Al-Olayan Group … 75 years of Excellence
In 1947, Sheikh Suliman bin Saleh Al-Olayan founded the Olayan Group in Saudi Arabia, the name “Al-Olayan” topped the Forbes list of the most influential family businesses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The organization began as a corporation engaged in contracting and commerce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The organization now controls a diverse portfolio of commercial, industrial, and investment companies. It also owns 4.9% of Credit Suisse, valued at $1.3 billion in April 2021, and 20.3% of Saudi British Bank, worth $3.3 billion.
The late Suliman Al-Olayan founded the General Contracting Firm in 1947, and Suliman first did construction work before being involved in the founding of the Kingdom’s first power-producing company and the first Saudi company to commercialize propane gas. In 1954, he established another food marketing firm, the “General Trading Company,” followed by a third company in the Middle East’s insurance and reinsurance industry, the “Arab Commercial Enterprises Company,” and a fourth company in the field of transportation, the “General Transport Company.”
Later, he obtained the exclusive agency for brands such as Kimberly Clark, General Foods, Kraft, Colgate, Palmolive, Nestle, Burger King, Coca-Cola, and others in the 1960s.
The Olayan Group celebrated its 75th anniversary in the presence of the Minister of State, Member of the Council of Ministers, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, and the Minister of Commerce and the designated Minister of Media, Majid Al Qasabi, with a statement from Khaled and Lubna Olayan that summed up the company’s mission as “Ever Forward for Future Generations.”
This was done in memory of the founder Suleiman Al-Olayan, who was incredibly passionate about anything that helped Saudi Arabia’s youth. This vision will be implied to direct the group’s and its companies’ strategies for a number of projects that will be introduced during the year.
