Khalid Shobily attributes his business success not so much to a formal education, but to his willingness to pay attention to what was going on around him. “When I was a student I gained experience through contact with others,” he says. “I wanted to learn and to be in touch with businessmen who could teach me how to work.” He first put this experience to the test 16 years ago, when he made an investment in Samarek Company, an amusement and sports project in Riyadh then owned by Saudi Aramco. “It was a new experience for me and involved a large amount of money,” he says. “I made important changes in this park and I gained a great benefit out of it. This is how I started: one project following another.”