Eirad Holding
Redefining diversification through collaboration
Fahd Salman Al Saud, Executive Chairman, Eirad Holding, talks about the company’s recent efforts to balance the industrial landscape of Saudi Arabia through collaboration and exploring new ideas.
The Middle East’s largest market is rapidly evolving under the Vision 2030 economic and cultural transformation program that seeks to end Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil revenue and up non-oil exports to 50% of its outgoing product. To do so the country is now turning to its established players working outside of its giant energy industry such as Eirad Holding. Established in 1992 by the current executive chairman’s father, Fahd Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud, the company made its start by entering the then-nascent securities and logistics sectors. Since then, the company has grown substantially through its wholly owned subsidiaries and entered other frontier markets such as telecommunications, tourism and manufacturing. The 100% Saudi company is now rapidly expanding and leaning on its cross-sector capabilities to lead Saudi Arabia in its new direction. “Saudi Arabia’s collaborative approach and its focus on fostering consensus across separate entities sets us apart globally,” said Fahd Salman Al Saud, executive chairman of Eirad Holding. “It has provided us with numerous sandboxes for ideas and cross-sector collaborations.”
The company’s defense segment began its work alongside TRW and then US aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman Corporation. Eirad Holding’s defense subsidiary has since become the independent entity New Generation Mission Systems Arabia (NGMSA). The company provides turnkey monitoring and defense capabilities. “Our focus here is to develop software that enhances human potential and capability instead of replacing it. Our client’s personnel remain in control and our continued collaboration accelerates development,” said Al Saud. In April 2023, NGMSA began the construction and installation of intrusion detection and long-range assessment management systems at the 2.6-GW Shuqiaq power plant. The project is the latest of many with large players such as Saudi Aramco, National Gas & Industrialization Company and Saudi Chemical Company.
The company was an early entrant to Saudi Arabia’s logistics sector by signing itself up with US supply chain giant United Parcel Service (UPS) under its Eirad Trading & Contracting Company unit. “Working with UPS has been truly fantastic and something one cannot put a price on. We learn a great deal every day through our collaboration,” said Al Saud. In June 2023, Eirad’s logistics company partnered with location technology player what3words to integrate their system into operations, enabling the courier to pinpoint delivery locations within 3 meters by 3 meters. The new technology is being used by automakers such as Mercedez-Benz, Jaguar and Lamborghini to enhance their in-car navigation systems. “The evolving logistics landscape in Saudi Arabia, facilitated by recent licensing reforms, has opened many opportunities. Previously restrictive, the market now thrives with increased providers,” the executive chairman added.
Eirad Holding is also contributing to Saudi Arabia’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry through its now publicly listed civil infrastructure and telecommunications subsidiary Keir International. The country’s ICT segment is valued at more than $40.9 billion and is the largest and fastest growing in the Middle East and North Africa region. Eirhad Holding’s unit has worked with major players such as fiber-optic network specialist Dawiyat Integrated Telecommunications & Information Technology Company and telecommunications services provider Salam Mobile. The company is also in the process of diversifying. At the beginning of January 2024, Keir International signed a $6.47-million contract with local utility Saudi National Grid to reroute existing underground electric cables.
The holding company is continuously broadening its network and taking advantage of the open market, with large expansions of its tourism unit Eirad International Travel and Tourism Company and its lighting manufacturing entity Fagerhult. “No country in the world has as many initiatives underway across so many sectors than in Saudi Arabia; the nation is not just a home for us, it is a home for the world,” said Al Saud. “This is the essence of what we aspire to create.”