Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

Providing electricity in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the U.K., the energy company has over 10 million customers across its different regions of operation. But a March 2021 deal is likely to remake the company's geographic profile; in the deal, PPL agreed to sell its U.K. utility business to the British company National Grid, while buying National Grid's Rhode Island unit, The Narragansett Electric Co.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-408-PPL

The Allentown, Pa.-based utility provides power to some 10 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the U.K.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

World's Most Admired Companies

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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Get insights into PPL including business profile, stock information, news, and rankings from Fortune.

PPL (PPL): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Fortune Editors

Fortune 500 Power Moves: Which executives gained and lost power, Jan. 11–17, 2025

/2025/01/17/fortune-500-power-moves-jan-11-17/

Policy has increasingly become a big influence on corporate strategy. Government decisions on trade, investment, and technology are forcing business leaders to act quickly and decisively with respect to supply chains, manufacturing hubs, and capital flows. How can CEOs stay ahead when policy, not just market forces, are reshaping the bounds of global business? Business leaders share their insights on how to find common ground between public and private priorities.

When Policy Moves Markets

Conferences

I'm, I'm curious. I almost, I'm not sure if you were listening to what the Chancellor said, but I feel like I should start with you, Merritt. You've worked in government. I mean, how are we how are the Western democracies doing? Any thoughts coming out of what the because there are only so many policy levers that a lot of governments have at this point. Well, and thanks for joining us. Well, thank you for for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. You know, we, we all know that we're in a period of, of what the Singapore president calls radical uncertainty, and there's more unpredictability now than in most periods in the post-war period, um, and we are in a period where I think we're in a kind of interregnum between what I think, uh, will be. Uh, greater clarity going forward, but how long this period will last is very uncertain. And so the surprising thing actually, in light of the policy impacts on technology, on trade, on investment, on energy, is how resilient. A trade has actually been so despite policies, despite the policies you're seeing, I think we fragmentation is the term you're using here. I think it's the right term. I think reregulation, re-globalization rather than massive deglobalization, I think is what's happening. So you're seeing more regional concentrations of trade, and I think you're seeing. New experiments being born in this environment. In this, I think you know there are some interesting important shifts underway. Well, let's get to that in a second because Christian, you operate across so many different markets. Few people see firsthand the impact of different policies. How would you describe how, let's just say the Westwrit large is doing right now? Well, it's probably a challenging time for Western liberal democracies. They have developed into an environment where their political process is very slow. They, they take their time on decision making and, and obviously also especially within Europe um. They were trying to export their moral compass to the world, but the world is not really waiting for that moral compass. And so I guess these Western democracies have to some degree reinvent themselves if they want to stay competitive because other countries just have learned to move along. Faster and more decisively and that's what we are seeing when you look at the growth rates in the world. How is it impacting your decision making when you're talking about some of these policy shifts? Is it making you not want to do business in certain places? I mean, you're real estate, so that's about as fixed asset as you can get. Sure, um, well, I mean, when we look at where the growth is in the world, we continue to see tremendous growth rates in the US, but then outside of the US it's, it's very much in this region, most notable here in the kingdom, but, but also in the wider Mina region, and then it's, it's very much in India, uh, and then it kind of. Gets much slower. Obviously there are some particular challenges around the real estate market in in China which we are feeling very much so, but uh what is what is quite striking is, is the very uh low growth environment in in Europe and uh slightly better in the UK but on the continent in Europe it's very, very. You think the Chancellor, um, those types of initiatives when we look at spending cuts, tax hikes, you know, there's there's only so many levers one can use. What advice. You have to leaders like her. How about that? We'll keep it generic, and then I'll move to Fred. It's always, it's always very easy to provide democratically elected leaders with advice. They don't have the freedom to take maybe the decisions they think they are right because of that democratic environment. The trouble is that all of them, including the UK, find it very difficult to take the necessary structural reforms to make those liberal democracies competitive again. And so that's the, that's the, that's easier said than done, but they have to take those structural reforms elected, otherwise it doesn't work out. Well, let me move to China, um Fred, nice to see you, and I think I'm curious about a few people know China better, I think, than you from the various vantage points of how you've engaged in that market. Give me some sense of what you're seeing on the policy front, and obviously it's been a tough year, and all eyes, I think, are on China right now because we're waiting to see what comes out of the meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. So can you give us a lay of the land from where you sit? Yeah, sure, so China actually, you know, Uh, I would say vision has been a bastion of stability in the in a very chaotic world we are in right now, uh, because the last few years the authorities in China have been much more consistent and, and, uh, in terms of, uh, pro-growth, uh, economic policy agenda, pro-innovation to unleash the. Uh, innovative