Brian Hooks, Chairman and CEO, Stand Together
Chase Koch, Executive Vice President, Koch; Founder, Koch Disruptive Technologies
In conversation with: Kristin Stoller, Fortune
Chase Koch, Executive Vice President, Koch; Founder, Koch Disruptive Technologies
In conversation with: Kristin Stoller, Fortune
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TechTranscript
00:00Hello everyone. By the way, Your Excellency, thank you for joining us. I have to point out we're both wearing black turtlenecks, which makes us the hippest people all day.
00:11I'm tired.
00:12Good for us. Listen, one of the things I wanted to start with, Matt sort of alluded to it, but I can't think of a country that has transformed itself or a society or an industry with such speed and such scale,
00:27where we've gone from no cinema to being a hub for the film industry, post-oil economy, more than doubling the participation of women in the workforce in just a few years.
00:37So I think of that movie, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Can you give us some sense as to why this scale and the speed of change? And welcome.
00:47Thank you so much. It's great to be here in the greatest city in the world, after Riyadh, sorry. Riyadh is number one.
00:55No, it's been honestly something that I would have never imagined to be part of.
01:02This Vision 2030, and I don't know how much you know about Vision 2030, has been an incredible transformation for the country. It's social, economic, it's KPI driven, and it's been eight years.
01:14We're halfway, so it was launched in 2016. We have 1,064 initiatives right now. So it is Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.
01:27How do you even keep track of that?
01:28Well, we track it all, but most importantly, it's about the passion. So you've got 30 million people who are part of this. This is mass participation, not just top-down.
01:38And we work seven days a week, 24 hours, seven. So we're not taking the four-week thing.
01:43No, no, no. I can attest that. Well, I have recently been to Riyadh, and I think it'd be interesting to see a show of hands in the audience.
01:51Who has been to Saudi Arabia or Riyadh? Because I think, so a number of people have been there. And before we get into, you talk about Vision 2030, I want to also talk about, before we get into what's next, what's happening right now.
02:06So we have conflict in the Middle East. How is that impacting the plans?
02:12Look, Saudi Arabia is a very large country. It's the 19th largest country in the world in terms of GDP, and in terms of geographic size, it's the 13th.
02:20So there's a lot of challenges right now in the region. But Vision 2030 is about sustainability and fiscal policies that allow us to continue, and again, leadership and passion of the whole country.
02:33So despite all of the challenges, last year, we got to 117 million tourists visiting the country. And that was the target for 2030.
02:46In terms of the number of multinational corporations that have moved their regional headquarters to Saudi, we've reached 540, most of them this year.
02:57And so it's a business hub. It's a regional hub for stability. And in the area I work right now, which is the conventions and exhibitions, we have seen increases from last year, 17% increase in the number of events.
03:13So it's really been amazing to see the scale of growth and the speed of change that has been taking place and how it's been adopted across the board.
03:22Anything you'd want to say about this new administration that's coming in? You've worked obviously with both Biden and Trump in the past, in terms of the implications just for the growth in the region.
03:33Look, the truth is the kingdom and the United States of America have had this very long established relationships, a relationship of 70 years or 80 years now.
03:45At the government-to-government level, we always work with all administrations. At the business-to-business level and in the human perspective, a lot of us have studied here.
03:55We understand the language. We understand a lot of the culture. So I think we'll be fine.
04:00I'm a big Lakers fan, by the way, I should mention. We were talking about that in the other room. Let me ask a little bit about the different areas of transformation.
04:09There's the urban transformation, and there's always a lot of attention on Neom, that $1.5 trillion. I think it's 33 times the landmass of New York City at the end.
04:19So talk about that urban transformation, but you've also played a pivotal role in transforming Riyadh. So I think that's something that's often underappreciated. Talk a little bit about that.
04:31Well, ultimately, all of the social transformation, all of the economic cross-sectoral transformation has to take shape spatially, and that is where urban transformations take place.
04:43So the world needs 900 new cities over the next 50 years.
04:49The world needs 900 new cities?
04:51Yes, mega cities, to capture both the growth in the population, but more importantly, urbanization.
04:58So Neom is an example of that. So you build a new city. How would you build it in the 21st century?
05:04But we have existing cities, and the city of New York is an incredible city, has been able to transform itself over time and still be a global hub for business and wealth.
05:18And the city of Riyadh is also that. We have the 44th largest city economy in the world in Riyadh. We have 8.5 million people living in Riyadh.
05:26And we're investing, again, in a metro and public transport, which will be open soon.
05:33We're building a park that's massive in the middle of the city.
05:37So we've learned a lot from our sister cities, if you will, around the world, and we're implementing all of that in the city of Riyadh.
05:45I think one of the things that must be challenging is the social transformation.
05:51I mentioned the position of women earlier. We've seen this rapid increase of labor force participation.
05:58I believe it's now 35 percent women can drive, whereas they couldn't in the past.
06:05In addition to you're the birthplace of Islam, there's obviously parts of the society there where this would be a huge change.
06:15How do you bring everybody along with you?
06:18The thing I think we did not understand in Saudi was that the youth of the population and the dynamic that brings into the country socially,
06:28like I said, 65 percent of the population is under 35, and they were on their phones.
06:34They were using their phones. They were global citizens.
06:37But they were engaging the world through this small machine that we all now have in our pockets.
06:44What's amazing is not just women going from 17 percent participation to 35 percent.
06:51They own now 45 percent of business.
06:54So SMEs, they're entrepreneurs. They're driving all of the change, and they are part of it at boards, at the senior level, CEO, N minus one.
07:04It doesn't feel like it's new. That's what's mesmerizing.
07:09It feels like we were just segregating.
