How does a British business win clients and partners in Saudi Arabia?
Through a referral from someone the Saudi side already respects. Saudi business is built on personal trust, and a recommendation from a known person opens doors that a polished proposal from a stranger usually cannot. The rest of this guide explains why, and how to get that first recommendation.
Why does cold outreach so rarely work in Saudi Arabia?
Because the people who decide are well protected and busy, and they receive offers from every country that wants a share of the Kingdom's investment. A message from a British firm they have never heard of looks like dozens of others. The proposals that lead to a meeting nearly always arrive through someone the reader knows: a partner, an adviser, a former colleague or a family connection.
That is not a closed door. It is a door that opens from the inside.
What do Saudi buyers look for in a British partner?
Commitment, first. Saudi clients want to know that a British firm will turn up, keep its word, stay for the long term and respect how things are done locally. British firms are generally well regarded for professional services, education, healthcare, engineering, finance and technology. What a buyer in Riyadh cannot tell from a website is whether this particular firm can be trusted. Someone who has worked with you can tell them in a sentence.
How different is the working week?
Enough to plan around. Saudi Arabia works Sunday to Thursday, with Friday and Saturday as the weekend. Riyadh is two hours ahead of London in the British summer and three in winter, and it does not change its clocks. In practice, Monday to Thursday mornings in the UK fall inside the Saudi working day, which leaves four good days a week for a first call.
And Saudi firms looking at Britain?
They face the opposite puzzle. The UK market is open and well regulated, but it is crowded, and British buyers tend to shortlist suppliers they have heard about from someone they trust. A capable Saudi company can spend a long time in London meeting people who are polite and never follow up. An introduction to the right person, with a reason attached, shortens that a great deal.
Is this a referral network?
Yes, and a deliberate one. Members of the Bridge ask for referrals to a particular kind of client, partner or investor, and the host thinks about whom he actually knows. What comes back is one personal introduction, written to both people, saying why they should talk. There are no referral quotas, nobody is paid per lead, and if a meeting would not help both sides it is simply not suggested.
The UK-Saudi Arabia Business Bridge
The UK-Saudi Arabia Business Bridge exists to make those introductions. It is part of My Most Trusted, a network where people meet only through someone who knows them both.
Unusually, this Bridge has one host for both sides. Abdur Rahman Ilott, known as AR, works from the United Kingdom, is Chief Commercial Officer of the regulatory technology company REG-1, and has worked in Saudi Arabia himself. Every introduction across the Bridge carries his name.
If the Kingdom is in your plans, or Britain is, the most useful first step is not a better email. Write down the one person you would most like to sit with over a cup of gahwa, and ask who might already know them.
The UK-Saudi Arabia Business Bridge
Saudi coffee, light and scented with cardamom, poured for every guest, often before a word of business is said.
Take a tour of the UK-Saudi Arabia Bridge