power of highly educated, highly entrepreneur, uh, population, particularly with the STEM, uh, engineers and the founders, uh, with in AI robotics and, you know, clean energy transition, um. And of course, you know, uh, with this, uh, trade war, China is definitely, uh, be the brand, you know, because China is the biggest trading economy and biggest export still, um, so the escalation between Washington and Beijing on the t and the, you know, uh, export control definitely has created a lot of uh headwinds, um, but I'm hopeful, uh, the summit. Between President Trump and President Xi, uh, I could do like to have a breakthrough because at the end of the day, um, you know, the two biggest economies need to find a way to, uh, have kind of stability governing the relationship between the two countries, but also make the rest of the world in a much better place. So I think the, uh, discussions in Kuala Lumpur were quite uh fruitful and some. Quite optimistic, uh, the summit will actually, uh, deliver a deal that provides some more clarity, more certainty, more stability, uh, for trade, for investment flows, and importantly for technology. You're optimistic about a deal as a business leader, and if you can weigh in, what is the optimal deal at this point? And let's, I just want to stay on China for a second then move to the Middle East. Um, because, you know, there's a lot of negotiation back and forth. We're already seeing this realignment that you talked about. What do you think is, is success coming out of this right now in terms of what business leaders can expect? I think it's some clarity. First of all, the tariff regime need not be like crazy insane, like 100% plus tariff that's going to kill, you know, trade and kill the world economy at large. So I think it's a, uh, kind of lower. I would say maybe somewhere 15 max 25% is kind of long term t regime which is not ideal compared to before, but I think business can do. Uh, with it #1, 2, in terms of export control regime and the organ some more reasonable, right? So not the crossboard, uh, band or curb, but the selective, highly, highly selective in this old notion of, you know, uh, like, uh, uh, small yard high fence, right, you know, which hopefully that's the case right now when we talk about the export control like semiconductors. You know, everything is from the princes of national security, but you know, we all know 99% and the more consumption of such as civil in either use right you know for industrial and consumer finance and so on and so forth, maybe 1% is for defense military. So you take care of that part, but leave most of the normal civilian trade ongoing and and of course in return, China also make sure to the world, you know, China. reliable supply of rare earth, which is underpinned so many important industries around the world, right? So I think, you know, if both sides come to that, and I think it will be in a much better place. And we'll be taking some questions from the audience. So if you have them, just raise your hands. We've got mic runners here. Few people know consumption better than Mastercard, and I'd be remiss not to go to your role as chair of the Mastercard Foundation, also a professor as well. Talk about, you know, increasing consumption is always something that is key in the US in every market. How do you feel? I mean, there's a lot of uncertainty about the US, but let's look at the global landscape because I think you get that perspective at Mastercard. Where are you seeing effective strategies to drive consumption? Well, uh, I chair the board, not the foundation. I know I mean the board and, um, uh, I would just say that, uh, what, what we're seeing is that the American consumer is holding up, uh, uh, so, uh, you know, the US economy is, is actually showing tremendous resilience you think the little lines that we're worried about, yes, there are plenty of things that one needs to watch and, and there is this embedded. Certainty associated with tariff policies. As you know, you know, when they were first announced, the markets reacted, but once they were paused and negotiations commenced, there's been, I think, uh, um. Certain embedded uncertainty but also much more clarity and deals of agreements are being reached. So I think the American consumer for various reasons, the vitality of the economy is still revealing itself, and there are pockets of growth all over the world. So I would say that, you know, Mastercard as a company is um. You know, driving innovation in, uh, markets, it's bringing its digital technologies to further financial inclusion, um, and, um, and there is innovation and growth in many places in the world. Well, it feels like AI is obviously. One of the key drivers and that's something that we're looking to for where different countries will succeed, etc. I want to put us we're all here in Riyadh right now. This is obviously a region that has a lot of growth. um I want Christian, tell me a little bit. You know, when you look at this part of the world and how they're doing in terms of creating the conditions for you to want to double down or leave whatever you decide, um, how is it comparing to the other markets that you look at in terms of where you put your investments and how you Grow the business. Well, the political environment here allows them to move very fast. It's it's they have the ability to decide top down what's good for the country's development, and that's what they are doing. I mean, when you come to Saudi on a regular basis, you see the progress which has happened, especially over the last 1012 years. It's absolutely amazing. And we can have easy access here to the political leadership and discuss what's needed to further progress. What would be your advice? What's needed to further progress? Well, I guess we have, you know, they're working very hard on, on the infrastructure side, but as, as the economy is growing fast and the amount of population, especially here in Riyadh, is, is growing very fast. There's still more work on the infrastructure, especially with regards to public transport. They're obviously. Having massive plans around the expansion of the airport, which is very, very important. We heard that earlier on the panel direct connections to the rest of the world and then helping companies to deal with the necessary need for talent here. I mean, as the economy is growing so much, we need a lot of talented people and they need to come and live here in Riad. Where are you most stressed in terms of finding and training talent