The Rawabi Holding Awards 2019

Saudi British Society Annual Dinner

The Rawabi Holding Awards 2019

Dr. Mozammel Haque

The Saudi British Society, which was formed in 1986 to help promote closer friendship and understanding between the people of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, has organised an Annual Dinner and the presentation of the Rawabi Holding UK Awards on Wednesday, 20 February 2019 at the Institute of Directors,, Pall Mall, London.

 The Rawabi Holding UK Awards are presented annually to one Saudi and one British citizen for their contributions to promoting Saudi-British relations and are generously donated by Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Turki. The winners are chosen from a list of candidates of high merit nominated by members of the Saudi-British Society. The recipients of these Awards of this year, 2019, are: Ms Hamida Alireza Trustee of al-Barakat Trust, UK and Mark Evans, explorer and educationist, currently the director of Outward Bound Oman.

Saudi-British Society

The Society was formed in 1986, as mentioned earlier, to help promote closer friendship and understanding between the people of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The Society is a social, Cultural, non-political and non-commercial organisation. It aims to bring together British citizens who have an interest in Saudi Arabia (whether professional, commercial, cultural or otherwise) and Saudi Arabian citizens who are resident in, visitors to or interested in the UK. It aims also to provide a medium through which hospitability may be offered to Saudi Arabians visiting or living in the UK.

The Society’s Patrons are HRH The Prince of Wales KG and HRH Prince Turki Bin Faisal Al Saud. The Society has a President who is always the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in London and an elected Committee. His Excellency Saud Al-Hamdan, the Acting Ambassador of the embassy of Saudi Arabia in the United Kingdom and Ireland attended the event.

There are ordinary, corporate and student members. The Society is self-financing through subscriptions from members and donations.

Since 1986 the Society’s activities have included receptions for important visitors, dinners, exhibitions, lectures and book launches. Every year the Annual Dinner is combined with the presentation of the Rawabi Holding UK Awards.

Rawabi Holding UK Awards

The Rawabi Holding UK Awards are presented annually to one Saudi and one British citizen who made significant contributions to promoting Saudi-British relations. The Awards are presented by Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Turki, Rawabi Holding Group Chairman, who has generously donated them, to be granted on annual basis. The first award ceremony took place at the Travellers’ Club in London on the evening of the 23^rd of January 2007.

Mr. Abdulaziz al Turki, a leading Saudi businessman from the Eastern Province generously awards two annual prizes, the Al Rawabi Holding Awards, to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to furthering Saudi–British relations. The prizes are for £5000 each. The candidates (one of whom should be a Saudi citizen and one a British citizen, as from 2016) are chosen from a wide range of fields in which they have made a contribution, including education, literature, journalism, sport, women’s affairs, welfare and medicine, but not the field of commerce, as this is not within the remit of the Society. 

The candidates are nominated in the first instance by members of the Saudi-British Society and these names are considered by a Sub–Committee of the Saudi-British Society. A short-list is drawn up, from which 2 names are selected. These are then submitted to the main Committee for their consideration and the final selection put forward to Mr. Abdulaziz al Turki for his approval. The award–giving ceremony is held each year in late January, at a Reception, which is also the Society’s annual buffet supper, at which the Saudi Ambassador to London or his representative is present. 

Recipients of Rawabi Holding Awards of 2019

The Recipients of the Rawabi Holding Awards of 2019, are:

 Hamida Alireza, a Saudi citizen resident in Jeddah, is the founder and long time trustee of the Barakat Trust, a UK charity which supports the study of Islamic art and architecture and its history. Based for 30 years at Oxford University, and now in London, the Trust has funded well over 500 students and academics in their studies and research as well as supporting conferences, exhibitions, publications, digitisation and conservation.

In addition to enabling Saudi and other students from the Islamic world to benefit from the expertise in heritage available in British universities and museums, Ms Alireza has - both through her energetic leadership of the Trust and her personal engagement in organising exhibitions and field trips - helped to open eyes in Britain to the wealth and diversity of the art, crafts and architecture of the region including Saudi Arabia. She is also a founder of Mansoojat, the foundation which works to preserve traditional Arabian costume.  

Mark Evans MBE is an explorer and educationist, currently the director of Outward Bound Oman. After teaching in Saudi Arabia for several years, in 2004 he established Connecting Cultures, an association which takes young people from different countries on hiking expeditions in the Arabian desert or the Arctic and enables them to explore not just the wilderness but also their respective cultures, and to bridge the differences between them.

The Saudi British Society has supported participation in the trips by young people from Saudi Arabia and the UK, all of them very successful. UNESCO has been another supporter.

Mr Evans has also undertaken longer desert and sea expeditions in and around Arabia. In 2015/16 he crossed the Empty Quarter on foot and camel in the footsteps of Bertram Thomas (the first European to make the journey). His book, 'Crossing the Empty Quarter', was published late in 2016.

Abdulaziz Al-Turki

Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Turki is a prominent and seasoned businessman with solid experience in building successful businesses in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Region. He is the Chairman of the Rawabi Holding Group of Companies, a leading industrial player based in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with over 3 decades of experience and a focus on oilfield services, contracting and industrial services and offshore services.

Mr. Al-Turki is the Chairman of Gulf Union Cooperative Insurance Company in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Union Holding Company in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Aside from serving as Chairman of different companies, Mr. Al-Turki served as a board member of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce from 1990 to 1998 and the Eastern Province Council from 2000 to 2008. He was a member of the International Board of Advisors of the Lebanese American University (LAU), Beirut, Lebanon from 2002 to 2008 and a member of the University’s Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2013.

Mr. Al-Turki is considered a public figure recognised for his various philanthropic works. He is described as the leader of corporate social responsibility in Saudi Arabia. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Annual Charity Run Committee, the Saudi non-Communicable Disease Alliance, the Saudi Cancer Foundation, the Saudi Diabetes and Endocrine Association, the Saudi Foundation for Promoting Organ Donation and ARFA Multiple Sclerosis Society. Mr. Al-Turki is a founder and board member of the Charitable Society for the Care of Orphans Benaa) and a founder and board member of Husn AlJwar Organization in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He is the Honorary President of the European Asian Society for Surgical Oncology (EUASSO) and sits on the board of several other non-profit organizations and societies.

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