Amlak newspaper met with Mr. Bandar bin Mansour Al Saadoun in a comprehensive interview in which he talked about the achievements achieved by Gulf Holding, addressing the company's plans and programs based on a clearly defined strategy.
Dialogue - Editor-in-Chief
[ Mr. Bandar, at the beginning, please tell us about Gulf Holding Company? Gulf Holding is one of the largest companies, where its board of directors is chaired by Sharif Ghalib bin Hamad Al Saadoun. The company started in 1418 AH and the general manager of the company, Mr. Hamad bin Nasser Al-Muhanna, who is also a partner and a member of the board of directors, and he is one of the best distinguished and keen young people in managing all the company's activities, he joined the company in 1431 AH and the company has made a qualitative leap since 1430 AH, thanks to God, the start was to market a group of office and residential towers, part of which is owned by the company and we decided to stop contracting activities and other activities after developing a new strategy based on a deep analysis of the market and studying its needs. Thank God, the company specialized in a certain type of open malls based on innovative and distinctive designs, as this contributed to the success of the company's business and its spread, in addition to marketing and developing distinct projects, and this specialization, thank God, contributed to focusing efforts and building very strong relationships with our customers, because we became closer to them and thus we were able to know their needs closely, and the excellence of our strategic customers encouraged us to be true partners in success.
[What are the most important projects that the company has accomplished? There are many major projects that the company has accomplished according to our specialization as retail projects, most notably: ”Al Mazraa”, “Carrefour“, Al Tamimi, Panda, Al Bandar Group, the pioneering sports project ”Fitness Time” and other well-known retail chains across the Kingdom.
[What are the current projects that you own and manage? Since 1430 AH to 1434 AH, we have been working hard as investors in construction and searching for strategic locations in the cities of the Kingdom, and we have 6 commercial open markets and hotels in Hurghada in the Republic of Egypt and the Gulf Hotel, including Horizon on King Abdullah Road in the east and the Gulf Center Market Othman bin Affan exit Al Hussein bin Ali Road north of Riyadh, the company also owns a wedding hall in Tabuk and training centers in the UAE, in addition to managing all branches of “Fitness Time“ company.
[Do you have plans to expand your investments abroad? Yes, we have great ambition in that and in fact the success of our investments in some Arab and Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates and the Arab Republic of Egypt encouraged us to plan to expand in the future in a number of Arab and Gulf countries and we expect to achieve more success in this regard.
What is the future strategy?
[And what about the future strategy that is based on your investment vision? We have an ambitious future strategy through which we aim to reach 20 open moulas by 2020, God willing. The company is studying the transformation into a closed joint stock company due to future expansions and increasing the size of the projects currently marketed by the company, where the projects are estimated at 100 million riyals and we have development agreements with several government agencies and major companies that will be revealed soon.
What about the future strategy based on your investment vision?
[Will your ambition stop if your investments reach twenty moolah? Of course, our ambition will not stop at that, our ambition and aspirations increase every day from the development of life that goes at an accelerated pace, after the company becomes a closed joint stock company, God willing, the ceiling of our ambition will increase more and more, and we will work to accomplish many huge strategic projects in various regions of the Kingdom, in addition to expanding in several projects abroad, and all this will be done according to clearly defined plans and strategy and based on clear foundations and principles.
We are the only one in the Kingdom.
[Are you the only ones specialized in the implementation and management of mega malls? No, we are not the only one, but we are the most prominent and most experienced in this field, and we work with all professionalism and professionalism, as evidenced by the fact that we have implemented a large number of the most famous and finest malls and commercial centers, which are landmarks at the level of the Kingdom.
[ Do you have Saudi cadres working in your company's departments? Certainly, we have young and qualified Saudi cadres working diligently in all departments and departments of the company, including engineers, administrators, technicians and employees and we are proud of their performance, diligence and ambition.
How is the future of the company?
[How do you see the future of real estate and construction in the Kingdom in light of the royal decisions? Our beloved Kingdom has the potential and resources that made it occupy the forefront of the Arab and Gulf countries in the field of real estate, construction and construction, helped it to occupy this position by the strategic vision of our wise government in the field of real estate and construction and what follows from time to time from generous royal decisions that support the field of real estate and architecture, perhaps the most prominent of which is the royal order to establish half a million housing units with 250 billion riyals, as well as raising the housing loan to 500 thousand riyals, in addition to the royal decisions supporting the housing field, most notably the royal decision on “land and loan” recently announced by the state, as well as the royal decision to support the housing sector. There is no doubt that the royal decisions in the field of real estate and housing will make a qualitative leap in these two sectors, because they came as a result of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, may God protect him, feeling the need of citizens to meet their need for housing in light of the increasing population growth, and they also help push the construction market, construction, contracting and real estate development institutions.
[In your experience, what are the most important obstacles in the field of real estate and construction? There are many obstacles, most notably the high prices of building materials, the lack of skilled hands in the field of real estate and contracting, especially by Saudi citizens, which in turn leads to the high cost of building and construction, in addition to the scarcity of some raw materials such as iron and cement, which made the state encourage the import of these two commodities. In addition, banks and banks do not finance large-scale real estate and construction projects, despite their large financial balances. Another major obstacle is the lack of a sufficient number of companies that work professionally in the field of real estate development and the implementation of huge projects estimated in billions of dollars.
[A final word at the end of this interview? I thank you very much for Amlak Real Estate Newspaper and in fact I was very pleased with the presence of ambitious young Saudis working in the field of real estate media, and there is no doubt that this helps a lot in the development of this field. I wish you all success and success and success is only from God Almighty.
