LEAP23: Zoho to boost investment in Saudi Arabia to support Vision 2030
Zoho Corp., a leading global technology company, announced plans, on Wednesday, to boost investment in Saudi Arabia in 2023 to drive forward businesses’ digital transformation and contribute to the Kingdom’s rapid technological development. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the company’s participation at LEAP, one of the biggest technology events taking place in Riyadh.
This comes as part of a long-term strategy set forth in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Zoho will allocate $30 million in wallet credit and digital training value yearly to help ease the adoption of digital technologies for SMEs in Saudi Arabia through its 55+ business applications and promote digital upskilling amongst local businesses.
“Saudi Arabia remains among our top, fastest-growing markets in the Middle East and Africa region. The ambitious agenda set forth by its leadership is transforming the country into an economic powerhouse and an attractive business environment—with technology being a key component driving these efforts,” said Hyther Nizam, VP of product management at Zoho.
“Over the next year, we aim to continue leading the way in the MEA to make Saudi Arabia our number one market in the region, while allocating necessary resources to help achieve the goals of Vision 2030 by lowering the technology barriers to entry for the business community.”
As part of the investment plans, Zoho will be opening the first office in Riyadh in addition to its current office in Jeddah, and continue hiring local talent. The company is set to step up collaboration with local government entities that lead the Saudi Vision 2030 to contribute to the local economic sustainability and digitalisation agenda.
The company revealed that it will also be investing in digital infrastructure in 2023 to serve customers better and ensure data is stored locally in line with Saudi’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) and data residency policies.
“Zoho remains committed to creating value for local business communities by offering bespoke solutions and an unparalleled customer experience, all while being anchored to our global roots through a ‘transnational localism’ strategy. We have done so by ensuring product compliance with market requirements, language adaptation and an unwavering commitment towards data privacy in line with local data protection laws,” Nizam added.
The company provides solutions in the Arabic language that include Zoho CRM, Zoho Creator, Zoho Desk and
Zoho Bigin. Furthermore, Zoho’s e-commerce platform Zoho Commerce is among the few vendors in the market to offer a natively-integrated Arabic language right-to-left (RTL) capabilities that enable merchants to create e-commerce websites in Arabic. Zoho recorded 70% annual growth in Saudi Arabia in 2021.
his year, Zoho is participating in LEAP to showcase more than 55 innovative business applications. This includes the VAT-compliant finance and accounting solutions which are accredited by the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA). These solutions offer integrations with international as well as region-based payment gateway such as Tap payments.
Saudi Arabia is putting itself at the forefront of emerging tech through large-scale adoption and ambitious pilot projects. Its ambition will be showcased on a global stage and the Kingdom will become a hub that connects three continents. LEAP is a manifestation of this ambition. A seismic event that accelerates the adoption of technology and transforms Saudi Arabia’s economy. Together with LEAP, the Kingdom will see mass tech adoption, a shift away from oil as the principal strategic economic resource, and instead become a regional hub for both traditional and emerging technology.
