Abdulmohsen Alnasser

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and it has gained a reputation for launching massive projects.

Massive projects demand excellence in project management.

Abdulmohsen Al Nasser, a Centre for Project Innovation graduate, is one of the many project managers spearheading dramatic changes in the Kingdom.

Mr. Al Nasser’s work centers around social insurance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Working for the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), he oversees a team of 24 employees aiming to improve Saudis' financial security after retirement.  

“GOSI is a watchdog for the social insurance scheme in the Kingdom, so most of our projects by nature are updating the policies of the social insurance scheme and then presenting it to the Government for final approval.” “One of the Kingdom’s goals in its vision 2030 is the financial stability of its people. So we try to balance between the labor market and the income a person gets after retirement.”

Big Projects, Big Results

In recent years Saudi Arabia has dazzled the world with projects that boggle the mind with both their scope and their cost.

“If you watch the news, we have projects everyday,” said Mr. Al Nasser, “Projects with billions of dollars, every single day.”

“We have the biggest project in the Middle East, Neom, everyone has heard of it.”

Over the past few years, Mr. Al Nasser and his team at GOSI have achieved dramatic improvements for retired Saudi workers.

“My job involves the 13 million working people in the Kingdom, so we have to be very careful with everything. It’s very, very big projects in terms of results,” he said.

“I’m very proud to be part of a team which has the duty of continuously studying the social insurance policies in the Kingdom and making the necessary changes to it, which in return participate in achieving it’s goals for Vision 2030.”

“The Government have a program called Saudization. It’s to lower the unemployment rates in the Kingdom.” “You can see in the news, the unemployment rate has been lowering significantly for two years.”

The benefits of project management certification

Abdulmohsen was admitted to the Center for Project Innovation as a Certified Project Professional (CPP) in 2011. The certification has proved to be much more for him than just a piece of paper, and by 2023 he fulfilled the requirements to be upgraded to Certified Project Director (CPD).

“I developed an attitude after studying project management and it changed the way I thought about daily work. I think of project management in everything,” said Mr. Al Nasser.

“Project management puts you in a mindset - every time you do a job it helps you organize for the project and get the best results. You definitely get better results than just chasing the work.”

His certification has also helped pave the way for his professional advancement and continued success.

“I think it was one of the reasons why I was promoted to be a manager. We have a lot of people here who have their masters and they have qualifications. But I think the way I did my job was very organized and everyone likes it.”

“I get a lot of calls from other colleagues in the organization. My name is showing up in every department in the organization. People say, ‘He knows how to do it, he knows what to do, he has the team.”

“My team is very small compared to others, but it is very, very organized.”

Working with teams

Mr. Al Nasser manages a team of 24 employees who are “doing some important and serious work.”

He emphasizes the value of open communication and building quality relationships with his employees.

“I'm very transparent with my employees. Even with things like promotion. If someone deserves it, I would say to him. If he doesn’t, I would say he doesn’t deserve it because one, two and three. I would justify everything for them.”

“I like everyone to be informed with every update that’s related to work.” 

“I’m very friendly with them. I don’t treat them as a manager, I’m just a coworker. We hang out together, we speak, I know their families and I know their personal circumstances.”

They’re happy, I’m happy and everyone is happy.”