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DUBAI: If Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 reform plan is to be realized, it will require dedication, expertise, inspiration and hard work. It will also take money.

Noor Shabib, head of strategic planning and business development at the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), displays all of these professional qualities and plays a key role in providing financial resources to carry out Vision 2030.

"I am an official in the true sense of the word. I do it with pride. I like to go to work and I do it every day, knowing that I help my country, "she said with genuine enthusiasm – a refreshing antidote against the skepticism surrounding the extremely ambitious plan Kingdom to wean itself off the oil.

The SIDF is at the forefront of this change. It has existed since 1974, the legacy of an earlier attempt to develop the industrial base.

But it has been transformed over the last two years and charged with funding the new industrial strategy until its completion.

In Riyadh in January, the National Plan for Industrial Development and Logistics (NIDLP) was unveiled, with the mandate to invest 1.7 billion RS (453.3 billion dollars) and create 1.6 million Jobs in new industrial sectors in addition to the kingdom-dominated economy: The industrial manufacturing sector, new energy projects, mining and logistics.

"The SIDF is the main financial and catalytic partner of NIDLP. It's huge. A lot of the money is supposed to come from the private sector and we are the main financial facilitator for private sector projects, "Shabib said.

At about the same time that the NIDLP was unveiled, the SIDF had benefited from an increase in its government-financed capital, increasing from about SR 40 billion to 105 billion.

Its responsibility is to allocate these funds to the most effective elements of the new Saudi economy, as she described.

"The fund functions as such: it provides medium and long-term project financing. When you approve a loan – most of our projects are under construction – it takes about two years for the projects to be operational, "she said.

The only way to succeed in this transformation is if everyone works together.

Noor Shabib

"We work on repayments and we sometimes disburse in one year, sometimes two years, in our projects."

As in Vision 2030, our conversation focused on pillars, initiatives and basics, but the priorities were clearly explained – Shabib recently added the communication to his portfolio of responsibilities within the SIDF.

The first objective is to modify the mandate of the fund according to its new responsibilities.

"The current mandate limits us to working only in the industry and we can not fund projects in other sectors. I can only do them in industrial cities, but I want to be able to finance them anywhere, "she said.

"We are waiting for the changes to be approved by the Council of Ministers. We will also launch new products – acquisition loans, working capital loans – and we will not be able to do so until the mandate has been changed. "

The second initiative is to change the culture of the fund, primarily to make it more responsive to client needs.

"We need to be more customer-centric and more focused on its needs," she said, listing areas that needed to be made more effective, tailor-made products for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the same time. 39, acceleration of the approval process.

"It can take up to a year to get approval, and we are constantly being criticized for it. We know it's a problem and we're dealing with it, "Shabib said.

"We are aiming for four to five months, in line with global criteria for development banks and commercial banks," she added.

"We are trying to see what are the critical points in the process: how to optimize while maintaining quality and reducing customer requirements to make it easier, faster and more efficient."

SIDF is also more development-oriented and financially viable. "We are creating risk management functions that we do not currently have, namely, enterprise risk management, credit risk, and risk assessment, which would ideally also help to reduce risk." increase the speed of your application, "she said.

Another priority is to collaborate with other Vision 2030 program agencies, which Shabib calls "Proactive Activation of the Ecosystem."

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ORGANIC

Born

• Alkhobar, eastern province

Education

• Bachelor of Computer Engineering, Sharjah University, United Arab Emirates

• MBA, Keble College, University of Oxford, UK

• Master in Oil and Gas Management, Graduate Institute, Geneva Institute, Switzerland

Career

• Engineer, drilling and measurements, Schlumberger

• Deputy Director of Services, Rawabi Trading and Contracting

• Engineering, Strategic Planning and Business Development, Saudi Aramco

• Strategic Development Center, Ministry of Economy and Planning

• Founder, Qudwa

• Deputy Director General, Strategic Planning and Business Development, SIDF

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For example, the SIDF will increasingly deal with territorial authorities to help acquire space for industrial development and to encourage the sapping of the workforce and the chain of custody. the Tawteen project, through which it will collaborate with "big national champions" such as Saudi Aramco. , SABIC and the mining company Ma & ad.

"We believe that transformation will only be possible if everyone works together," she said, stressing that it was a fundamental message consistently conveyed by the president. of the fund, the Minister of Energy, Khalid Al-Falih.

Shabib said that one of the biggest challenges of his job was to work in unison with different parts of the SIDF and NIDLP.

"Even if you want to go fast, you have to keep pace with everyone. You must manage your team so that you do not run out. It's a long-term trip, not fast, "she added.

The complexity of SIDF's ambition became evident when it unveiled a list of projects that the fund has put in place.

Among them, Afaq, a program aimed at stimulating SMEs and entrepreneurial activity by offering them preferential conditions and partnerships with incubators; and Tanafusia, a plan to encourage energy efficiency and promote digitization to reduce costs.

One of the tasks of the SIDF is to cultivate what it calls "promising areas" in the Kingdom, which are not necessarily the major metropolitan centers of Eastern Province, Riyadh and Jeddah.

It grants grants on a growing scale depending on the part of the kingdom where the project is located, with funding up to 75% in parts of the north and southwest, compared to 50% in the capital.

At the end of the day, the SIDF will only have the merit of its collaborators, and Shabib is excited by the potential it has to not only help transform the economy, but also broader social and cultural changes in the world. course in the Kingdom. .

One aspect of the SIDF's work of which she is particularly proud is that she is much more autonomous than other organizations.

"We did not use consultants to do everything. It would have been much faster, but our consultants have always been a minority in the teams, "she said.

"They were there to help benchmarking and formulation, rather than developing ideas and proposing solutions. It's the best way to do it – you engage your own people to get things done. "

In its long history, the SIDF has been a kind of incubator for executive talent in the Kingdom, and it will accelerate with its growing role.

A number of senior leaders and ministers have graduated from the SIDF Academy, Shabib said.

She said working for the fund was high on the list of prestigious jobs in the Kingdom. "The residents of Riyadh have links with the SIDF in the financial sector, in the same way as the people of the Eastern Province with Saudi Aramco," she added.

Inevitably, she will be seen as a role model for aspiring and newly empowered women in the kingdom's economic and financial sector, and she loves this challenge.

"The fund has made tremendous progress in terms of women. Until two years ago, during the first 43 years of his life, there was no woman there. It was completely dominated by men, "she said.

"Then we started hiring women. We are now at about 10%, with women at all levels, in all areas of the organization – in credit, human resources and engineering, "she added.

"The next step is to ensure that we retain these women, and we need to work on inclusion and cultural awareness," Shabib said.

"There is no specific goal, just an effort to encourage diversity. Last year, we indicated in the credit program that 50% of new graduates should be women, "she added.

"It's a very big responsibility. Being in my place means that I give others the hope of getting there. The pressure is to do my best to be a role model for others, "said Shabib.

"It keeps me right and influences my reaction and my behavior. I keep wondering, "How could that look to someone younger than me?"