worldwide? Well, there are many, there are different issues around talent. Sometimes it's the issue of complacency. Here's the issue of the lack of available talent. So we have to train a lot of people, um, a lot of new services are coming to this country and, and so that's for a fast growing company like we are in this region, that is a major challenge for us. to get enough people and we obviously want to train the locals and and that's where we work in combination with the government to train them, build academies so that we have enough talent going forward. So Fred, I want to say in this region, but also I do think that talent question is obviously a key one, as is technology so. You know, as an investor, as somebody who has insight into also this shifting, you know, world order, give me some sense as to, you know, how are you finding the talent picture shifting and how is that driving decision making because obviously demographics are not in China's favor. They are the Middle East's favor. We talked about Africa yesterday. That's obviously a very fast growing population. Well, how is that impacting where the money is going and where business will go? Right, so you know, demographics is not just a matter of aging and you know, low fertility and uh so all the quantity of workers coming into the labor force, but really the quality, we are in the age of AI, right, you know, so we actually facing. You know, challenging from, uh, AI driven robots. OK, so it's not so much of, you know, how many more headcounts what is really the quality education and in this regard, I think it's also two questions comment about this region, the economic tremendous potentially in the head, you know, infrastructures is very important, but I would say even more important is to, you know, have, you know, world class education system to train the uh. You know, the human capital, uh, for the 21st century. In this regard, I think China can I was a very, very good role model for the certainly for the global south and, you know, uh, emerging economy since day one, you know, when Deng Xiaoping even before he, uh, set first economic zone in Shenzhen or even invited the first foreign investment country, investing country. The first is there to reopen competitive national entrance examination for universities as I'm lucky, you know, in one way first class of going to university, uh, indeed, so, so that before that now China has one of the best education system in the world, right, you know, 10 million, you know, graduates in university, but you know, half of Spain, you know, it is more than, you know, any other country. And uh I think you know, with the abundant human capital, you know, skilled workers, you can have less then with the automation with the robots and AI, you know, I think the world economy still has, you know, uh, very bright growth outlook. Now I'm just scan, uh, just a few minutes left. I'm just scanning the audience quickly for questions. Um, if you do have questions, of course, you can talk to our three fanta we have one question over here. Thank you. Thank you. This is a question for Fred who, um, Fred, I would just love to know if you've noticed a shift in the last 3 to 6 months around raising international capital, where is Primavera raising capital from today? Are you raising it mostly on the mainland? Have you seen more international appetite for, um, investing in China? And are US institutional investors starting to rethink China given the significant reset in pricing in private equity and venture capital and fairly quickly, of course, because our time is running down, but what are you seeing in terms of capital raising? Well, there's been a sea change, right? You know China used to be regarded as non-investable. Now it's on the radar screen of every global investors, whether it's. Institutions, sovereign wealth funds, or permanent family offices, you know, just China is too big to ignore. It's still the not only the second largest economy, but I still the fast growing and a lot of innovation in many ways, right this AI quantum robotics and, you know, energy transition. China is in the world, right? So there is abundance of attractive opportunities. So for global minded investors you have. You build a high quality diversified investment portfolio, so China definitely now become more important as policy uncertainty diminishes, and now people start to go there more often to see in their own eyes, then actually become much more comfortable and they can capital towards China. Well, uncertainty is the new normal, isn't it? So I want to give each of you a chance to give some final thoughts. I know. is just almost teaser content because there's so much we can talk about. I'm going to start with you, Merrit. What do you think in terms of, obviously not just where we are, but some of the sort of policy initiatives that you think are especially important right now in driving growth from a business perspective? Yeah, in 30 seconds or no, but just give us some final thoughts as to what you'd put on our radar that's on yours. Yeah, I'm paying attention to what is happening under the rubric of coalitions of the willing because there are a lot of restrictions that are being introduced by governments around the world and some of them in the name of economic security, sometimes in the name of economic growth, um, but what is Also happening are efforts by countries to integrate more. You're seeing that in the Asia Pacific. You're seeing more initiatives coming out of this region, so I think for corporate leaders, you know, you have to work ever more closely with governments. in partnership and keep an eye on the coalition of the willing Christian very quickly. Final thoughts. Well, there's not a single country in the world which can operate self-contained, so the interdependencies in the world are massive. So I'm personally very optimistic about this. Meeting between Xi and Trump that they will come to a good outcome and they all kind of uh keep in mind that uh if there are win-win situations that's for the sustainability probably a better outcome than pressing somebody down. Excellent. And last word goes to you, Fred. So what kind of policies governing trade, technology, and um um you know, should be more balanced, less just obsessed with. On one way which is national security, right? And also don't got everything as a zero-sum game. Actually, uh, you know, there is a scenario of win-win. Great. Please join me in thanking our panelists and more to come. I really appreciate it. Thank you again.

