PaceMakers Business Consultants
KF

Team

Kaleem Farooq

Business Development, Saudi Arabia

Riyadh, KSA

Kaleem Farooq is a finance and commercial leader with more than 12 years of experience in Saudi Arabia, spanning technology services, SaaS, construction, government infrastructure and investor-backed growth companies. He leads business development for PaceMakers Business Consultants in the Kingdom, based in Riyadh.Having spent his career inside finance teams, Kaleem recognises the moments when companies need advisory support: raising capital, securing bank facilities, obtaining licences, bidding for government projects and planning expansion. He speaks the language of CFOs and founders, from financial models and data rooms to bank guarantees, ZATCA and audit.

Sector focus

  1. Technology and IT services: commercial strategy, bid pricing and finance leadership for a Riyadh-based technology services firm
  2. SaaS and AI start-ups: financial modelling, subscription pricing and investor readiness for venture-backed companies
  3. Fintech and investor-backed growth: finance leadership through a Series A fundraise and a period of 4x revenue growth
  4. Construction and government projects: financial reporting, billing and cost control on large Ministry of Interior projects
  5. Retail technology, staff augmentation, trading and holding groups: finance operations, treasury and governance

Career highlights

Royal Cyber, Riyadh (2023 to 2026)

General Manager Finance

  • Led the company's Regional Headquarters (RHQ) licensing with the Ministry of Investment (MISA), securing 240 visas, a 10-year tax exemption, Saudization relief and access to government bids
  • Owned commercial bid strategy from pricing to contract award, including RFP documentation, regulatory certifications and bank guarantees
  • Renegotiated vendor contracts and onboarded three new partners, saving around SAR 3 million a year
  • Built Order-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay cycles, cutting collection time by over 30%, completing audits around three times faster and reducing ZATCA queries by 70%

Rewaa, Riyadh and GCC

  • Ran finance through the company's Series A fundraise, covering due diligence, the investor data room, the cap table and employee equity plans
  • Set finance OKRs during 4x revenue growth in 2021 and 2022, reduced SaaS costs by 35% and managed governance across ADGM, KSA and India entities

ABV Rock Group, Riyadh

  • Led financial reporting for two Ministry of Interior projects worth SAR 7.5 billion and recovered billing on SAR 100 million of unbilled work
  • Delivered SAR 10 million in savings through subcontract surcharge clauses, SAR 800,000 a year through e-approvals and SAR 1 million through central inventory management

Fathom.io, Al Khobar

  • Built a five-year financial model and subscription pricing engine for the AI SaaS start-up, used directly in its investor pitch decks

Independent Advisory, KSA

  • Supports growing SMEs on financial hygiene, cash-flow management, cost reduction and fundraising readiness

Areas of expertise

  • Business development and bid strategy
  • Fundraising and investor readiness
  • Financial modelling and pricing
  • Treasury and banking relationships
  • Cost optimisation and procurement
  • Regulatory, tax and governance (MISA, ZATCA)

His role at PaceMakers

Kaleem originates mandates across Saudi Arabia, makes introductions and supports client meetings and presentations. He works alongside PaceMakers' Founding Partner, who scopes, prices and delivers every engagement.

Every finance team I have led reached the same moment: a decision that needs capital, and numbers it can stand behind. That is the moment I bring to PaceMakers.

Kaleem Farooq

Business Development, Saudi Arabia