The Saudi British Joint Business Council is hosting a UK-Saudi Sports Investment & Innovation Forum on 26 June 2024 at Silverstone Museum, Trackside
SBJBC is organising a half-day forum in partnership with the Silverstone Museum, trackside to the F1 circuit, on 26 June. This Forum will focus on the ambitious sports sector development plans and investment landscape in both Saudi Arabia and the UK.
SBJBC UK, in partnership with the Silverstone Museum, hosted the UK-Saudi Sports Investment and Innovation Forum on June 26th, trackside to the F1 circuit in West Northamptonshire. The event brought together over 100 delegates to discuss the development of sports in Saudi Arabia, covering topics such as hosting major tournaments, sport technology, esports development, quality of life and grassroots initiatives, and the unprecedented opportunities for UK/Saudi capacity building and partnerships.
The Forum, co-sponsored by AEI Saudi and Mishcon de Reya, featured fireside chats, panel sessions, a tour of the Silverstone Museum, and an introduction to the Silverstone Innovation Centre and Technology Park, with presentations from Andretti and the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub.
To download the event report, please follow the link here.
To view photos from the day, please follow the link here.
Arab News Article, please click here.
Asharq al-awsat Article, please click here.
Date
Time
Location:
Silverstone Museum, Trackside to the F1 Circuit
A half-day forum in partnership with the Silverstone Museum (trackside to the F1 circuit) on 26 June on the ambitious sports sector development plans and investment landscape in both Saudi Arabia and the UK.
The event is at full capacity. Please note that only delegates who have received a confirmation will be admitted.
1000 Arrivals at Silverstone. Registration & Networking
1030 Welcome Remarks
1045 Panel 1: Setting the scene: The Sports Investment Landscape in Saudi Arabia and the UK
1130 Panel 2: Sports Technology and Esports development: Commercialisation challenges
1215 Museum Self -Guided Tour
1245 Networking Lunch
1330 Fireside Chat: Sports Heritage & Culture
1345 Panel 3: Capacity building & Partnership Opportunities
1425 Questions & Closing Remarks
1430 Introduction to Silverstone Innovation Centre & Technology Park
1530 End of programme & Departures
Stuart Pringle has been an integral part of the management team at Silverstone since 2006 when he took on the role of Club Secretary for the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), the unique members club that owns and operates the world famous circuit.In 2014 Stuart was asked by the Board of the BRDC to join Silverstone Circuit, the commercial arm of the operation, as Sporting Director and after a successful two years in this role was promoted to Managing Director in 2016. In his current role Stuart has developed a strategic plan to grow one of the most famous motorsport venues in the world to a leading entertainment facility that not only hosts the biggest sporting event in the UK but is also home to the Wing, one of the UK’s largest conference and exhibition venues.
Phil Lawrie has worked in various global leadership roles, including 12 years as Chief Commercial Officer with Qatar Museums (QM) and General Manager of QM’s commercial arm IN-Q Enterprises.With strong business leadership skills, Phil has a track record of driving long-term business performance and an extensive career record with world-class blue-chip organisations and brand holders including American Express, Turner Broadcasting (CNN) and Al Jazeera."
David has served as an advisor to leaders of many major national and international sports organizations, and leaders of multinational corporations over the past 25 years. He is regarded as a global expert in sports strategy, governance, organisation design, commercial and sponsorship strategy, and benchmarking research.He was previously a Partner at McKinsey & Co. and Geoscientist with BP. He has an MBA from Warwick University and BSc from Bristol. "
Mohammed Al Nemer is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Morood Investment CompanyMorood Investment Company, has become the portfolio management and wealth advisory partner of choice for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families in the Kingdom, as well as a trusted corporate advisor for SMEs.Al Nemer is a trusted long-term investor in the real estate, food and beverage, entertainment and financial services sectors and also serves on other boards, government related committees and local & international organizations, including: Chairman of the Saudi Surfing Federation, Ana Odeer Investment Company, Malahi Leisure, Dar Al Tanmiyat Ltd, Furniture Land Ltd and Food Seasons Trading Company. Board Member of the National Committee for Entertainment, Makkah Province Youth Counsel & President of Entertainment Committee, Riyadh Chambers (Culture & Entertainment Committee), Saudi British Business Counsel for Saudi Chamber, Wabel Al Arabia Investment Company, Cubitt & Bond, UK and Seek Pharmaceuticals, UK.
