WALID RAJAB, General Manager, SOGEC
“The energy sector, especially when combined with contracting activities, is not for the faint of heart. It’s a rollercoaster. Some people avoid the ride altogether. Others get on once and never come back. But for me, I’ve learned to embrace it. I genuinely enjoy every twist, turn, and drop.” – Walid Rajab.
This fearless mindset, fuelled by boundless enthusiasm and unshakeable resolve, sets the blazing ground of unrestrained growth and daring innovations at SOGEC – Specialized Oil & Gas Engineering Co. Ltd. A rare zest for volatility, an unbridled passion for the adrenaline of change and the rigorous discipline of Engineering thinking, have sparked an innate curiosity to delve deeper and propel him through the industry’s toughest terrains—consistently turning volatility into opportunity, risk into reward and setbacks into stepping stones for progress.
In a world where entrepreneurship is often glamorized as a series of eureka moments and overnight successes, Walid Rajab, General Manager of SOGEC, stands as a testament to a different truth: greatness is built layer by layer through failure as much as triumph.
“Resilience wasn’t a concept; it was a survival skill,” he reflects, his voice carrying the quiet weight of a hard-won experience. Born into a lineage of traders and business owners, Rajab’s entrepreneurial spirit was forged early—not in boardrooms, but in the unglamorous trenches of necessity. His mother, the “quiet architect” of his upbringing, instilled in him a principle that would define his career: value is created through contribution, not just ideas.
From navigating geopolitical instability to failing college courses and early ventures, Rajab’s journey was never linear. “These moments forced me to unlearn ego and relearn humility,” he shares. What emerged was not just a businessman, but a system builder—a leader who thrives on turning chaos into coherence.
The Unplanned Mastery: Oil, Gas, and Divine Timing
Rajab’s entry into oil and gas engineering was serendipitous, a twist of fate he calls “divine timing.” But his ascent to leadership at SOGEC was anything but accidental. “Luck played a part. Faith guided me. But resilience and obsession with planning brought me here.” Twenty years on, his tenure reads like a masterclass in hands-on learning: no corner of the business was left unexplored, and no task fell beyond his reach.
His early years in small-scale business exposed him to every facet of operations—engineering, sales, procurement, and execution. This hands-on immersion bred an operational intuition rare among executives. “I didn’t just solve today’s problems; I invested in tomorrow,” he says. This duality—zooming out to strategize while staying elbow-deep in execution—became his trademark.
The SOGEC Doctrine: Service as a Science
SOGEC’s dominance in cathodic protection, corrosion monitoring, and non-destructive testing wasn’t born from a single breakthrough but from a relentless commitment to three principles: automate with foresight, serve with obsession, and honor each project with equal fervour.
“The client is always right wasn’t a slogan—it was our DNA,” Rajab states. He recounts taking calls at midnight, on holidays, from remote sites. This ethos, paired with a refusal to categorize clients as “big” or “small,” cultivated fierce loyalty.
Years before “digital transformation” turned into corporate speak, Rajab steered SOGEC to automate workflows in 2012. The results came as a natural consequence: Sharper efficiency, cleaner data, and faster pivots—advantages that paid dividends as the company scaled. “Efficiency isn’t just about speed; it’s about precision at scale,” explains Rajab.
Strategic milestones—like the Jubail pump station project for the Royal Commission or the Khurais Field Project for Saudi Aramco, further cemented SOGEC’s reputation at the global frontier.
The Thrill of Reinvention
For many, the oil and gas sector is an unforgiving arena—technically intricate, financially weighty, and operationally volatile. For Walid, it is an intellectual playground. “The rollercoaster is the joy,” Rajab admits. For him, the energy sector’s unpredictability is a stimulant that fuels his innovation and brings out the best in him and his employees. Comfort zones, to him, are wastelands; every twist in the market is an invitation to tweak, redesign, and build leaner systems.
Yet, this thrill of innovation never ignores caution. Every risk is hedged by exhaustive planning—a hallmark of the engineering mind and every decision is paired with mitigation plans, forever calibrating today’s pressures against tomorrow’s opportunities.
Teaching as Leading
If there is one thread binding Walid’s personal code to his corporate ethos, it is the principle of serving so others may grow. Leadership, he believes, is an act of teaching, not commanding.
“I lead so that others can lead. The true measure of success is how well they thrive without me,” he says, distilling a truth often lost in the din of modern corporate life. His leadership in equal part is both a coach and catalyst—unlocking potential, demanding accountability, and weaving empathy through every decision.
This philosophy is palpable across SOGEC’s corridors—where high standards coexist with open dialogue and where people don’t just execute tasks but evolve into builders themselves.
The Road Ahead: Modular, Global, Unstoppable
SOGEC today is a multi-line powerhouse: a trusted partner in Cathodic Protection, Corrosion Monitoring, Non-Destructive Testing, and beyond. But to Walid, this is only a prologue to a never-ending saga of excellence in innovation.
“Our vision is to keep expanding—deepening technology, broadening services, and entering new geographies,” he shares. The MENA region is next in sight, with an eye eventually on global frontiers.
Equally transformative is his structural ambition: to spin off each matured business line from a multifaceted company to an independent entity, operating autonomously as specialized companies, all originating from SOGEC’s entrepreneurial DNA. This modular design promises sharper specialization, faster scaling, and a magnet for the right partnerships and talent—each a vital cog in a resilient, agile conglomerate.
Accolades and Recognition
Walid Rajab’s commitment to excellence has earned SOGEC the Saudi Aramco Local Manufacturers Quality Excellence Award for four consecutive years: 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2025—a testament to consistency in a sector where mistakes are costly and trust is priceless.
A Message Etched in Simplicity
For the dreamers who wish to leave a dent in the economy of Saudi Arabia—or anywhere—Walid’s counsel is refreshingly unglamorous yet deeply profound:
“There are no secrets, just fundamentals done right, consistently. Dedication, relentless planning, true customer service, and an enterprise that never stops evolving—these are universal truths,” he says.
For Walid Rajab, success is never a straight line. It is a patient cycle of doing, failing, refining, and doing again. And it is achieved only through hard-won trust and stubborn discipline.
His story isn’t a finished manuscript. It’s a living draft—one where resilience feeds reinvention, where systems are built not just to last but to lead. And it is this unyielding belief that turns every chaos into a coherence that never looked so compelling as this.