When it comes to influential people, we usually know much about the organization or company they run, their business style, and even their wealth. We may know numbers and statistics, but we are unfamiliar with who they really are. Everyone has a heart-touching story, unique character, and childhood memories, even the most powerful leaders. Those at the top were not born in their lavish mahogany offices; they endured much to get there. And it is this process, this struggle, that we can all learn from. A pioneer in Islamic banking and the CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Khaled Al-Aboodi is also a gentle, noble person who loves mixing with people from different cultures. He is a man with a vision of Muslim countries evolving into developed, flourishing, and self-sustaining nations. Al-Aboodi was born in Al-Qassim but spent his entire childhood in the city of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Madina. His father was Security General of the Islamic University in Madina. The university attracted Muslim students from all over the world. “I grew up in an environment where we always received people coming from all over the world. I met them at the university, and some people came to our house,” Al-Aboodi said. “My father had an open-door policy at home where students and professors were always welcome, even late into the night. I was intrigued to meet Africans, Asians, Europeans, Pakistanis, and Arabs. That gave me a lot of interest in the outside world. At that time, Saudi Arabia was not very open and we did not have international television broadcasting. So by being exposed to so many different cultures at a young age, I decided that I wanted a career that would take me beyond just one single country.” In an exclusive interview with Al-Aboodi, Saudi Gazette captured a glimpse into his interesting life and how he made it this far. Why did you choose to study economics? I attended King Saud University to get my Bachelor's degree. In the first two years, we studied general subjects and I was still undecided in my specialization. I took a course in accounting but it did not interest me and challenge me intellectually. I also took a business course, then an economics course, and that is where I found myself. At the time, Saudi Arabia was just entering the oil boom so I wanted to be a part of helping my country's expansion. I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in economics, and got a scholarship to study abroad for my Master's degree. How did pursuing a higher degree in the US change you? I think studying in the United States helped me become more organized and changed the way I conducted my time. Back then in Saudi Arabia, we did not have a set system in dealing with each other and conducting routine transactions, so living in the US gave me more experience in this area. When I moved to Boston, I was fascinated by this large city that is home to 45 educational institutions. The best and most prestigious universities are in Boston: Harvard, Tufts, and MIT. As a graduate student, I got a car so I could move around and attend additional courses at a number of universities. I did not limit myself to only one place. I took advantage of the facilities the universities provided. They had a lot of educational resources. I was especially impressed by the library at Harvard that had 10 million volumes of books, second only to the Congress Library. There was no Internet so to have access to so many resources was an immense privilege. What fields of study do you encourage Muslim youth to pursue? It is difficult to state just one or two disciplines. It also depends on the needs of the society. The problem with our educational system here is that students study only to do well on exams and then they throw their books away. In the US, students are taught how to learn. Education should be a two-way process and one should never stop learning. Students should be encouraged to think on their own, come up with new solutions even if they are different from the norm, and ask lots of questions. Unfortunately, here most classrooms do not foster critical thinking and interaction from the students. Regardless of the field of study, our children should strive to learn and keep on educating themselves even after they get their degrees. I would like to see community colleges, accessible to people of all ages and all walks of life, to improve their computer, language, and communication skills. Having said that, medicine, engineering, and IT are very important. I also think Islamic finance is a much needed major to focus on. If the whole society conducted Islamic financing, countries would reach higher developmental goals, properly direct their resources, and successfully complete the projects they are working on. How does ICD aid in the development of third world Muslim nations? Our mission is to finance and support the private sector in our member countries. We are not entirely commercial in nature. First, we study and evaluate the proposed project to make sure that it is viable and that it is an effective project. Next, we ensure that this project will in some way or another contribute to the forward development of the society and country at large. The project should create more jobs and boost the economy. We are different from commercial banks because commercial banks are reluctant to fund new projects that entail some risks. Our role is to provide support to projects or companies that will benefit the community, but it still must be commercial in nature. A project that we take pride in supporting here in Jeddah is the first factory to manufacture vaccines in the Kingdom. This project is greatly needed because currently all the vaccines available in the Kingdom are imported from outside. This project has a humanitarian aspect because it is essential that we make our own vaccines. The Kingdom has a large young population who need to be immunized. In addition there is a high demand for vaccines during Haj and Umra seasons. This factory will give us more security so that in case of an epidemic if there was any deficit in imported vaccines, we can produce our own to prevent an outbreak. Al-Aboodi's lofty ambition from a young age along with a solid education and hard work landed him a job as the Alternate Execute Director of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. He worked there for five years and returned to his home country to lead the ICD. His story is truly inspirational. Remember, people are always people; with intellect, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, strengths, and weaknesses regardless of the title that goes in front of their names. Treat people with respect, understanding, and kindness; from the janitor up to the CEO. – Saudi Gazette Al-Aboodi shared some of his habits that we should all adopt to reach our goals: n Al-Aboodi owes his success to his mother who raised nine children; three of his sisters became PhD holders. One of his sisters was the first Saudi woman to acquire a PhD in mathematics. He said, “I owe my success to my parents. My mother always used to pray for me and she had a big responsibility to raise us. As I grew older, I always try to pay attention to my parents, care for them, visit them, and treat them with respect. It is their duaa that got me this far. n Hard work no doubt is an essential ingredient for success. Nothing comes easy; you must strive to work hard in every role you play: student, teacher, doctor, manager, engineer, mother, or father. n Discipline. It takes discipline to delay gratification until later. That means putting off the movie you wanted to watch or going out with friends until you finish the job you were supposed to do. n Seriousness in the task at hand. Al-Aboodi commented, “Even if the motivation and drive to excel are there, it is not enough. You need to be disciplined and serious enough to be able to carry on until the end.” n Honesty. Al-Aboodi added, “I try to always be honest to myself and to others. Integrity is very important for success. Without integrity, you may be able to succeed for the short term but to be successful in the long run, you need integrity of character.”
