Saleh Ali Al-Turki founded Nesma in 1979 and served as president and chairman of the group until his appointment as Mayor of Jeddah in July 2018. Nesma has since diversified its business portfolio by expanding into the U.A.E., Türkiye, and Egypt through construction, oil and gas, real estate, hospitality freight services, aviation, logistics, and information technology, among others. In June 2023, Nesma companies won a mega-project with NEOM for the construction of two accommodation villages of over one million square meters with a total capacity of 15,000 residents. In November 2023, the 1,100 MW Al Henakiyah solar PV project, was awarded to Nesma Renewable Energy’s consortium with Masdar and EDF Renewables.