Dr. Najat Benchiba-Savenius is Chief of Staff at TONOMUS, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEOM, an innovative company which has evolved from its technology and digital sector to lead the creation of the world’s first cognitive community. Following Vision2030, it is borne out the of the vision of HRH, Mohammed Bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Najat has been an outsourced Chief Operating Officer and Board Member for Family Offices and Institutions, most recently a Saudi Royal Family Office where she oversees the management of numerous companies and businesses across jurisdictions, anchored in the GCC and Saudi Principals reporting on company matters, asset management and investments. Najat is also Founder and Director of Gazelle Advisory Group, a GCC-focused firm based in London that provides strategic leadership and comprehensive Arab Family Office services as an outsourced Chief Operating Officer. Najat has lived in various geographies and has fostered excellent Family Office and institutional investor relations in London, Casablanca, Cairo, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore.
Chester is the Founder and President of the British Esports Federation (the UK’s national body, established in 2016), Vice-President of the Global Esports Federation and an esports advisor to the IOC and Governments. In October 2023 British Esports signed an agreement with the Saudi Esports Federation, whose Chairman is HRH Prince Faisal Bin Bander Bin Sultan Al Saud.Since graduating from university in 1993 Chester has worked in sport, hospitality and healthcare. He worked at Wembley Stadium (2007 to 2017), is a member of the AELTC (Wimbledon) and after 33 years of ownership sold the Stoke Park estate to Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries in 2021. He is also the CEO of International Hospitals Group (IHG) who first started working in KSA in
Dr Kevin Moore has had a highly successful 35-year career in museums, culture and attractions. He led the establishment of the National Football Museum in Preston in 2001. In 2012 Kevin created the new National Football Museum in Manchester, which attracted over 500,000 visitors a year under his leadership. Kevin was the Deputy Director of the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum,leading the development of the displays. The Museum opened in 2022. More recently he has been helping to develop staff at museums and cultural sites in Abu Dhabi. Kevin has an international reputation in museums and attractions, both as a professional and an academic, and has advised many museums around the world. He has published extensively on museums and culture. He is regarded as the world’s leading authority on museums of popular culture, and museums of sport. Kevin has extensive experience of working at board level, in partnership with local and national government, and with other funding partners.
Mickey is an Executive Team member with over 25 years of operational experience, 20 of which are in the region. As DCEO he is responsible for AEI strategic Business Development and the integration between new clients and the AEI service delivery business units. Mickey joined AEI in 2021 moving from Bahrain to KSA in the knowledge that the strategic initiative is unlike any other in modern times. Initially running an AEI transformation program to prepare for the growth of AEI, he now travels the region and other offshore markets to discuss with potential clients the exciting opportunities available across the Saudi business environment and how they can positively contribute to the Kingdom. Living in Riyadh with his family, Mickey served for over 20 years in the UK MOD, before joining the private sector. He has been a COO, and worked in UK FTSE 100 companies as well as SMEs.
Simon is an experienced commercial Partner with a particular focus on the Technology and Sport sectors, where he leads the firm's offering, and is consistently recognised in these areas across the legal directories and beyond.Simon specialises in advising clients (ranging from fast-growth start-ups to internationally listed companies, as well as governing bodies, Middle Eastern and African governments, major clubs, sponsors, intermediaries and athletes) on a range of transactional, IP and regulatory issues – including in particular, clients operating in the advertising, retail, property (including facilities management), healthcare and crypto industries.He is widely seen as an expert in his field and consequently is often featured in the national and international press - including making appearances on Sky News, ITV and BBC, as well as being quoted across all of the major national news titles. Simon also recently co-authored the chapter on Financial Regulation in the leading Football Law textbook "Football and the Law" published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Basim K. Ibrahim is passionate about the opportunities for sport development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is a seasoned Investment Attraction & Development Director with 20 years of diverse professional experience in Investment, IT, Education/Training, Project Management, and Research. A former Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum, Basim is a member of various professional organizations. He founded BMA Engineering in 2011 and co-founded BoardMaps in 2015, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit. His extensive international experience includes roles with Tencent/INSPUR in China and CONCO in South Africa. Basim was a pivotal member of the joint technical team between SAP and Saudi Aramco from 2000 to 2005. Passionate about volunteering and dedicated to serving his country, Basim is a dynamic leader in the field of Business and Investment Development.
