Start-ups, solar power: Here’s what you didn’t know about Saudi Arabia 2014

The Saudis just have to diversify. Into solar power, poultry, dairy, petrochemicals and innovative technology. The Middle East’s biggest economy is running out of black gold and the wells may run dry in just 16 years time, according to some estimates.

Interestingly, for a country – and culture – that seems pretty resistant to change, the Saudis appear to have factored in the new reality fairly fast.

They’re opening their stock exchange to foreign investors and according to reports, several Saudi companies are venturing out. These include SABIC, Glowork, Saudi Aramco and Almarai, according to OZY.

Click here for the full article. But if you don’t, suffice it to say that exciting developments are afoot.

SABIC, $103.4 billion market value, is pitching itself as global petrochemical leader and offers smart new technology such as solar panels, a film for touch screens and the first polycarbonate automobile wheel.

Glowork is at the forefront of the Saudi startup revolution with the goal of creating an authentic knowledge-based economy by 2025. It’s hiring women; what’s more, it’s giving them serious jobs.

The state-owned Saudi Aramco, with 54,000 employees, is leading the solar and alternative energy revolution.

Almarai, $10.4 billion market cap, is the region’s largest food company, is planning to expand with a juice factory, a 5,000-cow dairy farm and other goodies.