Saudi Arabia’s transformation under Vision 2030 was in sharp focus at the Saudi Business and Investment Summit 2025, where Tahaluf CEO Mike Champion revealed the scale of the Kingdom’s fast-growing business events sector.
Delivering his keynote in Riyadh, Champion announced that in just three years Tahaluf’s live B2B events have created an economic impact of $17.6bn, exceeding the $17bn generated by the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Champion said: “The global opportunities for growth in Saudi Arabia are unparalleled and our live events company Tahaluf is testament to this. In just three and a half years, we have grown from a team of three to over 300 events professionals who are proudly responsible for creating some of the most ambitious and largest B2B events in the world.
Business events in Saudi Arabia
“By the end of 2025, we forecast revenues to grow more than 30 per cent year on year, taking us well beyond $200m annually.”
The Summit convened leaders from government, business and international institutions to assess the progress of Vision 2030 reforms.
Discussions focused on how sweeping policy changes and new investment strategies are reshaping the Kingdom’s economy across sectors including technology, culture, transport, energy and finance.
Champion, co-founder of LEAP – the world’s most attended tech event – stressed the role of private sector engagement in turning Vision 2030’s ambitions into tangible results.
“By the end of 2025 we forecast Tahaluf will have made a total economic impact of $17.6bn to the kingdom’s GDP – this surpasses the reported $17bn economic impact of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar over a similar timeframe – the difference being that Tahaluf’s events will repeat annually, whereas World Cups come and go.”
The event featured senior voices including Saud Adham from the Ministry of Culture, who outlined the cultural sector’s growing role in economic diversification, alongside industry figures such as Abhay Bhargava of Frost & Sullivan and Turki Alsubaihi of SAPTCO Group, who shared perspectives on innovation and infrastructure development.
Tahaluf EVP Annabelle Mander moderated a high-level “Majlis” session on investment momentum and regulatory reforms, reflecting on her experience as co-creator of LEAP, LEAP East, Money20/20 Middle East and Black Hat MEA.
Mander said: “By building strategic partnerships across government and industry, aligning business tourism with Vision 2030, Tahaluf has driven record growth in Saudi’s business events sector.
“It was insightful to moderate and hear from other key players in the Kingdom just how Vision 2030 has helped expand their business horizons too.”
