His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology during the Government Press Conference, 30 August 2026.

“And there are great success stories, including Salla… Nawaf Hariri. Today, one platform has generated SAR 36 billion in technology, digital, and e-commerce activity, creating 100,000 jobs and enabling 120,000 stores.”

His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, during the Government Press Conference on 30 August 2026.

Among the companies and entrepreneurs that have contributed to the growth of Saudi Arabia’s digital economy, His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Alswaha chose to give Salla a prominent mention during the 36th Government Press Conference, ahead of LEAP 2026.

Salla was not mentioned in passing as part of a broader overview of the sector. His Excellency named Salla’s Founder and CEO, Nawaf Hariri, described the company as one of the Kingdom’s “great success stories,” and highlighted the scale of its commercial and economic impact through the numbers behind it.

At Salla, we receive this recognition with immense pride. To see Salla’s story told from a government platform, by the minister responsible for the communications and technology sector, is recognition of a journey that began with an ambitious Saudi vision, was built by a team that believed technology could transform the way commerce works, and was brought to life by merchants who turned the platform’s capabilities into stores, brands, jobs, and real economic opportunities.

Seen together, the numbers tell the story in full. SAR 36 billion in activity reflects the scale of commerce generated through the Salla ecosystem. 120,000 stores represent the breadth of merchants who found a path to market through the platform. And 100,000 jobs show that the impact has extended far beyond buying and selling, reaching employment, income generation, and the growth of entire supporting sectors.

These are numbers worth celebrating, because they capture how far Salla has come and what a Saudi-built platform can achieve when vision, technology, and a deep understanding of the market come together and are placed in the hands of thousands of merchants.

Salla at the heart of a SAR 522 billion digital economy

This recognition comes at a time when Saudi Arabia’s digital economy has reached SAR 522 billion, growing by more than 75% since the launch of Saudi Vision 2030, while employment in the technology sector has increased from 150,000 to 410,000 jobs.

Within this rapidly evolving landscape, Salla stands out as a Saudi example of how digital transformation moves from policy and infrastructure into the everyday reality of commerce for thousands of merchants.

What Salla has built goes far beyond creating online stores. The platform has reshaped the journey into commerce by bringing together the tools merchants need to manage products, accept payments, ship orders, market their businesses, and track growth within one integrated ecosystem.

That has brought technology closer to the merchant and made the path from idea to market faster, clearer, and more scalable.

This is what it means in practice to describe Salla as a national success story: a Saudi company that built technology from within the market, understood merchants in their own language, context, and day-to-day realities, and turned that understanding into commercial infrastructure that now supports economic activity at scale.

SAR 36 billion: Activity created by thousands of businesses on Salla

When His Excellency highlighted the figure of SAR 36 billion, he gave the public a clear measure of the scale of activity generated through Salla’s ecosystem.

Behind that number are thousands of commercial decisions and transactions: a product that found its market, a store receiving its first order, a home business reaching customers beyond its immediate circle, a local brand expanding into new cities, and a merchant managing sales, payments, and shipping from one place.

Salla’s value lies in making that journey possible at scale. It has lowered the barriers to getting started, shortened the distance between an idea and a first sale, and given business owners access to tools that once required more time, expertise, and capital.

When that journey is repeated across thousands of stores, the impact becomes much bigger than the sum of individual transactions.

Markets expand. Local products reach new customers. Businesses grow. New demand is created for services, talent, and partnerships.

At that point, SAR 36 billion becomes more than a sales figure. It becomes a measure of the ability of Saudi technology to activate markets and create economic value that grows with every store, every transaction, and every new opportunity.

120,000 stores: A growing commercial base built through Salla

His Excellency connected the scale of this activity to Salla reaching 120,000 stores, a figure that reflects both the breadth of the platform’s reach and its ability to support merchants across different sizes, sectors, and stages of growth.

Behind every store is a different reason for starting.

A craft became a business. A product was developed to solve a problem. A traditional retailer wanted to reach customers beyond its physical location. A Saudi brand set out to expand. A small idea discovered that its market was bigger than expected.

The power of this number lies not only in the number of stores, but in the number of possibilities they create.

Every store is an opportunity to test a product, reach a customer, build a brand, grow a team, and create economic value that can scale over time.

Salla has made establishing a digital commercial presence simpler and more accessible, giving merchants an infrastructure they can start with according to their capabilities and expand as their ambitions grow.

