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Saudi Businesswomen Make Progress but Face Hurdles   

Khaleej Times - 29 December, 2006

There is a tide in the affairs of women in Saudi Arabia, which is being taken at the flood so as to create equal opportunities, status, growth and development, because it is almost widely being recognised that overlooked, it can only push back the ongoing reforms in the Kingdom in shallows and myriad difficulties.

Apologies to Shakespeare, but that is how (albeit with changes) the march of the Saudi women in business can best be summed up.The road has not been smooth for Saudi women in business. There have been pitfalls, turbulence, pockets of resistance, but the journey has continued and reached a stage that some cynics thought was not possible.

Still Saudi businesswomen face obstacles, one of which is having a 'wakil' or a male representative. Some say it is no longer required under the new rules and regulations. Others say, it is a necessity only in the case of particular businesses. But generally it is believed to be in force and a source of discontent, disappointment, delays and is said to be outdated.

As Princess Mashael bint Faisal bin Turki bin Abdul Aziz, one of the persons responsible for the establishment of the Gulf Businesswomen's Committee (GBC), told Khaleej Times, "When we wanted to establish a training company in the Eastern Province — for women, run by women, and owned by women, we found out that the 'mudir' (manager) has to be a man."

"How do we allow this guy to run our business. Women are not supposed to see or talk directly to men, so how he will manage our business — a wholly women's company?" she asked.

"Why should I give my right to somebody I don't know and somebody who has no investment, no stake, in my business?" asked Fatin Bundagji, a management and business development expert who founded the women's section at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in 1999.

She said that the problem of having a 'mudir' or 'vakil,' was "very serious." He has total control over a woman's business.According to her, the requirement should be removed or at least made optional. "As per the seven-point reform plan for women's employment and business in 2004, the requirement to have a 'mudir,' 'vakil' should be removed," Bundagji said.

"The political will is there, the leadership is there, but the executive is still where it was," she added. "We need to understand women as investors. Nations grow through investments. The Kingdom has invested big money in women. If they face obstacles, there will be no returns on that investment," she explained.

Princess Mashael explained that one of the reasons is that there is no open channel between women and decision makers where they can explain. "They (decision makers) don't really know what is really happening on the ground," she said.

Asked what were Saudi businesswomen doing to create more openness, she said, "We are trying. If they really want women to invest more in business, they have to clear the hurdles.""Women have a critical role to play if certain measures are taken to empower them," said Bundagji.

According to her, the future is very promising. "We cannot paralyse almost half of the population. The government spends a lot of money in educating and training women. They are even paid to attend universities. There is a big investment in women, which should not be allowed to go waste. They should be encouraged and permitted to be productive members of the society." she added.

The Princess said that there were other issues as well that needed attention and solution. The recent inclusion of women — elected and appointed — to the JCCI board of directors was a "big opportunity" to solve all these problems. "This is a big break. They should talk to decision makers," she added.

"We need more communication with our colleagues in the Gulf countries. We need to learn from their experience. They need to hear us. We need to open up more," Princess Mashael said.Bundagji said that in 2004, a decision was taken to allow women into all businesses. "But that is only on paper, not in reality," she added.

She said that as it is, there are too many regulations to go through. Too many entities are involved. "There is inefficiency in the system. There is no clear cut method. All these put us off. What is needed is a one-stop-shop. There is need to do away with at least some of the regulations," she added.

"We have to call a spade a spade. Women's business should be women's business — in their name. Husbands should not be allowed to use their names," Bundagji added.

Dr Lama Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiman, elected JCCI board member, and president of the Chamber's Khadija bint Khuwailid Centre for Women said she would like to see more obstacles to be broken down for businesswomen to be able to trade and to develop easily.

"I know a lot of people will tell me those obstacles are there even for businessmen. Yes. But still the obstacles with ministries for businesswomen are twice as much," she added.

Asked about particular obstacles, Al-Sulaiman said, "First of all, the worst is that business licences for women are always for 'masgal' (tailor) — seamstress shop. Under 'masgal' you will find women consultants, public relations, marketing, and event management - extremely qualified and professional businesses. But they have to open under 'masgal.' I find this demeaning for a woman. There is no credibility when they have to open under another name."

But Ghada A. Ghazzawi, general manager, GAG marketing, public relations, and event management, said that under the new rules and regulations 'wakil' is no longer required. "That is a step in the right direction. But that also was never a barrier for us to continue to progress. The 'wakil' is not an issue. The issue is what you can offer to the society, what kind of business you have, what is your level of professionalism in the market," she explained.

