RIYADH: Saudi Arabia ranked first for the third successive year among countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in the 2024 Government Electronic and Mobile Services Maturity Index.

The index, published by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, measures the maturity of government services provided through electronic applications and portals.

Saudi Arabia ranked first in the 2024 index, outperforming 16 other countries and achieving a maturity rate of 96 percent in delivering digital government services, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Ahmed Alsuwaiyan, the governor of the Digital Government Authority, praised the achievement on Monday, saying it was the result of collaboration among government agencies, the use of technologies and artificial intelligence, and the introduction of digital products to deliver government services.

The Kingdom ranked fourth in the index in 2020 and second in 2021 before taking the top spot in 2022 and 2023. Alsuwaiyan noted that the progress was due to significant improvements in digital services across essential sectors, including health, education, and smart cities.

Saudi Arabia has made significant strides in the healthcare sector by offering citizens and residents digital prescriptions, appointment bookings, and telehealth services, while remote learning platforms and electronic university admissions have been established in the education sector.

Adel Alateeq, co-founder and CEO of Awaed, reflected on a career that has witnessed the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s investment landscape.

In a discussion with The Majlis podcast produced in partnership with Arab News, Alateeq described his career path from traditional finance to fintech startup cofounder.

Alateeq’s early roles involved managing public equity funds, an area significantly affected by Saudi Arabia’s market crash in February 2006.

“The market was booming, a lot of Saudis were participating in the Saudi markets,” he said.

“But, then, all of a sudden, came February 2006, a crash happens, and a lot of people lost trust, lost money, a lot of money in the market, and then they started looking for other things, and they started deserting the local markets.”

The financial turmoil, coupled with the 2008 global financial crisis, highlighted the vulnerability of relying solely on public equities and spurred a search for alternative investments.

This led Alateeq to work on the first real estate investment trust in Saudi Arabia with Riyad Capital, a project initiated around 2008 and eventually launched in 2016.

Simultaneously, he championed the development of a venture capital fund with Riyad Capital.

Discussions began in 2012, but it took four years to convince investors, primarily due to skepticism about the potential for startups in Saudi Arabia at the time.

“We started talking about the fund back in 2012. We only launched in 2016,” Alateeq said.

“It took us four years to convince investors, and to fundraise for our first VC fund, because a lot of investors did not believe that there would be startups coming out of Saudi.”

Not long afterwards, Alateeq was tapped by the Public Investment Fund to join Jada Fund of Funds, founded in 2018.

He said the mandate was to “catalyze the private equity and venture capital industry” in Saudi Arabia.

Despite the challenges of building a team remotely during the global pandemic, Jada achieved its five-year key performance indicators within just three years.

Speaking about his move to establish the Awaed digital wealth management platform, Alateeq said: “Entrepreneurship is part of me. I’ve always wanted to do something on my own, to have the freedom to do creative things out of the boundaries of large organizations.”

Alateeq believes that Saudi retail clients are “underserved” by existing players who struggle to reach them effectively.

He challenges the notion that Saudis lack financial literacy, arguing that the key issue is one of “access, not knowledge.”

In line with the unique aspects of the Saudi market, Awaed allows users to screen out non-Sharia compliant investment options.

Reflecting on the Saudi banking and investment sector, Alateeq said that its profitability can lead to complacency and a lack of innovation among many established players.

“The market is hungry,” he said. “There’s so much to do. But because of that, creativity is not at its best.”

Alateeq is optimistic about the country’s reforms under Vision 2030. “I think today, the transformation that Saudi is going through is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.