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Al-Faisaliah vision: Coupling the world’s largest dairy with computer production
Concluding arrangements with Intel and Microsoft, Al-Faisaliah has built a world-class factory to produce personal computers branded "ZAI." The effort marks the latest of the Group’s strategic partnerships with globally renowned technology leaders, such as Sony, Amoco, Compaq, 20th Century Fox, Bausch & Lomb, 3 Com, CISCO, Toshiba Medical Systems, and Columbia TriStar Pictures, to name just a few.
"This factory is the next logical extension of our business, given our solid track record, knowledge, experience and expertise in the field of information technology," says Mohammed Abdul Rahman Ariefy, the president of Al-Faisaliah Group. "We possess the vision and the tools to exact a qualitative shift in the Saudi industry."
Indeed, Al-Faisaliah’s history is highlighted many breakthroughs, all accomplished by Ariefy’s decision to set the company’s sights on daunting goals. When Al-Faisaliah was incorporated in 1970, its management was already steeped in history. Al Faisaliah’s founder, His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal, is the eldest son of late King Faisal.
Prince Abdullah started with a Sony electronics dealership. Keeping to the values instilled in him by his father—an unwavering commitment to people, social responsibility, professionalism, and allegiance to the country—Prince Abdullah built his company into a conglomerated business powerhouse.
Now dubbed Saudi Arabia’s "brand builder," Al Faisaliah boasts partnerships with leading companies while setting the pace for the local and regional markets with its own brands like Al-Safi Dairy, ZAI, Areen Juice and Al-Wasmi Meats. Today, the group encompasses 14 subsidiaries in five business sectors, netting over a half-billion dollars in annual sales .
Adhering to Prince Abdullah values, Al-Faisaliah has become an icon on the Kingdom’s major charity donors list, promoting programs ranging from environmental cleanup to road traffic safety awareness campaigns.
While Al Faisaliah Group has perfected the art of alliance building, it is a world-breaker in the dairy industry, named in 1997 as the largest integrated dairy farm in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records .
Al Safi dairy, an Al Faisaliah subsidiary, began as an ambitious, seemingly impossible project: importing cows and locally producing milk rather than importing it. It was "mission impossible," by any standards. Notwithstanding arid desert realities, temperatures in the Kingdom can drop to freezing in the winter and soar to 115 degrees in the summer.
Importing the world’s finest stock of cows from Europe and Canada, Al- Faisaliah executed a visionary desert farm. A large team of scientists, veterinarians and laboratory technicians literally conquered nature by drilling wells 2,000 meters deep. Today, Al-Safi dairy stands as an agr-science marvel.
Al-Safi Dairy herds total 32,000 head, producing 450,000 liters of milk daily and 6,000 kilograms of boneless meat annually. Every phase of the operation is well integrated from plantation, irrigation, breeding, feeding, milking until trucks roar out to support Al-Safi’s control over 33 percent of the Kingdom’s dairy market.
"Al-Safi dairy is not only the largest integrated farm in the world, but rather a living monument to the triumph of human vision, spirit and willingness to accept challenges," reported CNN’s World Report in 1997. "It has miraculously transformed the Saudi desert into a green wonderland."
While dairy produce and technology are sold through different channels, the same vision continues to drive the Al-Faisaliah Group to tackle new challenges.
"How much room do you have to stretch your imagination? " philosophically asks HRH Mohammed bin Khalid Al Faisal, the group’s 33-year-old, Harvard-educated vice president. "After all, a company with an appetite for stretching will always be quicker, nimbler, and more fun than one that’s doomed to never fly."
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Table of Contents Crown Prince Abdullah: A leader with a global vision |
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Last June, it was announced that the Kingdom would join the ranks of computer-producing countries. The company behind this milestone achievement is Al Faisaliah Group, a diversified organization with a 30-year history of solid business innovation.