Amazon, the world's biggest e-commerce company, has launched a new academy in Saudi Arabia as it seeks to support the kingdom's human capital programme for the digital economy.
The academy, which will offer the “largest talent development programme of its kind in the Middle East”, aims to train more than 30,000 Saudis, issue 35,000 certificates and offer 100 internships by 2025, the Seattle-based technology company said at the Leap technology exhibition in Riyadh on Wednesday.
The academy is being built in co-operation with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and will be operated by the Saudi Digital Academy and the Tuwaiq Academy.
Amazon and the ministry did not disclose the investment details.
“We continue to empower small and medium enterprises and partner with thousands of Saudi companies. Our aim continues to focus on delivering meaningful progress,” Abdo Chlala, director for the GCC at Amazon's Mena division, said at the launch.
“The academy closely aligns with the MCIT’s skills programme and develop capacity goals in the kingdom.”
The kingdom is diversifying its economy away from oil as part of its Vision 2030 strategy, with technology one of the key pillars of the plan.
Saudi Arabia is encouraging entrepreneurship and seeking investments into its digital transformation programme as it promotes the use of new age technology in preparation for the future economy.
The global digital transformation market is projected to hit about $3.95 trillion by 2030, from about $608 billion last year, growing at a compound annual rate of more than 23 per cent, according to data from Grand View Research.
Empowering people with the mix of skills needed to succeed in a digital world of work is critical, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
This can be achieved by improving education and training systems, supporting job-to-job transitions and ensuring adequate social protection, it said.
The Amazon Academy's curriculum has been designed by Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud computing unit, as well as its operations and customer experience teams.
Training programmes will be conducted by combining virtual self-paced modules with in-classroom sessions and hands-on workshops, Mr Chlala said.
Among the courses that will be covered are cloud architecture, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, end-to-end customer fulfilment and last-mile logistics and entrepreneurship.
We invite Saudi talent from all walks of life and educational backgrounds, as we move one step forward to a common goal to build a digital future for Saudi Arabia
Abdo Chlala,
director for the GCC at Amazon's Mena unit
The academy will provide a boost to the kingdom's ambitions of creating the local talent necessary to support the goals of Vision 2030, said Faris Alsaqabi, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of Future Jobs and Capabilities at the MCIT.
“Saudi Arabia has the largest market for technology and innovation, and ... we are among the 10 fastest-growing countries in digital content and commerce,” he said.
Amazon set up shop in Saudi Arabia in 2020, and its operations have grown more than 80 per cent since then, Mr Chlala said.
“We invite Saudi talent from all walks of life and educational backgrounds, as we move one step forward to a common goal to build a digital future for Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The launch of the Amazon Academy comes after a similar move by Meta Platforms, which unveiled the Mena region's first metaverse academy in Saudi Arabia at Leap, as the Facebook parent aims to accelerate the development of the emerging technology.
Amazon has been actively investing in the Middle East. In the UAE, it is building the Middle East's most technologically advanced warehouse and also opened a major warehouse in Abu Dhabi.
Amazon also operates the AWS Academy, which provides higher education institutions with a free, ready-to-teach cloud-computing curriculum.
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'
Rating: 3/5
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Jude Law
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
