[First of all, Abu Abdulaziz, tell us about your upbringing and childhood? I was born in the town of Safrat in Thadik Governorate, 100 kilometers from Riyadh, in 1377 AH, and I lived in Safrat until I was four years old, then I moved to Riyadh. Although we moved to Riyadh, Al-Safrat was like Paris for us in our childhood, me and my brothers, so we did not cut off from it and communicated with its people, as it was our haven and our resort where we spent our vacations, and I have many beautiful childhood memories, and I still communicate with the good, generous, loyal people of this city, and I still communicate with the good, generous, loyal people.
[Did your love for your village Al-Safrat influence you in writing your book “Al-Safrat”? I definitely wanted to document the history and geography of my beloved village in a book that preserves this information, as Safrat and its loyal people deserve a lot. Back in the past, how did you move to Riyadh and why? We moved to Riyadh due to family and work circumstances, at that time my brother Ali, may God have mercy on him, had joined a job in the then Ministry of Education, and my brother Abdullah had started studying at the Teachers Institute in Riyadh, so my father preferred that we move and live in the city of Riyadh and I remember our first house was rented in Al-Shamisi neighborhood and my father was moving between Riyadh and Safrat until he bought us the first house in the Hala Al-Amaj neighborhood on Asir Street and finally settled in Riyadh in 1383 AH.
[What about your studies and education in your youth?
Of course. I studied elementary school at Qutaiba bin Muslim School, where my principal at the time was Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Wahaibi. As for the middle school, it was the Shafi'i middle school, which was managed by Mr. Saleh Al-Najrani, and finally I preferred to study high school at the Teachers' Institute, and the director of the institute at that time was
Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Shuwayer.
[What major did you choose in university? I am a graduate of the Faculty of Arts and majored in geography from Riyadh University (currently King Saud University).
[But how do geography and commerce come together? In this matter, the story is that the social science teacher at school, Mr. Nasouh Abu Saada, had a great impact on my love for geography and my choice of this specialization at the university. This is due to his beautiful and interesting style that made social sciences one of the most beloved subjects by me. In addition, Mr. Taha al-Farra at the university and his beautiful style in the university lectures.
<After university, did you go straight into commerce or did you work in the government sector? I was offered a job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately after graduation, but I did not accept it and preferred to continue working in commerce because I traded my commercial situation with government salaries, so I favored my trade. I even returned all my university bonuses to the government, as it was a condition at that time for those who did not want to work in the government sector to return all university bonuses.
[Does this mean that you were practicing business during university? - Yes, and even years before that. I opened a real estate office on Al-Khazan Street - then a real estate stronghold - during my high school studies in 1394 AH.
[This means that you worked in the field of commerce from an early age? Yes, it was, and the exit of the Real Estate Development Fund had an impact on the rise in real estate prices in the city of Riyadh, and there was an active buying and selling movement on real estate and buildings, which attracted me to enter the real estate field.
[What was the first destination you chose when you traveled outside the Kingdom? - Yes, I remember it well, it was for tourism in the sisterly state of Kuwait and then for Iraq in 1393 AH. Which of the trips had an impact on your memory? I traveled to many Arab countries after that, and most European countries, but I remember my first trip to the West was to Britain and the United States of America in 1398 AH while I was at the height of my youth, where I went first to London, then to Nevada, then visited my brother, cousin and my friend Engineer Abdulaziz Al-Sind in Sacramento, then headed to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
[Of all the countries you have visited outside the Kingdom, which one do you prefer for tourism?
I prefer tourism in sisterly Lebanon because of its proximity, its beautiful atmosphere, its picturesque nature, and the diversity of its atmosphere from the mountains and the sea. I also have many good friends there.
Let's return to the business world and your journey in it, after the real estate office, what was the second step in your business?
