TASC and nuwa launch joint workforce offering ahead of Expo 2030 Riyadh

TASC, a regional workforce solutions group, and nuwa, a boutique consultancy firm, have signed a strategic partnership aimed at offering joint workforce solutions for Expo 2030 Riyadh.

While Expo 2030 Riyadh is still four years away, the two companies said in a joint statement that they are joining forces now due to their shared conviction that Expo strategies, operational readiness and teambuilding must be developed well in advance – and with such complex mega-events, that time starts now.

“Expo 2030 Riyadh will require a significant mobilisation of companies, capabilities and people over the next four years. The important point is that this does not start in 2030. It is starting now,” explained Kailash Nagdev, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of nuwa.

To put the challenge into perspective, Expo 2030 Riyadh is expected to welcome more than 42 million visits over six months and aims to bring together 226 official participants, including 197 countries and 29 international organisations.

For countries with a pavilion and brands that will be present at Expo 2030 Riyadh, successful delivery will require large, multidisciplinary teams across pavilions, hospitality, technology, retail, food and beverage, entertainment, logistics, security and visitor services.

The demands of all these countries and brands translate into an enormous workforce requirement. For example, the latest Expo, held in Osaka, recorded approximately 156,000 event-related personnel, alongside around 50,000 transport personnel, 18,000 retail personnel, 17,000 cleaning, medical, security, police, fire and sanitation personnel, and 3,000 logistics personnel. And then consider that Expo 2030 Riyadh is slated to be even bigger and bolder.

The joint offering

TASC and nuwa will work together to help international and local organisations build the teams needed to deliver their Expo activities. “The partnership will focus on helping organisations plan early, mobilise specialist talent and prepare local teams to deliver at international standards,” said Nagdev.

The two firms will provide workforce planning, recruitment, mobilisation, compliance and workforce management solutions for organisations operating across the Expo ecosystem, combining experience from previous World Expos, workforce technology and established Saudi delivery capabilities.

Mahesh Shahdadpuri, Chairman of TASC Outsourcing, said: “Major events require organisations to recruit at pace, mobilise internationally, comply with local requirements and manage large and diverse project workforces, often within compressed delivery timelines. By partnering early with nuwa, we can combine TASC’s workforce technology and Saudi operating infrastructure with specialist World Expo experience and foresight into how demand will develop.”

The partnership will also create a soft-landing proposition for international companies entering Saudi Arabia to pursue Expo 2030 opportunities. Nagdev said: “For international businesses, establishing a presence in Saudi Arabia can be a challenge. They must also understand where opportunities are developing, identify where they can credibly compete, access the right stakeholders and partners, and build the local operating capability required to pursue and deliver work.”

As part of the joint offering, TASC will provide the practical infrastructure required to establish and operate in Saudi Arabia, including business setup, licensing, compliance, mobility and workforce support. nuwa will complement this with Expo-specific intelligence, access to the local supplier and stakeholder ecosystem, capacity and capability enhancement, and in-Kingdom commercial support.

“Setup, compliance, talent and commercial access are interconnected,” said Shahdadpuri. “Bringing them together gives international businesses a stronger foundation from which to establish, compete and deliver in the Kingdom.”

Expo’s contribution

As of today, 135 of the nearly 200 nations invited to participate have confirmed their presence at Expo 2030 Riyadh. The event’s contribution to the Kingdom’s economy is estimated at between $70 billion under a conservative scenario and $95 billion under a more optimistic estimate.