How FII’s Richard Attias Earns the Trust of Global Elites
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Richard Attias has been gathering international elites for greater than 30 years. He was govt producer of the World Financial Discussion board’s annual assembly at Davos for 15 years, launched the Clinton Global Initiative, and has produced Nobel Laureates Conferences. Now in its eighth yr, the Future Funding Initiative (FII)—the high-profile funding convention Attias leads—will carry collectively the likes of BlackRock’s Larry Fink, TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser in Riyadh from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31 to debate the essential challenges throughout points together with power, local weather change, funding, synthetic intelligence, and coverage.
“I’m a civil engineer, and instead of building bridges, my passion for 35 years was to build bridges between people, because I know for a fact that there is not a single issue which could not be solved by a dialogue—and an in-person dialogue,” Attias tells TIME. Even amid lockdowns and journey restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Attias says he fought to make sure an in-person gathering might happen in Riyadh. Not like the common occasions, which draw round 5,000 delegates, he introduced collectively 600 in January 2021, with an choice for individuals to attend nearly as properly. “We took all the necessary healthcare precautions, but we had this amazing conversation. We all came—the 600 CEOs—with a conviction, what we called ‘The Neo-Renaissance.’ We knew that the world would come back stronger. We knew that the world and our humanity is resilient,” he says.
Attias based his communication and advisory agency Richard Attias & Associates in 2008. The agency makes a speciality of nation branding, with a give attention to attracting international direct funding, and notably produced the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in its first yr. In 2017, after being approached by the ruling household of Saudi Arabia, he created the FII, referred to as “Davos in the desert,” and went on to discovered the FII Institute not-for-profit basis, which he leads as CEO.
Born in Fez, Morocco, Attias has a protracted historical past with the area. He beforehand served as CEO of the U.A.E. authorities entity Dubai Occasion Administration Firm and has turn into referred to as a trusted advisor to the Home of Saud. However he additionally exhibits pleasure for the kingdom’s potential. “As a civil engineer, if I had to go back to work, I would definitely pick Saudi Arabia as my destination, because I want to be part of what is being built there, like the Murabba project.” FII has confronted challenges, although. The 2018 summit confronted boycotts in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s homicide, however Attias emphasizes the energy of bringing individuals collectively for a dialogue, “Even if you don’t agree with your counterparts.”
Attias spoke to TIME in September about how he earns the belief of international enterprise leaders, the potential of AI, and what’s subsequent for the FII.
This interview has been condensed and edited for readability.
The FII is in its eighth yr now. Inform me about the way it began.
It began eight years in the past with a quite simple request: The management of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was investing increasingly more in Imaginative and prescient 2030 and one of the autos of Imaginative and prescient 2030 is the Public Funding Fund [PIF], which is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. And that is the engine of the diversification of the financial system of the kingdom. So, after I was requested, as somebody who was referred to as a curator of a number of international platforms, what can we do? I recommended to the management of the kingdom and to His Excellency, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, that there’s a vacuum. Not a single international platform speaking about funding worldwide, focusing solely on funding, actually existed. To cite the Crown Prince, he mentioned “Yes, it would be fantastic to have a place where every year people gather to understand where the money is going, in terms of geographies and in terms of sectors.” That’s the DNA of FII. It is a name to motion—how ought to we make investments for good? And the way can we even be extraordinarily inclusive with rising economies. At FII, one can find not solely international CEOs like the large non-public equities of the world, however one can find individuals from India, China, Korea, Japan, Africa, Latin America. [And] one can find completely different generations of leaders—the outdated guard, but in addition younger entrepreneurs and startups.
After a couple of years, we realized that this dialog was beginning to have a fantastic affect on humanity. We determined, 5 years in the past, that this dialog needs to be owned by an impartial car. And we created the FII Institute as a not-for-profit basis, which is now 100% impartial financially, as a result of we’ve got greater than 40 strategic companions, worldwide, international firms—HSBC, Visa, Aramco, and Reliance, to call a couple of. We grew to become a world catalyst for change, bridging innovation, sustainability and human progress to empower a brighter and extra inclusive future. And we realized that for some geographies, it was sophisticated for them to hitch the dialog yearly in Riyadh, so we determined additionally to have the FII in Miami, in Brazil, and in Hong Kong. And that is how we’re creating these international conversations.
