Aramco Taleed: supporting our ecosystem through SME growth
The program aims to strengthen both the Aramco and in-Kingdom supply chain ecosystems by addressing the challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
- Established in 2022, Aramco Taleed was created to support the localization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by helping them thrive and grow
- The program supports SMEs through advisory services and training opportunities
- Over the past three years, Aramco Taleed has helped establish 17 new businesses and supported over 2,900 SMEs that are essential to Aramco’s operations and the broader industrial ecosystem
Consider, for a moment, the various small businesses you come across every day — from artisanal coffee shops and neighborhood auto repair garages to the digital start-ups that develop your favorite mobile apps. On a larger scale, consider those companies supplying goods and services to sectors like textile and automotive, and professionals such as builders, architects, and accountants. It soon becomes clear how much these small enterprises form the backbone of any local economy.
Globally, SMEs and start-ups are recognized as primary engines of employment, playing a central role in strengthening private-sector competitiveness. They contribute to diversification, spark collaboration, and often push the boundaries of innovation in ways that larger organizations cannot.
In Saudi Arabia, this story is unfolding at remarkable speed. The Kingdom’s SME landscape is expanding rapidly, with 1.6 million SMEs registered as of the fourth quarter of 2024 — an impressive 67% increase from the previous quarter alone. This momentum reflects both strong entrepreneurial spirit and national policies that encourage business growth.
Supporting this dynamic ecosystem is Aramco Taleed, one of Aramco’s dedicated SME development and localization programs.
Rooted in local growth
Aramco has a long history of supporting local businesses and communities — a legacy that dates back to the 1930s when Saudi contractors delivered fuel to geologists via ‘camel trains.’ Today, that spirit continues as we rely on a wide network of local businesses that support our operations across the Kingdom.
To help strengthen this network, we established the Aramco Taleed program in 2022. The name ‘Taleed,’ which is derived from the Arabic words meaning ‘rooted’, ‘original’, and ‘to be born’, reflects the program’s mission to create, grow, and sustain SMEs by developing and executing localization investments and SME enablement services that contribute to Aramco’s ecosystem and the Kingdom’s economic growth.
Camel trains.
Identifying challenges, creating solutions
To design a program with real impact, Aramco Taleed began with a comprehensive benchmarking study. This research identified six critical challenges that SMEs in Saudi Arabia face:
- Securing finance and funding
- Strategic business planning
- Access to new markets
- Talent recruitment and retention
- Leadership and management development
- Leveraging data and adopting new technologies
These pillars give Aramco Taleed a comprehensive framework to nurture SMEs at different stages of their journey.
The program supports the establishment of new businesses by providing them end-to-end assistance like developing robust business cases, offering expert technical guidance, and connecting entrepreneurs with reliable raw material suppliers and strategic partners. Aramco Taleed also facilitates access to financing, investment incentives, and industrial land or office spaces, while also helping source skilled local talent.
Successes across sectors
Aramco Taleed’s work is already reshaping industries. Since its inception, Aramco Taleed has delivered tangible results. As of October 2025:
- 17 new businesses have been established across various sectors including advanced industrial manufacturing, industrial internet of things (IIoT), ESG services, conversion chemicals, and carbon offset verification.
- More than 2,900 SMEs have been trained and supported, helping them strengthen operations and effectively handle competition in the business market.
With the help of Taleed, Taiwan’s Moxa, a global provider of industrial networking solutions, is strengthening its presence in the Kingdom.
New businesses are provided end-to-end assistance.
“Aramco Taleed continues Aramco’s longstanding focus on fostering the localization and development of SMEs, aiming to cultivate a thriving ecosystem of innovative SMEs while at the same time building local capabilities of Saudi talent that will have a positive impact on both Aramco’s and Saudi Arabia’s ecosystems.”
Jamil Al-Bagawi, Senior Vice President of National Champions
A global recognition
In October 2025, Aramco Taleed program was recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Top 10 Global Best Practices in Innovation and SME Ecosystem Development, as featured in the WEF publication ‘Innovation Ecosystems: A Toolkit of Principles and Best Practice.’
This recognition follows Aramco Taleed’s participation in a series of WEF dialogues that brought together leading global organizations to share insights on ecosystem development, placemaking, entrepreneurship, and local economic impact. Aramco Taleed stood out for its strategic framework, business support services, collaborative ecosystem, strong governance, and digital innovation — all of which are designed to empower SMEs, drive job creation, and promote sustainable economic growth.
