Dr. Haya Abdulaziz Al-Maneea
WE have been importing knowledge and paying billions of riyals for decades. We have topped many countries around the world in the use and import of modern technology. Unfortunately, we do not see any attempts to localize knowledge. We own millions of cell phones but our young men and women do not know how to fix them when they malfunction because they have not been trained to do so.
Who fixes our cell phones when they stop working? Most of the time Asians do. We care about keeping up with the latest developments in the world of technology and boast about owning the most modern cell phone or car but we do not see Saudi men or women venturing into the field of maintenance, marketing or the development of technological devices. Our youth are smart and can be creative; they deserve an opportunity that allows them to rise and unleash their potential. Perhaps, they will come up with innovations that can compete at the global level.
A knowledge-based economy is important and should be achieved for all sectors. The localization of knowledge and of technological knowledge, in particular, is an indispensable strategic option for dealing with economic, education and training gaps. We must keep up with advanced Western countries in all fields, and industry is at the top.
During a business visit to South Korea’s parliament, one of the members of parliament told me that the country was ready to impart and transfer knowledge to the Kingdom in exchange for money. This raises the question, why do Saudi companies continue to import products instead of knowledge? Why have they failed to train our youth and send them abroad to get trained? There are many major companies around the world that are interested in entering our market. What we need to do is to set conditions for these companies and require them to train our youth.
I think it is high time we seized this opportunity, especially in light of the royal order that was issued a few months ago allowing foreign companies to enter the retail market as full owners. In other words, they do not need an agent to act as a representative.
This move will result in a lot of benefits for the country. Firstly, it will end any form of monopoly. Secondly, it will drive prices down, which is a good thing. But we also want this move to create sustainable training programs for Saudi youth, improve skills and increase the experience of our young men and women in advanced technological fields. We should require companies to train our youth and increase the number of Saudi trainees each year.
Saudi companies that sign business agreements worth millions of riyals with foreign companies should be required to send Saudi youth to the head office of a foreign company for training. We need to localize knowledge and become inventors and innovators, not just users and consumers.
We should develop and invest in our youth because this is the best sustainable investment. Doing this will help us guarantee that our economy gets the maximum benefit from money invested in it by foreign companies and reduce the percentage of remittances made by those companies.
