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RIYADH: The high-profile speakers and guests set to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh next week will include heads of state Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the president of Syria; Han Zheng, the vice president of China; Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan; Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda; and Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania.

Their names and other details of the program the event’s ninth edition were announced on Monday by Richard Attias, chairperson of the FII Institute Executive Committee, who predicted this year’s conference would feature “many deals” across several key sectors.

“I definitely think energy, definitely big infrastructure, definitely big,” he said. “So all these sectors will be very highly represented.

“My instinct is that we will exceed 2024, I’m sure of it too,” he added, referring to last year’s event, during which deals worth more than $70 billion were signed.

The FII Institute will also launch a new ventures program aimed at accelerating the growth and success of impact-driven startups that aim to create positive social or environmental change as a core part of their business models, Attias said.

“We selected more than 750 companies, startup tech companies, many of them in the AI sectors,” he explained.

“We will help them to accelerate their growth, to be recognized and to have an impact by stimulating economies, creating jobs … and growing and to become new champions,” Attias added.

Highlighting the institute’s investment record, he said: “We invested more than $6 million in the past few years to help some companies to grow. And as you can see, more than $87 million has been raised by private portfolio companies as additional funding.

“So because we are supporting some startups, other investors are coming with us to support these startups, and these six companies that we invested in … they created more than 2,000 jobs.”

In addition to the heads of state who will attend, the global business and investment leaders participating this year include the director of the Bretton Woods Committee, Laura Cha; the president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, Ruth Porat; the founder of Schmidt Family Foundation and Schmidt Sciences, Eric Schmidt; the CEO of Citi, Jane Fraser; the founder of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio; and the co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc, Evan Spiegel.

Other high-profile attendees include the Saudi minister of energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman; the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan; the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves; the founder of Grameen Bank, Mohammed Yunus; Russia’s special presidential envoy, Kirill Dmitriev; the director general of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike.

Attias said the FII has made significant progress since its launch in 2017: “We are making, and we made, many announcements during FII during the past eight years.

“Almost $200 billion (of agreements) were signed. I’m not talking about MoUs (memorandums of understanding), I’m talking about real contracts which (were) signed, having an impact on so many sectors: logistics, AI, clean energy, mobility finance.

“The question is, how much we will expect in 2025? I don’t know but I will just remind you of something; last year at the same time, I was expecting … $20-$25 billion to be signed. We ended with more than $60 billion, so let’s hope for beating the record of last year.”

Attias also highlighted the unprecedented international participation expected at this year’s conference.

“We have, for the first time, more than 20 heads of state,” he said. “Never happened before. The maximum we had was three heads of state … This list is not even final, because every day we’re getting more and more heads of state.”

It is anticipated that more than 8,000 delegates, 600 speakers and 56 strategic partners will take part in more than 250 sessions during the conference, Attias said, with particularly strong representation expected from the technology sector.

“FII was never the place for tech and AI companies,” he added. “Now it is becoming a place where all (tech) champions, from AI (to) the Googles, the Microsofts, the Nvidias are coming to.”

The ninth Future Investment Initiative conference will take place in Riyadh from Oct. 27-30.

RIYADH: UAE-based corporate spend management platform Qashio has acquired Saudi fintech Sanad Cash in a strategic move to accelerate its expansion in the Kingdom and deepen its regional footprint. 

The deal combines Qashio’s technology with Sanad Cash’s local market expertise, enabling Saudi businesses to access a fully localized and compliant solution for managing corporate expenses and cards, the companies said in a joint statement. 

The partnership also enables Saudi clients to expand globally through Qashio’s presence in the EU, the UK, and the UAE, reinforcing its position as a leading regional spend management platform. 

The move comes as ����ֱ��’s fintech sector continues to expand rapidly, supported by regulatory reforms, digital innovation, and investments in financial infrastructure under Vision 2030.

The Kingdom has already achieved a 79 percent cashless transaction rate in 2024, surpassing its 2025 target ahead of schedule, according to the Saudi Central Bank. 

“Sanad Cash brings invaluable local knowledge and a trusted client base. Combined with Qashio’s technology and focus on exceptional user experience, we are now delivering the most advanced spend management solution in the region,” said Armin Moradi, founder and CEO of Qashio. 

Mahmoud Iswaid, co-founder and CEO of Sanad Cash, said Qashio’s acquisition of the company marks a significant step forward for ����ֱ��’s fintech sector. 

“It reflects the growing maturity and consolidation of the market, and our shared commitment to empowering Saudi businesses with world-class financial technologies,” he said. 

Iswaid added: “Together, we are building a unified platform that simplifies how companies manage spending, enhances financial transparency, and supports the Kingdom’s vision for a cashless, innovation-driven economy.” 

Qashio plans to leverage the acquisition to roll out locally issued corporate cards in the Kingdom and enhance compliance with domestic financial regulations. 

The company is also launching a major recruitment drive to support its next growth phase, with more than 120 new roles to be filled across Europe, Jordan, the UK, the UAE, and ����ֱ�� within six months, the statement added. 

With this acquisition, Qashio aims to accelerate its mission of transforming financial management across the Middle East and North Africa, offering businesses greater efficiency, transparency, and control over company spending.