Saudi Arabia is rapidly emerging as the strategic global hub connecting three continents, positioning multinational companies at the heart of the region's largest and fastest-growing economies to capture unprecedented growth opportunities across the Middle East and Africa. Over 600 companies have already recognized the potential to capture Saudi Arabia's competitive advantages—includingworld-class physical and digital infrastructure, strategic geographic positioning, connectivity, and a thriving business ecosystem—whilekeeping pace with realigning global supply chains. Join us for an exclusive dialogue on how the Kingdom's unique advantages are transforming it into the premier destination for companies seeking to capture opportunities across the region and beyond. 

Lunch Session: Saudi Arabia: The New Global Hub for Regional Headquarters

From Asia to Africa and the Middle East, bold innovators and visionary leaders are unlocking the next wave of global expansion across emerging markets. Hear from changemakers leveraging financial innovation, digitized supply chains, and global trade networks to accelerate growth. They share a common conviction: the next decade’s economic leap will come from regions often overlooked, and technology, capital, and infrastructure will determine who leads.

Fast Tracking Growth in Emerging Markets

Welcome. All right, well, we're here to talk about emerging markets, and I think it's only appropriate that we start with you, Mohammed. Um, we're here in Saudi Arabia, obviously, and you have a startup that has been named by LinkedIn as one of the most successful startups, multiple years in a row. Um, tell us a little bit about your company and what is it about starting it here that made it so successful? Yeah, absolutely. It's a pleasure to be here. Um, our company called Silk with a Q, which is inspired by the Silk Road, and the idea here is to integrate a global network with the marketplaces within local markets. And we were one of the early that built a local B2B marketplace that helped. Manufacture and marginalized SMEs businesses that's called SAI. And what excites us about this is when we look at the big the problem in terms of financial exclusion in emerging markets almost kind of 5.7 trillion so we focus on building the first layer of commerce and we chose Saudi because there are tons of tailwinds when it comes to e-invoicing, Vision 2030, Expo that is magnetic to a lot of supplier manufacturer. So we thought one of the biggest question we ask ourselves, we talked to our community is why now, and I think it's the best time to build here in Riyadh. So that is why we started and why we think why now is critical for us to build that new trade layer. That is fully integrated to the local market and has that liquidity to make it scale and grow beyond limits. Yeah, and Muni, I know that you had a big announcement recently that JPMorgan was investing an additional $30 million into your business Bidvest. That's a huge deal for any entrepreneur. Tell us how that relationship came about. Did they find you? Did you find them? Um, thank you. So, so JP Morgan has been a long-term investor, um, in Midwest. Uh, we're listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and in fact, more than 50% of our shareholders are offshore. Um, so we've got a fantastic offshore interest in South Africa and offshore interest in the group, and that's been Fantastic. And, and they're long term shareholders and it's not just them. Westwood, that's based in Boston is a big shareholder, Lazard Asset Management is a big shareholder. Um, so we do have a number of your more large asset managers that see value, that are happy with the return and that are happy with the growth story um of the best. Fantastic. And let's see, one of your, um, roles now is to bring more investment into Bangladesh. I wonder how's it going and what's your pitch? What's the elevator pitch? Well, elevator pitch, I'm not sure can stick. I just want to take a step back and And zoom out. This morning we heard about tectonic shifts and changes in the global order. The IMF released a report last week that showed the global uncertainty, according to their index, is twice as high as the most recent peak during COVID and 4 or 5 times as high as a decade ago. Um, and there are various components to that was the deglobalization. Uh, digitalization, decarbonization, demographics, um, uh, with all of these, what do we do as a country? We look at what our natural national endowments are and how can we lean into these global vectors of change. For us, um, it's really our people. We are probably, well, we are certainly the most densely populated country in the world, 175 million people. Um, a third of the size of Thailand, but the population of Russia and Canada combined. Young people 25 years of age or so. So in terms of how we may recognize that here in Saudi Arabia, uh, our crude oil. is our young people, but we need refineries so that we're able to find applications for various