London Business School (LBS) reports a significant rise in demand from Saudi executives, with participation in open programmes increasing by 82% between 2022 and 2025. Driven by the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, the school has opened a dedicated office in Riyadh to support the growing need for advanced leadership skills across public and private sectors.
Participation data from the School’s last three academic years (2022-25) shows 9,000 participants from 254 countries worldwide have participated in one of the School’s top ranked Executive Education open programmes. In the same period, Saudi executive participation in LBS’s open programmes increased by 82%, while Custom Clients grew by 88%.
“Saudi Arabia’s transformation is creating new demands on leadership across both public and private sectors,” said Tim Landucci, Head of Office (Saudi Arabia), Director of Corporate Community, LBS. “We are seeing more Saudi executives seek formal leadership education to equip themselves for increasingly complex organisational challenges as organisations scale under Vision 2030.”
Saudi nationals now account for 67% of all Gulf-based participation in the School’s Executive Education, and Saudi professionals represent the largest nationality group in the School’s Executive MBA cohort at its Dubai campus. The significant increase in enrolment of Saudi executives reflects accelerated demand for advanced leadership capability as organisations across government, sovereign funds and the private sector, scale transformation efforts under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Executive Education participation spans both open programmes, where professionals from across organisations and industries enrol individually, and custom programmes, which are deeply tailored and designed in partnership with organisations to address specific leadership and business needs. Participants come from a broad range of public and private-sector organisations that drive the Kingdom’s economic transformation, including organisations.
Rehab Alkhater, an LBS Executive Education past participant said: “Studying at London Business School in Saudi Arabia provided me with a broader strategic perspective and the practical skillset I needed to lead more effectively in a rapidly evolving environment.”
LBS has recently strengthened its long-term commitment to Saudi Arabia with the opening of a dedicated Executive Education office in Riyadh. Through partnerships with leading public and private-sector organisations LBS is contributing to the sustainable, knowledge-driven growth that is advancing the Kingdom’s economic and social transformation.
Over the past five years, LBS is proud to have supported the transformation and growth of almost a thousand Saudi women leaders, through Executive Education programmes. In the last academic year, the School saw a 52% year-on-year increase in the participation of Saudi women executives.