Born in Jeddah on January 18, 1992, Reema Juffali is a professional racing driver and the founder of Theeba Motorsport. Reema developed an interest in cars at an early age and made history in 2018 by becoming the first-ever female racing driver to come from Saudi Arabia. Following a promising debut season in 2019, Reema again trailblazed by becoming the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in an international race in her home country, racing on the streets of Riyadh in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY. In 2021, she competed in the GB3 Championship before making her endurance racing debut at the 2022 Dubai 24 Hours where she finished second in class. Reema subsequently founded Theeba Motorsport to facilitate Saudi Arabian access to and participation in motor racing through a variety of educational opportunities and programmes. The team made its first appearance in the 2022 International GT Open and secured victory on debut – an achievement which made Reema the first Saudi woman to win an international motor race – before scoring a vice championship title in the series' Pro-Am class. In 2023, her racing career has seen Reema participating in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe; a season in which Reema has continued to make history by being the first ever female and the first Saudi Arabian driver to secure a pole position in the Sprint Cup. It is Reema’s ambition to one day make history by racing in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours with Theeba Motorsport under a Saudi Arabian licence – a goal she will edge closer to by competing in the GT World Challenge. In her career to date, Reema has carved a reputation as an inspiration and role model to female racing drivers and athletes internationally and continues to make waves in motorsport after being named as one of the world's most inspiring and influential women by the BBC in 2022, and as the main protagonist in the 2023 Mercedes AMG International Women’s Day campaign.
Garry is a senior director of J. Stern & Co, a boutique investment management partnership based in London with offices in Zurich, New York and Malta. Alongside the firm’s principal long only global equity strategy the firm has an established reputation and track record investing in sports assets. Garry spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs within the Investment Management Division and prior to that was a founding member of a leading London barrister’s chambers with a primary focus on sport, media, and entertainment, acting for several leading sportsmen and governing bodies. Garry represented Great Britain at the 1992 Olympic Games, winning gold in the Men’s Coxed Pair and in 1993 was awarded an MBE for services to sport. From 1997 to 2021 Garry was the BBC’s lead international rowing commentator and Tokyo 2020 was his 6th Olympic Games in the seat. Along side his role at J. Stern & Co, Garry also acts as an independent advisor to a number of sportsmen and musicians.
Tony Simpson is a Partner and the Sport and Entertainment Lead at Oliver Wyman. He also serves as a Partner in the firm’s Global Communication, Media and Technology practice. He is a Board Advisor to Special Olympics Great Britain, an Independent Observer to the English Rugby Football Union Governance Review, a Trustee and Board Member at the United Kingdom’s largest museum network outside of London, Birmingham Museums and Art Trust and a Trustee at leading care charity Drive Forward.In 2023, Mr Simpson was recognised as one of Empower Top 100 Executive Role Models. He played a leading role in the scoping and introduction of the newly introduced English Independent Football Regulator. Mr Simpson spent 8 years working within the Middle East as a professional advisor for many of the GCC governments, four years of which were as a ‘Chief of Staff’ position at the Doha based Al Jazeera Network. Over the past few years, he has presented a BBC Radio 4 program on Resilience and is a past Board Director at the UK’s Black Cultural Archives where he recruited and restructured the organisation’s executive team from 2017 to 2021. More recently, he has advised many of the world’s leading sports organisations, federations and investment groups on subjects ranging from international expansion, sustainability, the governance and policies needed to embrace and succeed in a digital and rapidly changing content market, and the role private equity can play across a new sport investment asset class. Tony is frequently asked to appear across media and is a key advocate of the Marsh McLennan Sport and Entertainment Group.
Jennie is a Consultant and former Senior Partner at Trowers & Hamlins specialising in corporate finance and commercial law. Jennie has over 30 years' experience in private equity, stock and bond issues, loans, the acquisition acquisition/transfer of companies and undertakings, as well as large commercial and administrative matters and board level advisory work for businesses of many types including start-ups. Jennie has led many major deals, and works with both the public and private sectors. Jennie has been acknowledged in legal directories as an expert in her field for Corporate/M&A and Private buyouts: Equity. She is Chair of the UK side of the Saudi British Joint Business Council, regularly speaks at industry events and has held several NED roles.
Professor Jo Maher is Pro-Vice Chancellor for Sport at Loughborough University and Professor of Practice in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. She is a member of the FA Council and its National Game Board, Chair of the FA Development Committee and former Chair of the English Colleges Football Association. Jo is a current member of the DCMS Board for Women’s Sport and previously worked for the Department of Education serving the FE Commissioner on the Principal’ Reference group.After a 17-year career in Further Education, serving as a Principal and CEO for seven years at Boston College and Loughborough College respectively, she built on Loughborough’s sporting success securing a £12.5m world class sports hall and supporting 15 national sports governing body partnerships with over 2,000 elite athletes per year. Jo is a qualified teacher, assessor, former Chartered Scientist, and internationally published academic. Specialising in professional competence in sports psychology, Jo has presented her research at conferences both in the UK and abroad. Working in professional football Jo has spent time supporting high performance environments as well as supporting individual elite athletes including Olympic standard.
