Amaala has been awarded two ISO certifications covering risk management and business continuity management systems – the highest level of certification available by the awarding body. 

The development, located along the north-western Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, was audited by the British Standards Institution BSI.

The ISO31000:2018 certification is a result of the implementation of a rigorous process towards risk identification, analysis, evaluation and treatment that adhere to business objectives.

The audit successfully recognised the efficiencies of Amaala’s risk management strategy, which guaranteed confident risk reporting, successful decision making and accountability across the organisation.

For the ISO 22301:2019 certification, BSI conducted an audit on the current operations of the organization, analysing the strategic direction of the management system and comparing the current the resilience controls and arrangements that have been put in place against the overall strategic goals of the organisation and its risk appetite.

BSI found the Amaala approach to resilience and its components of crisis management and business continuity to be compliant with the standard.

This competence will continue to be re-assessed annually to ensure the highest levels of implementation are maintained.

“Holding ourselves to the highest standards is at the heart of our work at Amaala,” said John Pagano, chief executive of Amaala.

“Both certifications are a reward for our consistent approach to managing risk and resilience in an organized and process-driven manner.

“Amaala now joins the Red Sea Development Company in being recognised as a regional leader in terms of resilience and business continuity, and risk management and I am delighted that the project is being delivered in line with globally recognised standards,” he added.

The successful implementation of the operations at Amaala have been demonstrated through its response to Covid-19 and the organisation was commended for maintaining its critical business activities during the pandemic.

The audit also assessed the manner in which Amaala analysed and mitigated continuity risks in is supply chain, evaluating critical suppliers and its own resilience capability, all of which were praised by the assigned auditor.

BSI also commended the strategic support and commitment that Amaala clearly has towards resilience, as well as the collaboration between all teams who have a role in managing and responding to disruptive incidents.

Amaala is a core component of the Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy by enabling rapid growth in the tourism sector.

The project is expected to create upwards of 50,000 new direct, indirect and induced jobs for Saudis, as well as upwards of three billion riyals to the GDP of Saudi Arabia once fully operational.

Amaala has awarded more than 250 contracts worth in excess of 5.1 billion riyals, of which more than 78 per cent was awarded to Saudi companies.