The TWENTY30

In Episode 43 of the TWENTY30 Podcast, co-hosts Lucien and Hanaa discuss a major milestone in the Saudi banking sector with the launch of the Kingdom's first all-digital bank, STC Bank. In Lucien's DEEPDIVE, he shares the journey of the bank from a small and unknown entity to acquisition by STC to approval by the Saudi Central Bank (aka SAMA) roughly 8 years later, and why it is a watershed moment...

In Episode 42, Hanaa Almoaibed leads a deepdive examining the evolution and milestones of women's football in Saudi Arabia and the rapid establishment and scale of the sport in just a few years. Recently, NEOM released a report entitled 'Pioneering Change: Women's Football in Saudi Arabia,' highlighting just how far things have come for the popular sport in the Kingdom for women, and the incredibl...

In Episode 41, regular guest contributor, influencer, and Saudi cultural consultant Ghada AlMuhanna joins hosts Lucien and Hanaa to talk about Riyadh's new metro system, now fully launched and operational in the Kingdom's capital. The hosts and Ghada talk about their perceptions and impressions riding the metro for the first time - what's great, what's unique, and how the metro is impacting cultur...

The TWENTY30 kicks off 2025 with Episode 40 (!) after a short break over the holiday season with Lucien now in Riyadh joining from King Saud University and Dr. Hanaa having completed several weeks in Saudi Arabia over the break. The hosts catch up on Lucien's move with family and discuss the weather and the exciting guests coming up on the show in the coming weeks. Lucien leads a DEEPDIVE on Saudi...

Happy Holidays to The TWENTY30’s growing community of listeners and viewers! In Episode 39, co-hosts Dr. Hanaa Almoaibed and Lucien Zeigler are joined by Dina Amin, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Visual Arts Commission to talk about how Saudi Arabia is developing homegrown artistic talent and the work she’s doing in building an art ecosystem from the ground-up. The Visual Arts Commission, as part of the Mi...

Saudi Arabia has soared up in UN rankings on digital government and e-government, jumping 25 places in the latest UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2024. Not only that, but Riyadh city is - amazingly - now ranked 3rd GLOBALLY among 193 cities worldwide. The high rankings are welcomed in Saudi Arabia, but for residents and regular visitors, it is not all that surprising. The Kingdom’s e-gove...

Much of the talk inside and outside of Saudi Arabia is about the Kingdom’s giga-projects. Can they be done? Will their impact match or exceed the investment? Although 6 giga-projects are now actively being built in Saudi Arabia, none are the first. Jubail Industrial City is the original, and as the first successful giga-project, offers a blueprint for the successful completion and economic payoff...

The TWENTY30’s Saudi real estate guru, Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research at Knight Frank Middle East, is back! Faisal joins hosts Lucien and Hanaa to discuss some of the latest research and findings from Knight Frank, the leading consultancy on real estate in the Middle East region, and to give listeners an update on the booming real estate market in Saudi Arabia. There’s been a 38% sur...

Episode 35! Co-hosts Lucien and Hanaa kick off the episode discussing the recent addition to Lucien's family, and catch-up on Hanaa's recent travels to Saudi Arabia to speak at a CSR Forum in Riyadh, as well as visit her hometown and family in the Eastern Province.  Then, joining the hosts on the MAINSTAGE is Faris Al-Sulayman, co-founder at Haala Energy, a leading Saudi solar energy company that...

It's FII week in Riyadh! 📈 That means the who's who of the finance, investment, and business world are descending upon the Saudi capital for Saudi Arabia's largest annual event - the 8th Future Investment Initiative held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center (KAICC).  Co-hosts Dr. Hanaa Almoaibed and Lucien Zeigler talk about the event and discuss some elements of the program and...

Lama Khaiyat, CEO of Awtada, a boutique Saudi consultancy and public policy advisory firm, joins hosts Hanaa and Lucien to discuss the world of consulting in Saudi Arabia and the rapid growth of her firm.  The consultancy market in Saudi Arabia reached $3.2 billion in 2023. The market grew by 17.5% in 2022, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.5% through 2029. But...

In Episode 32, co-hosts Hanaa Almoaibed and Lucien Zeigler share thoughtful feedback from Episode 31 and the TWENTY30's exclusive conversation with entrepreneur Iyad Aldalooj, which elicited tons of comments and excitement from many in and outside of Saudi Arabia. Then the hosts get to a DEEPDIVE on Saudi women in the workforce, and how the labor market transformation in Saudi Arabia has significa...

