Al-Jazirah

In my opinion, there would be many benefits in Saudizing grocery stores. It is estimated that it would generate more than 35,000 job opportunities for Saudi youth. It would also put an end to tasattur or cover-up businesses in which expatriates run and control a business usually in exchange for a fee paid to the registered Saudi owner.

There are real opportunities for our youth to privately invest in and own shops. Families could come together and buy a grocery shop and take turns managing it.

In order for this type of Saudization to succeed, it is a must to Saudize the jobs of sales representatives for food companies, so that the whole mechanism is complete. We all know the role played by sales representatives in food companies in supporting their own nationalities in the grocery store sector. They sell products to them on credit, and they give them extra time to pay and provide them with the latest profitable offers from the big companies they are working for.

Real Saudization is a series of steps that should be taken together in order to ensure the success of the main goal. It is certain that there will be some resistance to Saudizaing grocery stores which could come from people who own these shops or from the cover-up owners.

Some economic experts have stressed that steps that can ensure the success of Saudization include forcing grocery store owners to open a bank account, banning dealing in cash in buying and selling, providing a timeline to close small grocery stores and for their owners to leave the market so that the market will not be affected and at the same time, replacing them with Saudis.

It will also be necessary to establish a financial fund to support grocery stores and to intensify supervision of this sector. This in addition to many other steps will ensure the success of Saudization.

Saudis sooner or later will occupy most of the jobs in all of the sectors in their country and we must take the necessary steps that lead to this goal.