
Other regional winners included Waha Oil Co. from Libya as Africa PMO of the Year, Indonesia’s Persero as Asia-Pacific PMO of the Year, and ING Spain and Portugal as Europe PMO of the Year. Moffitt Cancer Center in the US received the 2024 North America PMO of the Year honor.
PMOGA, founded in 2017, is one of the largest global communities of PMOs and project management professionals, with members across over 100 countries, according to its website.
