It’s a pivotal moment in time for the Saudi Arabian economy as the Kingdom works towards its Vision 2030 goals. Saudi Vision 2030 is a catch-all for a sweeping, monumental initiative aimed at diversifying the Saudi economy, creating new jobs for Saudi nationals, and reducing the country’s reliance on oil. A key element of this initiative is a nationwide effort to refocus the economy on ‘Local Content’ — a conscious effort to use local resources — from Saudi workforces and domestic suppliers to locally made goods and services — throughout the economy.
“It’s about making sure that economic value stays within the Kingdom and contributes to developing our local economy,” explains Sagri M. Alsagri, Director of Procurement at Real Estate Registry. Founded in May of 2021, the National Real Estate Registration Services Company (known as the Real Estate Registry or simply RER) is the exclusive title registration operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RER’s goal is to improve the effectiveness and accessibility of real estate transactions by increasing the comprehensiveness, transparency, and accessibility though digitalisation of real estate records in the Kingdom — which has a real estate market worth over $72.1 billion. Reshaping the way that real estate records are kept in Saudi Arabia is a mammoth undertaking, requiring ongoing organisational transformation and digital innovation, underpinned by cultural change management as RER continues to develop a detailed map of more than 8.2 million properties across the Kingdom. So far, the process has been an impressive success, rapidly adding over 2.5 million parcels to RER’s database.
Setting the Stage for Local Content
Al Sagri joined RER in September of 2021 — early in its journey and, at that point, as the only member of its procurement function. Since then, he has worked to develop and grow the function alongside the larger business, building the necessary policies, procedures, manuals, and templates necessary for procurement, including everything from purchase requests and requisition documents to purchase orders and vendor registration forms. During this time, he also worked closely with the RER legal team to develop the company’s contract templates.
Embracing Local Content
RER embraced Local Content in early 2023, recognising the potential for the initiative to help reduce Saudi reliance on imports and push industries to grow locally, as well as supporting industrial diversification by encouraging the development of new sectors, technologies, and services beyond oil. Over time, Al Sagri enthuses, the initiative will make the Kingdom’s economy more stable, creating better jobs for Saudis, and giving local companies the chance to compete and innovate.
Passionate about capturing these benefits, Al Sagri and his team pushed ahead with Local Content strategies, even before the initiative became a requirement for the organisation. “We were submitting our requirements to the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA),” says Al Sagri, “even though the process hadn’t yet become mandatory.” From the very beginning, “procurement was a core and essential function to RER’s Local Content aspirations.” Procurement was tasked by RER’s leadership, not just with sourcing the right suppliers, but also linking them with Local Content requirements from the start.
“Local Content has had a big impact on driving economic self-sufficiency in Saudi Arabia. By depending more on local suppliers, workers, and products, we’re keeping more value inside the country instead of sending it abroad,” says Al Sagri. Of course, he adds, in some areas, the Saudi economy isn’t ready for complete domestic self-sufficiency—yet. In these cases, where some services are not fully developed locally, RER often needs to engage international vendors. “However, we encourage these international firms to form joint ventures with local suppliers,” Al Sagri says. “That way, we enable local companies to grow and learn while supporting Local Content overall.”
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