grades of skills and education. So that is really the place where we need to invest and that's also the resource that we are willing to share with the rest of the world because the rest of the world by and large is aging. I can tell you later how we're actually doing it, but I'll stop there. Well, Mohammed, speaking of, you know, successful founders and startup culture, what do you think differentiates a successful founder in this part of the world versus maybe in Silicon Valley or some other capital? Well, I think founders globally are kind of consistent in terms of being obsessed with the problem and uh solving something that is big and aspiring. I think when it comes to different geography, it's about understanding localization, innovation according to the market, to the norm, and to the tradition. But what unify entrepreneur globally is going after massive daring market. When you look at, for example, in Saudi. 90% of the businesses in Saudi are SMEs, yet they receive only 9% of the lending from the bank. So it's a massive kind of gap, and the challenges goes greater when you go to other emerging markets. So it's a massive market been lingering for decades. So we think that's what excites talent, what excites community to go build around that. So, I think one is tackling bigger problem, tackling something that daring that cultivate the culture. And then I think what differentiates here, I think it's a younger generation and you speaking to a lot of investors. We have backers from globally, Peter Thiel fund and others, and we have local funds like PIF investing in us. I think one of the key elements here is there are tons of tailwinds. You see open banking happens, so you have that full transparency. You have e-invoicing that has been adopted by all. So a lot of kind of capability make that infrastructure fragile. So you have young generation. Big disrupted kind of market, massive tailwind and a massive appetite from a global investor. So, I think just understanding the problem. Being obsessed with them and kind of learn from a global kind of landscape, but apply innovation to solve local problems. Differently sure and Mpumi, when you're looking at different we were talking about um you know a company that you've invested in that does uh the you know things in restrooms like the soap dispensers and the paper towels um what are you looking for in terms of this is a business I think can grow this is something I wanna be involved with. Yeah, so I mean our philosophy is around business models that fit a particular criteria, right? So we're looking for businesses that are asset light. We're looking for businesses that have recurring income. We're looking for businesses that are inherently defensive in their nature. So we watch a lot around how those businesses um perform through COVID, how did they perform through a financial crisis, etc. so that we can assess the extent of the defensiveness. Uh, and then we've got financial metrics that we're looking for. So we're looking for high margin, high return, high cash generated businesses. That's, that's generally what we're looking for. Um, and so at the moment, um, 30% of our operations are outside of South Africa. We're building a large global hygiene business. Uh, we're #2 in the world at the moment. Um, and so we're looking for those types of, types of assets, um, to consolidate kind of globally. But more importantly, outside of the business model, we're looking for the best management teams in the world because ultimately, how You run a successful business is through people. And so even in our due diligence process, even if we take all the other metrics, if we don't take the people one, we will walk away. So we acquire the best management teams who happen to do what we do. Yeah. Speaking of people, I know that you've said that sometimes people will leave your company, but then they come right back and to, to talk a little bit about creating a culture that people want to come back to you. Yeah, I think not only to live and come back, but when we started, I think Si we said how can we create a wave that people live and build company, build ecosystem, find, and when you go to a bigger problem, there are a lot of nuances can be built around that kind of ecosystem. So we have an ESO with a lot of our employees who have they have an equity within the within the company, giving them that exit and capability to go build their own company. So we take a ride and actually creating that an alumni network. A lot of people actually come in as a potential entrepreneur. So we think they're gonna come through that curve, learn, understand how to apply it and have that capability to go. So within that ESO we're giving them that segue to go build bigger impact. So that is the focus is not just to cultivate the best talent. But also equip them to go build kind of the next venture that disrupt within the same ecosystem, yeah, and potentially you could partner with them in the future. Let's see, I know we have actually two