Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, Founder and Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, reflected in 2018 on how companies hastily pulled out of the 2nd edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, urging against making decisions driven by 'excitement' and 'pride.' Fast forward to FII8 in 2024, the conference achieved over $70 billion in investment agreements, hosted 8,000+ delegates, and featured 200+ sessions. Key participants included TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink, Elon Musk, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, NVIDIA EVP Jay Puri, and Google CIO Ruth Porat.