Iyad Aldalooj started Penny Software after serving as an executive for Careem, the mobility startup which exited for $3 billion to Uber Technologies. Penny is now one of the Kingdom's fastest-growing startups with SAR 1 billion in transactions in 2023 and customers worldwide. In an exclusive interview and conversation with hosts Hanaa Almoaibed and Lucien Zeigler, Iyad shares his journey, which be...

Episode 30! 🤩 Hosts Hanaa and Lucien kick off the show catching up on a busy week with tons of travel ahead. In this episode, Hanaa does a DEEPDIVE into Saudi Arabia as a luxury market and destination for fashion and luxury goods. A recently-released report titled 'New Codes of Luxury in Saudi Arabia' by the TOGETHER group and the Future Laboratory group explores the evolving luxury market in Sau...

A special episode to celebrate Saudi National Day on Monday, September 23! The TWENTY30's special guest contributor, Ghada Almuhanna, a visual anthropologist who is widely followed through her Instagram account documenting interesting Saudi photos and art, joins to talk all things Saudi National Day on the 94th anniversary.  Saudi National Day celebrates the formal unification of the Kingdom in 19...

From Tabuk, a mid-size city in Saudi Arabia's northern region, to a PHD from Duke University and now founder of one of Saudi Arabia's most successful startup companies, Dr. Hassan Albalawi's incredible journey represents a successful investment by Saudi Arabia into the promise of its citizens. In Episode 28, Dr. Hassan sits down with The TWENTY30's Lucien Zeigler and Dr. Hanaa Almoaibed for an exc...

Riyadh Season, a globally unique and dynamic annual series of events in Saudi Arabia, is back for 2024-2025. It's *so* back -- and this year is likely to be the best yet. Lucien leads the episode's DEEPDIVE segment on the season, now well-established and evolving with new offerings each year, includes a diverse range of activities such as theme parks, concerts, pop-up restaurants, sports events, a...

In Episode 26, the hosts begin by commenting off the cuff on an element of The TWENTY30's introduction track, and how an effect of Dr. Hanaa's voice made them think about a Rihanna song, which caused Hanaa to share some interesting things she learned in a recent singing instruction. Despite Lucien's pleas, Hanaa declined (!) to sing the Rihanna song she practiced in that class. Hanaa then leads th...

As The TWENTY30 reaches an exciting milestone of 10,000 subscribers (!) and 25 episodes, the hosts begin by reflecting briefly on the journey so far, and why they feel grateful and appreciative of all the listeners and viewers who have supported the show with subscriptions, follows, shares, and feedback (it’s not too late to do so, by the way! Click on the subscribe link wherever you’re listening...

Dr. Ibrahim Almojel joins The TWENTY30 hosts Hanaa and Lucien for an exclusive conversation in Episode 24. Almojel, who sits on the board of nearly a dozen of the most active government and private investment funds in Saudi Arabia, also lead Saudi Arabia’s most powerful industrial investment body for 5 pivotal years after Vision 2030 launched. During that time, Almojel not only transformed the fun...

In Episode 23, hosts Hanaa and Lucien discuss a recent interview with Saudi Arabia's Minister of Sport Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud and how the Kingdom is going all-in on football with its recent finalized bid for the World Cup 2034 and major investments into stadiums and the development of local talent -- not just on the pitch but in the administration of its up and coming Saudi Pro League. The ho...

The tourism sector in Saudi Arabia is set to be the fastest growing in the Middle East over the next decade, with an average annual growth of 11%. Joining hosts Hanaa and Lucien this week on the MAINSTAGE segment of The TWENTY30 Podcast is HH Princess Fahda Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi tourism entrepreneur who transformed a popular instagram hobby into a thriving tourism services and consultancy business...

Hosts Lucien and Hanaa, both located in the U.S. for the first time (though on opposite coasts), catch up on their recent travel and share some feedback from a listener. Before the DEEPDIVE segment, the hosts also share a new segment they're introducing this episode, a "SHOUTOUTS" portion to conclude the program, which shares stories of people who are doing interesting, good, or productive work -...

In Episode #20 (!) of The TWENTY30 Podcast, hosts Hanaa and Lucien catch up on all the feedback they've gotten over the past week, which included a flood of positive comments on Fatima Batook's episode (#19). Then the hosts get to Lucien's DEEPDIVE segment, which is an overview and analysis of all of the stadiums that Saudi Arabia is building now as the Kingdom rolls up its sleeves and begins prep...

In Episode 19, hosts Hanaa Almoaibed and Lucien Zeigler talk with Fatima Batook, a trailblazer for Saudi women in sports and the founder of Teema, the first Saudi Arabian sports apparel brand. Fatima discusses her transformative journey in the world of fitness and sports. She shares her experiences and challenges establishing spinning and fitness studios across Saudi Arabia and the region, and obs...