former investment bankers on our panel, both you and Mohammed. What did those years teach you that's now helping you in your current role? I think I want to go back to Bangladesh because since this is becoming a bit of an infomercial, I need to. I need to do my bit. So first of all, I'll take names that are in the public domain. I have letters of commendation from Chevron, MetLife. Uh, young one, the makers of North Face jackets on just how remarkable and action oriented the business and investment climate in Bangladesh has become in the last year or so. Mohammad, I believe you've also gotten yourselves involved in there as well. And the reason for this is, let's be very clear, we, uh, there is now complete consensus that we need to We need a master key to unlock a master door for all the economic aspirations of the country. The master door is private investment, foreign direct investment in particular. And the master key is government reforms. Unless government is agile and responsive and ready for the world order that we described earlier on, um, we're going to be found flat-footed. And so that's why there's a tremendous amount of actual, um, you know, on the ground action-oriented reforms that we're undertaking. And I would invite everyone to come and test it. It is informed, of course, by my background in investment banking because I know what it looks like, having run global emerging markets for a global investment bank, what it looks like from the other side of the table, so I can trace your journey. And the investor experience, and I would encourage everyone to come and test it. Is there one deal that you sort of seems like a model that you would like to repeat? You dropped a couple of names, but is there one deal that comes to mind? I think it's a rather than pick a favorite, I think what I would say is I'll pick a template, and the template is we now have a souped up refined, streamlined investment development authority. Which has been merged with our Economic zones Authority. I run an interministerial investment coordination committee that meets roughly once a month with the governor of the central bank, the, the head of customs and Inland Revenue, the port authorities, etc. and we just make sure that nothing gets stuck in the interministerial system. And that in itself has been able to, uh, has allowed us to convert what is an interest into an actual investment in record time. Yeah. Mpumi, we had a whole panel on Africa earlier today, um, but I wonder if you can just tell us a little bit about Africa's growth story and what are some of the drivers that you think are going to be important in the next 5 to 10 years. Yeah, I mean, I, I listened to the panel, so, so I know what the content was about. And, and, and the point that I'd like to make one point so that that's the only thing that's really, that's really remembered. I think that the um disconnect when we have a conversation around the continent um is that we disproportionately focus on a conversation around risk. Versus a conversation around value, return, etc. So when we talk about opportunities in developed markets, we talk about market proxies, indices, we talk about value creation. We talk about risk, but more how it has been de-risked, right? We, we talk differently. Um, yes, when we switch to our conversation about the African continent, risk perception becomes the big thing. And I think we need to change the discourse when we talk about the African continent. Lastly, I think I'd like to say when you talk about the African continent, look at businesses on the continent and what they have achieved, and let that be your proxy. If I use Bidves as an example, um, we've been around for 37 years. In 2016, we were in 34 countries across the world. We listed our international operations separately and today that business called Bitcorp is double the market cap of its parent company, right? We are again rebuilding um that international footprint. We're now 30% offshore. All of this is being built off a balance sheet from an African business that's what Africa can give you. Amazing and it was interesting when you were speaking earlier you said uh one of the things you're looking for is defensive, something that can survive a recession or a global pandemic. Um, tell us a little bit more about that approach because I feel like we hear so much about growth, growth, growth, growth, growth, but you have a different perspective. Yeah, so I mean and and it's, it's people actually don't realize that. It's the more below the line, um, kind of business models that aren't fancy, um, where they just will continue giving you growth. um, and, and I mean, the business model that we were talking about specifically was washroom services. And if, if I use that as an example, it's the, it's the soap dispensers, the paper dispensers, the air freshener, it's the stuff that you don't think about when you walk into a washroom. But you expect to be there. So the reality is that even when there's a tariff