In doing so, the platform has not simply hosted stores. It has helped broaden participation in Saudi Arabia’s digital commerce economy.

100,000 jobs: Impact that extends beyond the store

His Excellency’s reference to 100,000 jobs shows that Salla’s impact does not stop at store numbers or transaction value.

A store may begin with one person or a small team, but as it grows, it creates work around it: product management, photography, design, marketing, customer service, packaging, delivery, accounting, app development, data analysis, content creation, and many of the other services that modern commerce depends on.

This figure reflects the depth of the economic activity created around Salla’s ecosystem.

The value lies not only in enabling a merchant to launch a store, but also in the ability of that business to generate demand for skills, services, employment, and supporting companies.

Every store that grows successfully can become the center of a wider economic network, extending to employees, suppliers, service providers, and partners.

In that sense, Salla becomes an enabling infrastructure through which not only commerce moves, but a broader network of professional and economic opportunities takes shape.

A Saudi product built from understanding the market

Salla’s strength has never come from technology in isolation. It comes from technology built around a deep understanding of the Saudi merchant: their language, the way they work, their needs, and the challenges that stand between them and growth.

As the platform has expanded, that local knowledge has become a continuous source of product development.

Every tool built, every integration added, and every journey simplified helps turn digital transformation from a broad concept into something merchants can actually experience in their stores, orders, payments, and customer relationships.

This is one of the most important strengths of national technology companies: they do not simply operate within the market. They grow from understanding its details, build around its needs, and reinvest their success into an ecosystem of talent, partners, and services within the Kingdom.

In Salla’s story, Saudi Arabia’s vision for digital transformation, advanced technological and regulatory infrastructure, and Saudi entrepreneurial ambition all came together around a clear opportunity.

The result is no longer a promise for the future. It is visible today in businesses, jobs, and measurable economic activity.

Salla’s success is measured through the success of its merchants

The strongest measure of an enablement platform is what its users are able to achieve through it.

That is why recognition of Salla is also recognition of the merchants who trusted the platform, launched their stores, learned from their first orders, improved their products, built teams, served customers, and contributed every day to the growth of this ecosystem.

Salla built the infrastructure that allowed these stories to begin and grow at scale. Merchants turned that infrastructure into real businesses.

That relationship is at the heart of Salla’s impact: the more merchants the platform enables to build, operate, and grow, the greater its economic value and the wider its impact on the market.

So when Salla is mentioned, it also brings to mind the store that began from home, the Saudi brand that shipped its first order outside its city, the merchant who moved years of experience into a digital channel, the young man or woman who found a path into work through commerce, and the employee whose job exists because a business was created that did not exist a few years earlier.

These stories are the clearest proof of Salla’s impact.

National recognition raises the level of ambition

To see His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology describe Salla as one of the Kingdom’s “great success stories” is a source of pride and a recognition of the role the platform now plays in Saudi Arabia’s digital economy.

And as that role grows, so does the level of ambition and responsibility.

The quality, reliability, and ease of the technology are increasingly connected to the ability of thousands of merchants to run and grow their businesses successfully.

Reaching 120,000 stores is not an end point. It is the foundation for a much larger stage of impact, one that will be measured by how many more stores are able to sustain and grow, how many Saudi brands expand through the platform, and how many new jobs and economic opportunities emerge around their success.

From a Saudi vision to national impact

At the Government Press Conference, Salla was presented as one of the Kingdom’s “great success stories,” backed by measurable impact: SAR 36 billion in technology, digital, and e-commerce activity, 100,000 jobs, and 120,000 stores.

Behind those numbers is a Saudi vision that believed technology could open new doors for commerce, a team that built and developed the platform, and merchants who trusted it and turned its capabilities into products, orders, brands, and employment opportunities.

That is why we are proud to see Salla recognized in His Excellency’s remarks.

It is recognition of what the company has built, the role it now plays, and the ability of a Saudi platform to create impact that reaches the market, people, and the wider economy.

This is Salla’s story as it deserves to be told: a Saudi company that started with a clear vision, built technology around the merchant, expanded access to commerce, and grew until its impact became part of the wider story of Saudi Arabia’s digital economy.

Sources

• ⁠Saudi Ministry of Media – Government Press Conference Clip

• ⁠Al Arabiya Business – Minister of Communications speaking about Salla

• ⁠Sabq – Saudi Digital Economy reaches 522 billion riyals

• ⁠Okaz – Digital Economy growth and rise of tech jobs

• ⁠Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

• ⁠Salla – Official Website