Not everybody can convene the likes of Larry Fink, Christine Lagarde, and Jamie Dimon. How have you ever approached rising this summit to turn into a daily fixture on the calendars of prime CEOs and different leaders?
Frankly talking, the option to persuade these individuals is about belief. If you find yourself a trusted particular person they usually know that you do not have a selected agenda. And you’ll all the time give attention to concepts. They arrive as a result of they know that the conversations which might be curated are surprising conversations. They study. They share—in whole transparency—greatest practices. And I all the time struggle to incorporate the media in the middle of my conversations as a result of they’re the people who find themselves difficult all these conversations.
And we create the circumstances to assist have deal conversations. In the previous seven years, we realized that in FII, greater than $120 billion value of offers occurred [at FII]. The magic contact of FII is that we’re capable of create, yearly, this ambiance underneath the identical roof, the place individuals know that they should do one thing to affect humanity. I’m obsessive about the name to motion. They like that as a result of it’s tangible and this is the reason they like to return. For this reason at the FII Institute, we began the FII Precedence Compass. Yearly we do an enormous survey worldwide—50,000-plus individuals in additional than half of the world, representing virtually 50% of the inhabitants in the world, in all geographies. The principle query we ask is, what’s your precedence right this moment? Three and a half years in the past, after we began, everybody was speaking about local weather change. After COVID, precedence primary for the previous three years, and nonetheless now. Individuals are extraordinarily involved by their monetary economics. So we nonetheless see these three key priorities: primary is value of dwelling, quantity two is social inclusion. And entry to healthcare.
You talked about that local weather and ESG is much less of a precedence since the pandemic—
Oh no, to be trustworthy, now persons are actually taking a look at it. We see extra urge for food. We had been in Brazil in June and ESG was actually half of the dialog, as a result of they know that it is extraordinarily essential for Latin America and for the Global South to have a look at ESG funding. So that you’re completely proper—after COVID, it was a little bit bit forgotten, however we pushed onerous, and now we see that conversations about ESG are coming again, as a result of everyone seems to be struggling to draw international direct funding. Personal fairness companies are telling me it is sophisticated right this moment to boost cash as a result of many individuals are involved a few potential large financial disaster, a recession. The topic of money owed in international locations is turning into extraordinarily regarding. Europe shouldn’t be doing very properly—we see some social actions beginning. So when you could have this, [feeling of] “oh, I don’t know where the world is going”—in inventory markets, there may be a lot volatility, in the event you take a look at some inventory champions like a LVMH or Nvidia, oh my God, they go from plus 20% to dropping 20% in a single week. This volatility is regarding for a lot of buyers, and this is the reason right this moment it isn’t straightforward to boost capital. So this second is difficult, and this is the reason it is essential to refocus on ESG and to push buyers to take a position for good, and to have a look at some rising economies. We see cash going East and South—we noticed many investments occurring in Brazil. And we additionally see cash going to Africa in some very particular sectors, like mining, renewable power, and infrastructure. So it is fairly attention-grabbing to see these new equations. And that is what is an element of the content material of FII yearly.
You talked about Nvidia. I think about that AI will characteristic closely in conversations this yr too. There’s been some discuss whether or not we’re in an AI bubble. What are your ideas on that, and what are you anticipating the dialog to be?