After studying the market and its needs, I started my activity in general contracting in 1395 AH, due to the presence of great government support for state projects and various development funds, and I opened a section for air conditioning and refrigeration in 1396 AH and was one of the first to practice this field, then I saw to open a branch for trading health tools and building materials in 1399 AH, after that I expanded the air conditioning and refrigeration section to include electrical and mechanical work. Since the establishment of the contracting, electrical, mechanical, air conditioning and refrigeration departments, it has taken upon itself excellence in work, speed in completion, punctuality, and customer satisfaction, and works hard through its diverse staff consisting of engineers, technicians and administrators to achieve its goals, who work as one team under my direct supervision, and after my sons graduated from engineering colleges, they supervised the management of various sections of my activities.
Please tell us about the number of years you have stayed in business and investment, the activities you have moved, and your favorite?
I started my activity in business and investment since 1394 AH, which means about 40 years. My business varies between real estate, contracting, sanitary ware and general trade. My most beloved business is real estate and sanitary ware.
[How did you manage to expand your business and what is your strategy and vision in the field of investment? - Of course, I have a clearly defined strategy, which is credibility in dealing first and foremost, concern for the trader's trade name, and building the relationship with customers satisfactorily, and my trading style is based on working hard and perseverance while trying as much as possible to make my decisions after I take deliberate steps that keep me away from risk, and accepting different opinions and choosing the most suitable ones. I also follow the method of diversifying the activity in my investments, and expanding these activities to similar fields may be more efficient and easier than moving to a new field suddenly.
<How do you treat your employees to ensure your success? My employees are like my brothers and sons and my relationship with them is excellent, some of them have been with me since the beginning of my career, and after I got married my sons worked with me and they also got married while working with me and then their sons worked with me as well. I remember my brother and my secretary Reda El-Din, my brother Mamoun Khader, engineer Khaled El-Khader, engineer Mohamed El-Helwani, financial manager Magdy El-Sherbini and supervisor Sharma.
[Who are the most persistent nationalities with you at work? Most of them are from India, Pakistan and the Republic of Sudan.
[How do you manage the work and what is your management strategy? I believe that every work, activity and project has its own strategy and I cannot define a specific management style because it is determined by the time, place and surrounding circumstances. But we can make sure to control the work through careful supervision by engineers and specialists.
[Which labor do you prefer? And what do you think about unemployment? As for unemployment, we can see that the issue is not the availability of education, but the issue with the specialties produced, so I find a suitable solution is to study the market situation and its need and open specializations in universities to match the need. Rehabilitation and training institutes are also necessary to qualify young people for work.
[What are the most difficult and recurring issues that affect the labor market in the Kingdom? One of the most difficult things that hinder the work is the lack of commitment of some customers with whom we agree to pay on time. Also in the field of contracting, the market has unfortunately become a price war at the expense of quality.
[In your opinion, what are the issues affecting the contracting market in the Kingdom? As I mentioned earlier that the field of contracting has unfortunately become a price war at the expense of quality, lack of specialization and ignorance in implementation, resorting to loose and unqualified labor from some contractors and individuals, which constitutes a dilemma that occurred in the presence of many stalled projects and lacking quality, also many foreign companies have been licensed, most of which are not as much as hoped and have limited capabilities that caused an imbalance in the market without any benefit from this foreign investment, which many economic experts believed as a cancer on the Saudi economy.
[Does your company Sultan Electrical and Mechanical Works give guarantees for projects? Yes, we give a guarantee for air conditioners according to the manufacturer and a guarantee on our work in plumbing, electricity and connections for two years, and we have a special quality control department managed by one of my sons to ensure that the work is delivered in an honorable manner. We also have an after-sales service to serve our customers and develop dealing with them.
[How do you see your rent now and why didn't you move your offices to other locations instead of Specialty? We have more than 32 years and we are in the same location and have built strong relationships between friends and other parties and companies that knew us in this location as well. We do not want to disturb our customers who are used to the place and the rent has decreased twice and returned and rose three times. The office is part of public relations and acquaintance with many businessmen and it is difficult for us to change.