Paul is the Chair and Co-founder of Trivandi, with more than 30 years’ of experience in the planning, delivery and operation of complex projects in the mega-events and venues sectors. Paul’s experience includes numerous sporting projects including the four Olympic & Paralympic Games in London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 as well as various sports venue developments. Since 2013 Paul has been focussed on building and growing Trivandi’s global business in the mega events and venues sectors – this has included providing strategic advice to a wide array of UK and international clients. Trivandi is well established within Saudi Arabia where its project portfolio includes giga projects such as Qiddiya, Neom, Sports Boulevard and Diriyah Gate as well as events in the sports, cultural, entertainment and business sectors. Trivandi is also proud to be an advisor to the Saudi Surfing Federation.
Turki Alfawzan is the Chief Executive Officer of both the Saudi Esports Federation and the Arab Esports Federation, positions he has held since their establishment in October 2017. He is a pioneer within the Middle East’s Esports industry. “My goal is to develop the federation so that it becomes a two-way bridge that enables gamers to professionalize their passion and guides the corporate world on their journey into the world of esports.” - Turki Alfawzan. Under his guidance, the federation has moved from one accomplishment to the next. Today, the federation’s fast-growing team works to develop the entire National Gaming and Esports Strategy value chain starting at the grassroots and all the way up to elite athletes and global competitions. In addition, Gamers8, the biggest gaming and esports festival worldwide, which takes place for eight weeks in Riyadh each summer, was also launched in 2022 under his supervision. The Saudi national oversees all federation activities that occur during Gamers8. Turki also was the mastermind behind the development of the Saudi eLeague, a quintet of five gaming titles under one umbrella with a dedicated studio that produces a globally leading broadcast experience. The eLeague have revolutionized professional competitive gaming in Saudi and have moved many young Saudis to legitimize their teams. The platform is now looked at as the main goal for teams and as the pinnacle of national Saudi esports. At the time of his move into the world of esports, Turki was a decorated veteran in the world of sports governance. He was a founding member and CEO of the Saudi Chess Association, which officially introduced chess in Saudi Arabia. Under Turki’s leadership the association quickly became a committee recognized by the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, and then grew to become a stand-alone federation in 2017. All of which made him the chief candidate to establish Saudi’s venture into esports. An entrepreneur by heart, Turki pursued multiple ventures before moving to the world of Olympism. In his early years, he foresaw a gap in the tech solutions market in Saudi Arabia. He quickly moved to establish TF Solutions, a Saudi-based IT solutions firm that specializes in small Business IT Services, IT Support, and IT Consulting Services. Concurrently in 2010, he merged his love of photography with his entrepreneurial spirit and established Shooting Time Studios. Later, the Studio developed a business acquisitions arm that acquired local agencies with complementary practices. As a result of his strong reputation in organizational development, Mira Holding appointed him as the company vice-president in 2015, where he oversaw the company’s activities ranging across hospitality, food, and beverage.
Professor Jo Maher is Pro-Vice Chancellor for Sport at Loughborough University and Professor of Practice in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. She is a member of the FA Council and its National Game Board, Chair of the FA Development Committee and former Chair of the English Colleges Football Association. Jo is a current member of the DCMS Board for Women’s Sport and previously worked for the Department of Education serving the FE Commissioner on the Principal’ Reference group.After a 17-year career in Further Education, serving as a Principal and CEO for seven years at Boston College and Loughborough College respectively, she built on Loughborough’s sporting success securing a £12.5m world class sports hall and supporting 15 national sports governing body partnerships with over 2,000 elite athletes per year. Jo is a qualified teacher, assessor, former Chartered Scientist, and internationally published academic. Specialising in professional competence in sports psychology, Jo has presented her research at conferences both in the UK and abroad. Working in professional football Jo has spent time supporting high performance environments as well as supporting individual elite athletes including Olympic standard.
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Date
Time
Location:
Venue TBA
A full-day, in-person event featuring keynotes, panels, workshops and networking opportunities, focusing on sustainable infrastructure opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the UK, and how UK and Saudi firms can play a pivotal role.
A VIP dinner for an exclusive pool of 50 distinguished guests will follow the summit.
🇬🇧 78 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ES
🇸🇦 c/o Federation of Saudi Chambers King Fahad Branch Rd, Al Mutamarat, Riyadh 12711
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