It is a vital dialog. One of the outcomes of our survey is that greater than 50% of the those that we’ve got questioned think about that AI and generative AI is now an especially essential half of their day-to-day lives. AI isn’t just a development or a bubble. AI is unquestionably one thing which can keep. I used to be [recently] having a dialog on stage with one of our companions, Marcelo Claure from Claure Group. He was a former CEO of SoftBank [Group International], and [recently named Group Vice Chairman] of Shein. I used to be [trying] to grasp why AI was turning into virtually a spine of every little thing he is doing. He’s a cheerful proprietor of the Girona soccer [soccer] group in Spain. He purchased this group when it was in the second league, not well-known. He took AI and he tried to have a look at information about gamers in the world. And as a substitute of paying a fortune for some gamers, he went and purchased some gamers who [had] superb information on their efficiency. And AI helped him to put money into a really good approach. And by shopping for these gamers who weren’t on the radar, imagine it or not, Girona grew to become virtually the chief of league one. He did precisely the identical investing in AI with the Mayo Clinic, and they’re investing loads on docs who’re doing diagnostics remotely. What a fantastic revolution—wonderful, inclusive entry to well being. So sure, my conviction, the conviction of the FII Institute from day one, AI was one of our pillars [along with] robotics, sustainability, schooling, and healthcare. So we’re completely satisfied that AI will disrupt all industries for the long run, bringing extra productiveness, extra effectivity, and it is going to be AI for good. Sure, we have to reply the query, are we dropping jobs as a result of of AI? No, we simply have to reinvent and create new jobs and to regulate and adapt the present jobs for individuals to be educated, to get the expertise that are wanted to combine this AI revolution. I feel we should always take a look at AI as an incredible device, and a device for progress.
You touched on the difficulty of the way it might affect the labor market, and earlier you spoke about inequality. Folks like Sam Altman have recommended that AI might carry the flooring and assist to scale back inequality. Is that one thing you’re listening to individuals speaking about proper now?
Sure, at FII Miami in February, it was not our intention, however at the finish of the two and a half days, we realized that everybody on stage was bringing AI into the dialog. After we had been speaking about sports activities, power, or house, AI was there. So persons are adopting AI, and they’re making an attempt to see how this AI will disrupt, for good, conversations and sectors. And likewise how AI can, completely, cut back inequalities. How are you able to cut back inequalities? Primary, schooling, schooling, schooling. It is extraordinarily essential to coach all the individuals in the world, as a result of that is how you’ll give them an opportunity to be half of the international financial system. AI may very well be an accelerator of that. Inclusive expertise is one of the key outcomes of our FII Precedence Index—governments ought to struggle to offer entry to expertise to their individuals. It is completely crucial. And I feel the non-public sector ought to play a task additionally in that, as a result of we can not dwell in a world which is split, the place you could have the individuals who have entry to expertise and the individuals who don’t. So the minute you could have entry to the expertise, then you may have entry to information.
I see this AI—I’d not say revolution, I’d name it the AI evolution—being a progress for our civilization. In fact, we have to deal with some ethics dangers, some challenges that we’ve got in phrases of protection and safety. However this isn’t new, and I feel world leaders are taking care of that. The non-public sector needs to be half of this dialog, and we’re at FII Institute internet hosting some of these conversations.
There have been some people who find themselves in favor of pause in AI growth, and have referred to as for that, together with Elon Musk.
Personally, I do not assume we are able to cease the AI evolution, and we should always not. It could be a mistake. And in the event you take a look at the nation the place we had been born, Saudi Arabia, there’s a nice imaginative and prescient on AI, a fantastic technique on AI, on how you can develop and implement information facilities, on how you can create a full ecosystem for AI, for entrepreneurs, incubators. However at the identical time, there’s a lot of lucidity about tackling and addressing these points and having actual deep conversations. These will not be matters that you may ignore, however you can not cease an evolution, solely as a result of there’s a danger. The other—it’s essential to deal with the danger, it’s essential to put in some regulation, guidelines of regulation, and so forth. It is like the web or the house revolution and evolution—now we’d like these satellites to go throughout the world to make certain that we’re all related. So I feel expertise is nice, progress is nice, however you want all the time—and this is the reason we’d like world leaders and we’d like management—to make certain that we deal with the challenges that any single evolution is bringing to our humanity with dangers.
Saudi Arabia has been present process an enormous transformation underneath the Crown Prince, however there have been some challenges. I imagine the FII additionally confronted some challenges in 2018. Not everybody essentially has needed to be related to Saudi Arabia, significantly round the time of the homicide of Jamal Khashoggi. How have you ever seen perceptions of the kingdom evolve?
