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Life has been dynamic this year. Enough that I owe you an update, and enough that the update itself proves the point I keep making in this newsletter: strategy and execution live in two different rooms, and almost nobody builds a door between them. Since 2023, everything I do in the Kingdom sits on three legs: deal structuring and transaction support for income-generating and mixed-use assets, destination creation and asset activation strategy, and market entry and Saudi loca

Notes after a talk by Tina Sablic at Istituto Marangoni, Riyadh. Fashion and interiors get lumped together in every "lifestyle brand" deck. In practice they run on completely different clocks. Fashion's clock is fast and has to run out — a collection is designed to be sold and replaced. Real estate's clock is slow, and that's not a limitation, it's the asset. Real estate doesn't get seasoned — it gets held A building can't be "finished" the way a collection is. It's a capital

I was in Paris with my six-year-old son. One day at Disneyland, Premier Access included, cost me about €600. I didn't think twice about it. I wasn't paying for a theme park. I was paying so my son could feel something — the wonder of it, without three hours in a queue to get there. That's what a destination actually sells. Not tickets. A feeling worth traveling for. And standing there, I found myself thinking about Qiddiya. Not because the two projects look alike. Because wat

Not every project benefits from the same opportunity. For the last two weeks, foreign-ownership law has been reported the same way everywhere: designated zones, foreign Muslims able to buy in Makkah and Madinah, applications through a government portal. All accurate. None of it tells a developer holding land, or an investor deciding where to place capital, what to do next. The useful question is not what the law says but what it does. And what it does is narrower than the hea

There is a recurring pattern in how large-scale developments in Saudi Arabia are perceived from the outside. A project is announced, bold in scale, ambitious in design — and the immediate reaction is often to isolate it, simplify it, and question its logic based on familiar frameworks. “A garden in the desert.” “A vanity project.” “A strain on resources.” https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaled-alojyan/ On the surface, these reactions may seem rational. But they are rooted in a fu

When I started working in real estate development, there was a very simple mental map: residential – office – retail. Full stop. Everything else – hotels, healthcare, student housing, senior living – sat in the box called “alternatives” : interesting, but too operational, too complex, too niche. Sitting on the Operational Real Estate panel at PEI ’s Women in Private Markets Summit 2025 in London, I realised how completely that mental map has changed. Operational r

In real estate development, we measure everything: timelines, budgets, safety, sales velocity. Yet some of the most carefully tracked...

Thank you to the network for curating an exceptional gathering of minds across real estate, hospitality, technology, human capital, logistics, and development. It was not just a networking event—it was a mirror held up to the Kingdom's evolving investment and operational landscape. I was honored to be part of it. Special thanks to the amazing ⭐ Tatiana Skaf and Nader Mahmoud for the invitation to the Network and to Zahi-Victor Hallit and Mohamad Rabih Itani for our livel

Insights for the WMFO Business Lunch in Monaco As Saudi Arabia accelerates its Vision 2030 transformation, international interest in its...

At the Visionary Leadership panel | The Hospitality Leadership and F&B Forum | The Hotel Show Dubai 2025 , I had the pleasure of...

Click here to subscribe to this newsletter in LinkedIN In every meaningful project—whether a real estate development, a complex advisory...

After years of working at the intersection of # design , # development , and # entrepreneurship , I’m proud to share the next chapter of...

Few days ago , I had the pleasure of attending a beautifully curated event at the French Embassy in Riyadh, organized by L’École School...

Saudi Arabia's hospitality industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the ambitious Vision 2030 plan. This vision is...

As Saudi Arabia embarks on its ambitious Vision 2030 journey, the role of local culture in shaping the future of hospitality has become...

Saudi Arabia is undergoing a transformative period in its history, driven by the ambitious Vision 2030 plan. Central to this...

Introduction Saudi Arabia's ambitious Giga projects are reshaping the landscape of urban development and community growth. These...

Insights from Cityscape WIRE (Woman in Real Estate) Conference on the Future of Smart Cities (part 1) In the rapidly evolving landscape...

The future of interior design is evolving rapidly, driven by the dynamic demands of Generation Z (Gen Z). This generation, born between...

Design has always been more than just aesthetics; it's a powerful tool that can transcend boundaries and foster connections between...