wall, there's going to be soap in the washroom. Even when there's an economic downturn, you still need toilet paper in the washroom. And so it's those kind of very basic simple business models actually that at times continue to just exist regardless of what happens in the world and how changes kind of take place. Yeah. um. Moving back to your startup, um, I think, uh, one of the things you've decided is to try and grow into a decacorn instead of do an IPO. Tell us a little bit about that calculus. Yeah, I think just to add on the point of, I think not only about growth but building that durability and Kind of a few years ago I stumble on one of the kind of the podcasts and it was like build a phoenix that can survive 100 years rather than a unicorn. So for me as well as how can we build that durability? How can we build something that is lasting rather than focus on probably the next probably couple of years and the focus for us is. We have a problem and I've spoken to different founders globally solving the same problem, and I realized that we have a unified broken unit which is SMEs is inexpensive to serve by classical legacy system and to require better velocity, a lightweight asset, and we looked at company globally how can we build that coalition and that's why we created silk and we have now a company in Bangladesh called ShopOp served more than Half a million kind of uh businesses we partner with a company like Mastercard to get an inclusion to a lot of women driven businesses that contributing to the Bangladeshi market. The same thing here in Saudi we're kind of empowering around a billion real internal financing to the small businesses that is nano to to bigger merchants. I think one of the bigger problem we focus on is something called kind of a data desert is. A lot of this client is invisible to the bank and clear to the bank, and we're trying to solve that and I think with the age of AI that will kind of give us that. Scalability will give us that efficient growth as we go, so. I think initially we started with an obsession to solve something that A problem for me, for my colleagues, and we're coming back from like, I used to work with Karim, the first unicorn in the region. I helped them launch a lot of markets and I've seen. You need to build something that is scalable and something that creates that ripple effect. So we solved it for us initially, how to solve that supply chain. Then the dream got bigger. How can we solve that society? But then we realized that probably a problem exists for the global south and how can we build a bigger kind of unification. And I think we got that multiplier effect. The more we learn from Saudi, we feed into Bangladesh to feed into India and other markets. The system is get better and attract better talent, and we create that kind of lasting impact. Yeah, Lay, I know speaking of AI, you've expressed some caution about AI. There are things that worry you. If you could just give us a few words of hope and, you know. Well, what I really, really like about the stories I'm hearing here. is that we're talking about the use case and the impact and the people you're serving who are underserved at the moment, um, as opposed to here's a shiny new piece of technology. Let's take it to Unicorn and then Decacon and off we go. That I think that world has has destroyed so much value in recent worlds, recent years. So I'm very glad we're talking here about real people and real jobs and real enterprise. Um, the thing about emerging markets is that if we can get the governance piece right, I keep on coming back to that as the, the master key, because if you can't get it right, it becomes the, the master not in the noose if you like. But if we can get it right, Emerging markets, countries like Bangladesh have, we know what the potential is. We're so behind our potential. We can harness technologies and management techniques and the learnings that we just heard about and really use that for our fast tracking. Growth, which is the title of our session, we can really do that because we are so far behind our frontier. It's much more difficult for some of the countries that are already at the frontier and they're only looking at efficiency drives as opposed to growing the pie. I can't believe that brings us to the end. I'm going to think of you whenever I wash my hands in the restroom. Thank you all. I'm going to use a lot of soap, a lot of towels. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you very much.

In environments where speed, ambiguity, and cross-functional decision-making are the norm, clarity becomes a leader’s most powerful tool. This session explores how senior executives create alignment across levels, teams, and geographies by defining what matters, simplifying how work gets done, and ensuring leadership focus doesn’t get lost in complexity. The conversation will unpack how clarity of strategy, roles, and communication fuels performance at scale.

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