Integrating SMEs into Aramco’s ecosystem
Aramco Taleed is also central to Aramco’s broader strategy for fostering business growth, job creation, and economic development in Saudi Arabia. The program is the third stage in our National Champions venture lifecycle, which supports businesses from idea to large industrial-scale investments in sectors like industrial, manufacturing, sustainability, and digital.
As part of this journey, Aramco Taleed plays a critical role in connecting SMEs with our extensive supply chain ecosystem, which is the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities, and technologies involved in supporting us, including our affiliates and subsidiaries, in the creation and distribution of our wide range of products and services. This strengthens resilience, reduces reliance on international suppliers, and helps us respond quickly to global challenges or disruptions. Stronger local supply chains also mean lower logistics costs, faster delivery times, and potentially reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transportation due to proximity — benefits that extend well beyond Aramco itself.
Aramco Taleed works closely with our downstream affiliates, such as Sadara, Petro Rabigh, and Luberef, to jointly localize downstream conversion chemical businesses that use feedstock from these affiliates to produce end-user products. Notable successes include localizing production of critical materials such as transformer oil and gas treatment chemicals, further strengthening the Kingdom’s industrial independence.
Aramco Taleed, a key part of our SME development strategy, promotes SME localization and the long-term growth of SMEs within our supplier network, creating new local job opportunities, and helping increase SME gross domestic product (GDP) contributions — the total market value of all finished goods and services produced in a country — to the Saudi economy.
“By establishing 17 SME businesses, supporting over 2,900 SMEs, and launching unique programs as of October 2025, Aramco Taleed has not only made a significant impact on the Aramco ecosystem but has also set a new standard for user-centric and holistic approaches to economic development.”
Yousif Al-Ghamdi, Director of Aramco Taleed
Practical initiatives to empower SMEs
One of Aramco Taleed’s defining strengths is its practical, hands-on approach. Many SMEs face barriers to accessing consulting services or specialized advice that could accelerate their growth. Aramco Taleed fills this gap by providing a portfolio of initiatives and support programs that enable capability building, strategy development, training, market access, advisory services, and business planning support.
In-house specialized training programs are offered to SMEs.
Since 2022, Aramco Taleed has partnered with some of the world’s leading consulting firms to develop in-house specialized training programs. These programs were offered through workshops to thousands of SMEs, which helped them gain insights and actionable strategies tailored to their business needs. The initiative also laid the groundwork for the program’s in-house advisory services, ensuring continuous and long-term support to local SMEs.
Aramco Taleed also launched a ‘Carbon Net Zero Support Program’ in 2023 that offers SMEs a comprehensive approach from strategy formulation to KPI tracking in order to help them develop their own net zero roadmaps, helping SMEs reduce their environmental footprint while improving efficiency. This initiative provides SMEs with a practical greenhouse gas emissions calculator, guidance on greenhouse gas emissions-reduction levers, tools for analyzing the financial impact of the emissions reduction, and KPI dashboards for tracking emissions.
To date, more than 900 SMEs have benefited from this program.
Other major Aramco Taleed initiatives include:
- ‘Operational Excellence Support Program’, which helps SMEs with the capabilities, best practices, and tools necessary to streamline their operations and improve efficiency.
- ‘Internal Controls Assessment Tool’ to enhance governance, risk management, human resources, and accounting practices, ultimately strengthening the overall operational efficiency and long-term viability of SMEs
Together, these efforts provide a robust ecosystem of support for SMEs, enabling them to scale sustainably while building strong foundations for the future.
Aramco Taleed offers local SMEs opportunities for collaboration and growth.
A platform for transformation
Aramco Taleed is more than just a support program — it is a platform to create, grow, and sustain SMEs by developing and executing localization investments and SME enablement services.
A vibrant commercial ecosystem benefits all sectors, including the energy sector. The Aramco Taleed program supports this through a network of innovative SMEs that provide diverse products and services, ultimately benefiting Aramco and other businesses across the Kingdom.
The material in this article is intended to be for general informational purposes only, and readers should not place undue reliance on the statements or opinions therein. Any information provided speaks only as of the date this content was published and Saudi Aramco undertakes no obligation to correct, update, or revise any statements or opinions made in or implied by this article.