First of all, I’ve a private philosophy for greater than 30 years, which is to by no means combine conferences with politics, which is extraordinarily essential. For this reason I am very joyful that the FII is owned by the FII Institute as an impartial group. After I was in my earlier life producing the opening ceremony of the Olympics in China in 2008 everybody was calling for a boycott, after which everybody got here to China to attend the Olympics. So FII in 2018 was very extremely attended. We had greater than 4,000 delegates who got here. We’d like all the time to be right here to have conversations, even in the event you do not agree along with your counterparts. So 2018, the second version of FII, was a fantastic version. We had nice conversations, and we spoke about every little thing.
The second level, about how I see the evolution of the picture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a branding nation knowledgeable, I see the picture rising in a really optimistic approach, as a result of individuals notice that Imaginative and prescient 2030 is occurring. As a result of individuals see the transformation of the kingdom with ladies’s inclusion, ladies’s empowerment. You can’t discuss any nation except you go to the nation. And belief me, what I see and what I see throughout the conversations we’ve got at FII is persons are excited by how the nation is transferring ahead in tourism, in infrastructure, in sports activities, how the nation is transferring in phrases of renewable power, transformation, adopting hydrogen, how the nation is reworking itself in the sector of leisure. And lots of different sectors, creating jobs and galvanizing loads of individuals. So I see the picture and the evolution in a really optimistic approach. It is actually a startup nation in movement, and there’s a lot of power, and I see loads of dedication from the Saudi individuals behind the imaginative and prescient. There’s a path, and there’s a vibrant society. I’m extraordinarily impressed by the high quality of the individuals of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which I feel is the fundamental power of the kingdom. I do not assume the power is oil. I feel the power of the kingdom is basically the individuals of Saudi Arabia, women and men, who’re actually working tremendous onerous, and are extraordinarily curious—adopting AI, adopting applied sciences, extraordinarily, vocal on social media, and so forth. I see the transformation of the media panorama.
It jogs my memory, actually, for a rustic of 35 million habitants, what is occurring now to help the model is sort of what occurred in China 25 years in the past, when the nation went via an enormous transformation and have become the primary or quantity two financial energy of the world. In fact, every nation has its challenges, however the challenges are addressed and we dwell in the international world the place every little thing is clear. And FII is profitable as a result of it’s occurring in Riyadh, which is turning into a hub, connecting West and East, North and South. So even the geography is a bonus right this moment in the international world and on this new world order which is occurring, in phrases of geoeconomics.
You talked about that you’re impartial, however is there a monetary relationship with the [Saudi] state?
No, we received our income from two completely different sources. We began a membership group as a result of we noticed that many of our delegates, members, needed to play a task with us. They needed to contribute to our initiatives, the place we give entry to wash water in some African villages, entry to schooling in different international locations, as a result of right this moment, many international locations had been left behind throughout COVID, with no entry to expertise. Additionally they wish to help our stories, our publications. As of right this moment, we’ve got greater than 1,500 members—people or firms.
After which we’ve got strategic companions. We do not need amount, we wish high quality, and we do not need too many, as a result of for every of them, we’re growing initiatives collectively. We would like them to be very concerned in our applications. As of right this moment, we’ve got 35 strategic companions. PIF is one of them, however we’ve got a number of worldwide firms from the U.S., from Europe, from Latin America, and these are the revenues and the supply of revenues, that are making us impartial right this moment.
You’ve got expanded to Miami, Hong Kong, London. What are your plans for the future?
In 2025, we will probably be, for positive, again to Miami, as a result of Miami is turning into an especially profitable dialog. And we see nice fintech entrepreneurs, AI entrepreneurs—Miami is sort of a brand new America. We will certainly return to Asia in December 2025. We’ll probably be in Europe for the first time, as a result of it is a vital second to debate Europe. You noticed all this transformation occurring in U.Okay., in France, in Germany, and so forth. So it is a vital time for us to probably host a dialog in Europe. Undoubtedly, we will probably be in Asia. We will probably be in Riyadh yearly. After which we’ll determine what we’ll do in Africa. We received an invite from the authorities of Kenya to host an FII in Kenya, however we’ll see what is going to occur in 2025. The board will determine, after we hear from our members, the place do they need us to go, to host dialog, to assist them to be in contact with [certain] areas to grasp the financial system, the ecosystem, the geoeconomics of continents. However our purpose is to be in all continents.