[Does loose labor have an impact on your business? And what do you think of the corrective step (campaigns on loose labor) carried out by the competent authorities in the country? Yes, it has a great impact on the business field as a whole and on the security, demographic and economic situation of the Kingdom. As for the corrective passport step (campaigns on bulk labor) is a big and necessary step to limit the unqualified labor and will have a great impact on the quality of the work carried out. It will also open the way for nationals and open doors for them to invest in many sectors and employment, which will increase employment opportunities and reduce unemployment rates. We are already noticing that it has reduced traffic congestion in the streets of Riyadh, which indicates that there is, as I mentioned, campaigns on loose labor contribute to the employment of Saudi cadres, eliminate the issue of cover-up and maintain the country's economic outputs and security stability.
[In your opinion, what are the best years that have passed for the business sector in the Kingdom?
There have been many periods of stagnation and others of recovery and boom, the most important of which is what we are currently experiencing during the reign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, may God protect him, where universities were opened and interested in education and its outputs and increased interest in business owners, especially in researching the issues facing them and developing appropriate and quick solutions to them, which helps us participate in the development of our beloved kingdom.
The current recovery and surge in the business sector in the Kingdom.
Thanks to the current recovery and boom, especially in the field of real estate and contracting, we have achieved good outputs in our fields.
[Let's talk about your children's work with you. How did you guide them and why?
My sons used to go with me when they were young to work in the evenings and on their vacations, and I assigned them tasks and responsibilities appropriate to their age. I was and still am keen on this so that they are close to me and the work so that they learn responsibility and good behavior to help them refine their personalities.
I know that your sons Abdulaziz and Sultan have chosen engineering as their major. Did working with you have an impact on that?
My sons work with me willingly and I did not force any of them to do so, and their choice of engineering was a personal choice according to their inclinations and desires.
[Are you in favor of your children separating from you in business? I support and encourage them to do whatever they want, but I prefer that they work with me at first to learn from my 40 years of experience and also to learn the secrets and subtleties of the business and the market so that this will help them later, whatever their choice. In fact, each of my sons supervises a part of my business in addition to owning their own investments.
[Abu Abdulaziz, based on your experience, what is your view of real estate prices in the Kingdom? Real estate has periods of decline and periods of rise. I remember an example of this in 1985, I bought the land of my house in the Nozha neighborhood for 240 riyals per meter, then a few years later the value of the land fell to 140 riyals per meter, then the periods of rise and fall continued until the price currently reached 3000 riyals per meter. We are now at the top of the price range."
[Where do you think the future of real estate will go? In the medium term, I expect the prices of unserviced lands to fall, and the serviced ones to stabilize at their current price, due to the solutions and decisions taken by the state recently, in addition to the near entry of lands with issues after solving them and creating an abundance of supply, for example the lands of Qiran north of Riyadh with an area of more than 100 million meters, in addition to the near completion of some of the Ministry of Housing residential projects. I also expect office rents to drop when the King Abdullah Financial Center project is completed and many tenant companies move to it. There are many real estate properties that have witnessed a significant decline in the past months with the increase in supply and lack of demand at the offered price.
[What advice would you like to give to traders and young people? I tell them that the Kingdom is going through a tremendous boom in all fields during the reign of my lord and father, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, his Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, and His Royal Highness the Second Deputy, His Royal Highness Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, may God protect them. Therefore, I call on young people to participate in all public and private sectors to serve their religion, their country and their king, and I also call on them to engage in the commercial field. I also call on merchants to help the state solve the issue of unemployment and favor Saudi youth over foreigners. I also call on government sectors to support Saudi youth to invest in various fields of the economy and favor them over foreign investment, especially in the privileges granted. I pray to God Almighty to maintain our security, prosperity and health.
[A final word to Amlak Real Estate Newspaper? I would like to thank Amlak newspaper for this interview and I am happy to be the first Saudi real estate newspaper and proud of the Saudi youth who work for it and I ask God for success and prosperity.
