Enabling entrepreneurship and innovation

Saudi Aramco’s new entrepreneurship center, Wa’ed, along with our internal innovation program, help support a burgeoning national culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Following a pilot phase, Wa’ed, or “Promising” in English, was officially launched in 2011. As a result of its early success, Wa’ed’s portfolio of services has been expanded with the creation of Wa’ed Ventures, an equity investment arm that will invest in Saudi enterprises to promote local economic growth and diversification.

Collaborating with King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), we are helping to develop Dhahran Techno-Valley (DTV), which provides development, production and marketing support services for innovation originating from academic research, and infrastructure that will foster the growth of industrial research and development in the Kingdom.

Since 2002, our internal Innovation Program has captured game-changing ideas generated by our own employees. In 2011, a total of 5,907 employees submitted 12,978 ideas, of which 1,240 were approved and 690 were fully implemented. We conduct annual innovation tournaments through which our employees provide innovative solutions to a targeted challenge.

Developing local content

Our procurement targets to increase local content and manufacturing as well as our other methods of engaging suppliers, have had enormous impacts on supply chains in the Kingdom. Ninety percent of our material procurement spending in 2011 and 75 percent of our service procurement spending were awarded to local companies.

We actively encourage the Saudization of local manufacturers. To that end, we have developed the Saudi Manufacturer Premium, which allows Saudi manufacturers who comply with required Saudization levels a 10 percent premium in bidding for our contracts.

We are also creating opportunities through our Local Manufacturers Development Program, which has secured 10-year procurement agreements for valves, flanges and other fittings from local sources. We continue to pursue additional long-term purchase agreements to encourage growth of specific manufacturing businesses in the Kingdom and the construction of new factories.

Building a competitive workforce in the Kingdom

To better align our training program with market needs, we worked with the Saudi Petroleum Services Polytechnic, a vocational training institute in Dammam, to customize a curriculum that adds a hands-on element to the learning environment. We drilled an 834-foot well as a training aid and also have plans to purchase and install a state-of-the-art training rig to simulate drilling operations for the students.

A competitive workforce also includes developing the skills and competencies of women in the workforce. In 2011, 206 women participated in our Women in Business Program, and we organized workshops in Ras Tanura, Riyadh and Jiddah to enhance the skills of Saudi private sector businesswomen.

We are also a primary participant in the National Industrial Training Institute (NITI) in Al Hasa. A joint project of Saudi Aramco and the Technical & Vocational Training Corporation, NITI will offer Saudi high school graduates a two-year technical training program to prepare them for jobs in the energy sector, including petrochemicals.