As general partner of the Saudi Offset Limited Partnership (SOLP), with $35 million of investment capital, DevCorp International searches out, develops, evaluates, and implements potential projects that use Saudi resources and meet the offset programme’s national objectives: technology transfer, Saudi training and employment, and economic diversification of the kingdom.

At the same time, the projects must meet the investment criteria of the limited partners, Raytheon (US) and Thales (France), expand the global business prospects of the foreign technical partners, and enhance the intrinsic value of the investment for all the stake holders.   Its present portfolio includes a wide range of industries and technologies.
The flagship project, the Arabian Shrimp Company (Asco), financed by a developmental bank owned by 18 Arab countries - the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment & Development (AAAID) - uses the unique resources of a particular location on the Red Sea which meets the environmental and habitat demands of the finicky Black Tiger and Indicus shrimp species, employs nationals of more than 10 countries, offers excellent employment opportunities for Saudis, and integrates a unique women’s training and employment programme for shrimp processing. 
The project expects to generate approximately 30,000 tonnes of shrimp per year after full development, generating employment for over 2,000 people.  Full pre-commitments to purchase the production from the first phase have already been obtained.  (See more in interview with Jim Greenberg, founding partner DevCorp International, pages 39-41).
Associated with the Asco project are numerous subsidiary business possibilities such as sea micro- and macro-algae farming and processing, shrimp and fish processing, shrimp and fish meal plants, and even some prospective micro-finance assistance to local workers.  In addition, the location of Asco in the Jizan region has the potential for many spin-off smaller businesses initiated by local Saudi entrepreneurial talent, for example ice plants, small trucking, small construction, and maintenance shops.
DevCorp had to stop a shrimp project in Oman at the end of a trial phase because of a dispute over the setting up of a dry dock in the area that would have adversely affected the enterprise, which was independent of SOLP. Trial production had proved very successful and the experience was utilised for the Saudi project.
Downstream petrochemicals is an immediate green light for foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia and DevCorp is presently working on a specialised construction materials project, Plastbau Saudi Arabia, for the manufacture of engineered insulated concrete formwork using expanded polystyrene shuttering, with built-in rebar-reinforced cages, into which concrete is poured. 
This streamlines the construction process, reducing construction time and providing complete insulation from heat in the hot Arabian climate.  Plastbau construction can save up to 40 per cent of the time and 30 per cent of the cost of construction.  The local partner is the Advanced Projects and Building Systems Company, which has joint ventured with the Saudi Offset Limited Partnership, and Plastbau Holdings.  The first plant is expected to go on stream during 2005 with five plants projected for the next three to four years.
Other downstream petrochemical possibilities include the N-Paraffin/LAB plant awaiting final feedstock agreements, an ethane/propane cracker project with emphasis on downstream conversion units, and an epichlorohydrin project in joint venture with TPL of India and Jana located in Jubail.
Communications is a key to economic development and provides a fruitful source of project possibilities.  Saudi Communications Development Company (SCDC) is a vehicle developed with Saudi investors to act as an incubator for IT projects, such as 3G wireless voice and data in the Gulf and possibly in North Africa.
Interactive Saudi Arabia Ltd (ISA), in partnership with Interactive of Dubai, designs, develops, and deploys software for advanced Internet-based applications and solutions.  This includes web-enabling existing legacy systems, building new web applications, systems integration, process re-engineering, and continual market introduction of new technology when available.
Ducont Saudi Arabia Ltd., a wireless applications services provider (Wasp), will offer services and applications that users can access wirelessly in Saudi Arabia.  Wasp makes it possible for a customer to use a cellphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or other wireless devices to gain untethered access to services. These services can include government-provided and educational information, current news and commentary, personal financial information and stock market data, sports scores, prayer times and other religious information.  Messaging services could include short messaging services (SMS), enhanced messaging services (EMS) and multimedia messaging services (MMS).
Wireless security is absolutely necessary for good business practice.  Wasp will also design, implement, and support highly secure services for corporations and government authorities.  Ducont’s Dubai joint-venture partner has already implemented a successful on-site wireless transmission programme for Dubai traffic police.
In addition to looking at projects from the viewpoint of available resource advantages, DevCorp also looks at Arabian Peninsula market needs.  This has catalysed an interest in electric lamp manufacturing projects that will build up the base of technical Saudi employment and satisfy market requirements without imports, which take cash out of Saudi Arabia.  
The immediate plans include a lamps project that will establish a manufacturing facility for three million units of energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and a million units of high intensity discharge (HID) lamps, such as metal halide lamps (MH) and high pressure sodium (HPS) vapour lamps. Long-life CFLs offer energy conservation for residences, commercial establishments, shopping malls and offices and cost savings over time.  HID lamps are particularly useful for lighting highways and streets, industrial sites, commercial establishments, shopping malls, showrooms, and public areas.  Both products would be marketed in Saudi Arabia and exported to the Middle East and Africa.
Critical to the economic use of electric power are miniature circuit breakers.  A manufacturing facility to produce different ratings types of electrical control and safety devices, such as miniature circuit breakers (MCB) is also in an advanced stage of development. The product would be a high-fault capacity, thermal-magnetic type of circuit breaker that would prevent electrical overloads and short-circuits.  The plant’s initial capacity would be three million units of different ratings, using the design and an established technology of one of the largest producers in India, the Indo-Asian Group.
DevCorp also fully understands the critical environmental concerns of the 21st Century.   Saudi Arabia consumes approximately 300,000 tonnes per year of lubricating oils and 50 to 60 per cent of this is later dumped as waste oil.   This valuable resource can be re-refined to virgin base oil properties using appropriate technologies.  Re-refining prevents the waste oil being dumped in environmentally unfriendly ways.    DevCorp is working with a well established German-Saudi company involved in waste oil collection to establish two re-refineries, each capable of processing 25,000 tonnes of waste oil per year. 
DevCorp International has built long-term relationships with technological and investing partners worldwide in order to build the best project group for each unique investment opportunity and viable project.