07:12We know women have always worked.
07:18The other day, I had 200 global business people come into the country.
07:27So I called one of my colleagues, and I said, you know, you have been through this transformation.
07:33Before it, you were successful. You were doing this, and you were doing that.
07:36Can you tell us about your unique experience?
07:39She said, Fahad, this is not unique.
07:42All us women in Saudi Arabia were doing things.
07:45This was just segregation, and that's where I learned the difference.
07:48And I think it's very much true.
07:51When you look at our approach to, for example, music, we held a very large electronic dance music festival.
07:59How many people came? 900?
08:01700,000.
08:02700,000.
08:03Three days. 700,000. It became the largest in the world.
08:06And you walk in between people, because I was interested. Who are these people?
08:10And you walk in between. They're our youth. They know all the music.
08:15We just didn't recognize them and didn't give them the entertainment they needed in the country.
08:21So as soon as you did it, it was natural for us.
08:23So I think the industrial transformation is really interesting, and I'm conscious of the time.
08:28But this moved toward a post-oil economy.
08:31And first of all, talk a little bit about where you are in the energy transition,
08:37because those were some of the statistics that really shocked me the most.
08:41Well, let me tell you something, because this is deeply personal.
08:45I graduated from my bachelor's in 1999 when I went back home.
08:51And the choices of career were very simple.
08:55Oil and gas, petrochem.
08:58Banking.
09:00Retail.
09:02Now my daughter, Lulua, who's 16 and will graduate in 2030, has a choice of doing whatever she wants.
09:10She can make a movie. She can go to space.
09:13She wants to be a bio-marine engineer.
09:16As opposed to a skateboarder like in Iceland. Good for you. That's well done.
09:22I'm happy she has the ambition, because I don't have to do my job as a parent.
09:26She handles her own responsibility.
09:28But it's a real transformation that is rooted in what the people are doing.
09:35And again, going to this, people think of Saudi Arabia as an oil-rich nation.
09:42And because of that, we don't value oil.
09:46No, it's a resource we care about, just like water, just like air.
09:51And we try to minimize its use.
09:56In Riyadh, the Riyadh Sustainability Strategy, which is probably one of the most ambitious in the world,
10:01calls for 50% renewable by 2030.
10:0530% of cars electric.
10:07So we are able to manage and balance the needs of the nation based on what is most optimal.
10:15But it's not just energy.
10:17You were last here in 2019, is that right?
10:20Yeah.
10:21What's the difference you see in terms of the interest of industry, the partnerships?
10:26This is a room full of CEOs.
10:28What's your message to them in terms of the types of companies that are coming here?
10:32And I mentioned this in the US.
10:33You're also working with China, India, many other countries around the world as well.
10:38Yeah, sure.
10:39I notice that I'm not.
10:40Am I projecting?
10:41We're in a jazz theater.
10:42No, I'm just kidding.
10:43Okay.
10:44If anybody needs me to repeat that.
10:46But they don't want to hear from me.
10:48They want to hear from you.
10:49So go ahead.
10:50Honestly, I think from 2019 to this visit, I think the amount of engagement and wanting to come and explore and see and be part of it all is totally different.
11:04I feel a different energy, a different perception.
11:07And I love it.
11:09Because what we are doing in Saudi Arabia is about partnership.
11:12We can't do 1,064 initiatives in seven years alone, right?
11:17We've been able to scale what we're doing, not because of the financial resources that we have.
11:23Of course, you need that.
11:24It's because of our ability to create partnerships and friendships around the world and to work with others.
11:31And many of the people who raised their hand and have come to Saudi Arabia, I hope they will tell you that this is one of the fewest countries in the world where you would go and say, I want to do something.
11:41And the answer would be, how can we make it bigger together?
11:45On a personal level, before we get to some final thoughts, what is your own dream for your country?
11:53Well, I think a lot about unleashing human potential.
12:01And I think the best cities, the best countries in the world that have respect and they respect the dignity of a human being and allow them the resources to become the best that they can be are the countries that ultimately will win.
12:17And I think the kingdom today is a place where you can literally do anything.
12:22I mean, I came into Saudi Arabia after 18 years of living abroad when I was 22, and I came from nothing.
12:33And through education, I got to run two cities.
12:37I mean, that's pretty incredible.
12:40And I've done everything I've set out to do by the time I was 40.
12:44You did everything you set out to do by the time you were 40.
12:47So now I have to come up with new plans.
12:49You have to come up with new plans.
12:50Yes, like Vision 2030.
12:51New plans for you.
12:52Like, you know, I'd be remiss, I want to ask quickly, you know, as a journalist, how should I be thinking about freedom of the press in Saudi Arabia?
13:00I don't think that if you are now in Saudi and you want to criticize my work in the city of Riyadh, you could absolutely do it anywhere.
13:12Because honestly, it's not the media, it's not the platform anymore.
13:16You could do it on any of the social media outlets with any handle you want.
13:21You can say anything you want about anyone anywhere, right?
13:25So I don't think that is the issue at all.
13:29I probably, I actually think that probably we have like one of the most free media in the world.
13:37So in the 48 seconds we have left, any thoughts you want to convey to the audience in terms of what's next for Saudi Arabia?
13:44I think Saudi Arabia is today a hub for the future, a hub for people who are dreaming and people who want to do something exciting.
13:56And we welcome everybody.
14:01I would love to host you all in Saudi Arabia at some point and share with you the amazing culture and the amazing hospitality that we like to welcome people with.
14:11Well, I had a great time, so thank you very much.
14:14Come again.
14:15And I will. And thank you very much for your time.
14:18And I look forward to continuing the conversation.
14:20Absolutely. Thank you so much.