Saudi Franchise Market Overview:

In Saudi, the largest market in the Middle East with high income consumers, most of the international franchise concepts are available under the “exclusive agency” concept, where agents used to open many stores and branches under their own ownership.

Saudi market has more than 300 international concept focusing mainly on restaurants, food & beverage and retail fields. On the other hand, Saudi franchise developers managed to develop more than 30 Saudi concepts working by franchising methodology within the kingdom and even some of them have gone internationally.

Currently, it is estimated that more than 300 Saudi successful concepts are potential Saudi franchisors covering many activities like restaurant, service, retail, industrial, education, healthcare,… etc.

Saudi economy depends mainly on oil exports, where Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil producer in the world. The future of Saudi Arabia will depend on its population, where more than 45% of the population is less than 15 year of age, and more than 65% are under 30 years of age.

Saudis prefer to be self employed and follow the entrepreneurial concept; The Saudi government is keen to support this concept immensely by encouraging Saudi youth to establish their own businesses. In order to encourage them, the government is providing easy financing options, like “Saudi credit bank” with $ 1.6 billions budget to finance Saudi youth projects. The finance is given at very low interest rates and for a long
term, the government has established Saudi human resources development fund with an objective of build skilled Saudi youth and encourage them to start their own business.

Sponsoring franchising concept and increasing this culture is an objective of the government, where franchise committees are a part of each Saudi chamber of commerce.

The following are some key indicators about Saudi economy.

Sudi Economy Overview