Ghazzawi said that she did not find the 'wakil' system much of a problem. "If you have the will, there is a way. I refuse to look at the small things. I consider these as small things that will just push me down or make me think in a negative way," she said.

As for the climate, environment, social attitudes, and avenues open for business for Saudi women about 10-20 years ago and now, a majority of the women Khaleej Times talked to were upbeat.There were some who did not find any significant change or development. Others wanted to be patient and persevere for further changes.

"I can tell you about my change. How I changed and this will tell you what happened really," said Princess Mashael.She said that when she first started into business, she made investments in a lot of fields, "fields that were more to our heart and conducive to our education." There were people "to run and do the whole thing."

After about 12 years, she began to be more involved and found out that she needed a lot of skills. She began learning and studying about self-development and acquiring business skills.That made her realise that there was a big difference between the kind of management followed by the old generation, and the new way of management.

"From just putting the money without knowing much, we reached a stage of how to manage," she added."It is very important to have knowledgeable management to bring new learning, a new way of learning to our children. We have really to try to bring the right subjects to the system," Princess Mashael said.Ghazzawi, who started GAG seven years ago, said, "There is a difference year-on-year."

"There were not many in this business at the time. They did not know the meaning of marketing. Now there are a lot of Saudi companies and competition. The market is upgrading itself. Women are appreciating the concept of advertising, and marketing."

As for difficulties, she said number one was being a woman in marketing. "That by itself was different," she said.

She explained that most of the Saudi businesswomen try to work a lot as a team because "our goals are one. Our direction is one." She added, "We do a lot together. We network all over the Kingdom. We know each other, we support each other. We also think of the future. What are we going to leave for our children, grandchildren? This had a part to play — a positive effect, in reaching where Saudi businesswomen are today."You always have to think 'I,' and act 'we,' move step by step together," she said.

"Before us there were entrepreneurs, great ladies who started 30 or 50 years ago in business. We cannot deny that they gave us the opportunity to be what we are today. We are thankful to them. They are very well-known names in the Kingdom. They worked really very hard. They proved the point. This gave us the opportunity to do what we are doing right now, and hopefully we will give the opportunity to do things for the next generation," Ghazzawi said.

According to her, there is a lot of stereotyping and lot of question marks about Saudi businesswomen, and Saudi women in general. "Everybody thinks that Saudi women have just boomed now, which is not true," she said.

Madawi Abdullah Al Hassoun, JCCI board member, who has been in business for almost 18 years, said society was not ready for women in business, because it "did not see women as an added value to herself, thinking she was just trying to imitate men."

She said women comprise about 50 per cent of the population. "Most of us are highly educated. We have proved ourselves in many sectors, internationally.

We have gained recognition from the government, the society that we are capable of shouldering responsibilities. They are now convinced and we do prove ourselves," she added. "What is happening today is excellent. It is up to them (Saudi women) now to make more efforts to further prove themselves and take their right place in the society," Al-Hassoun said.

"I cannot see that there is a difference between say 10 years ago and now because I do not see any difference. What I can see is that there is a move toward making a difference and making a change. I have not yet seen the change. I can feel the procedure happening, but for me it is not yet there," said Al Sulaiman.

According to her, Saudi businesswomen have always been trading and networking in the world whether it was spoken about or not in the open. They have traded with other countries. So today, the ones that are going more in the open are the ones who have experience.

She said that women's networking and meeting in such gatherings as fora is something like a group therapy — an extended group therapy for women because "this encourages them that they are on the right track, they have similar visions.""The obstacles sometimes might be different and there are a lot of obstacles for women in the world anyway," she added.

Hanan Al Madani, fashion designer, in business for the last eight years said the first problem was that of finding a 'wakil.'She said that sometimes she found it difficult to go to the public places for some of the services needed. "Now it is easier. Still it is not common to see women doing everything by themselves. Eight years ago, some of the places didn't even accept me to get inside," she said.

"We have a law now, allowing women to start business without a 'wakil.' But it is still not activated very well. Have to have a 'wakil' at least on paper," she added.She hoped that in one or two years this problem will be solved. "They have to get used to seeing women in public places," Al Madani said.

The other problem, which she has to this day, as a woman fashion designer, is that she cannot have her own fashion show with media coverage. So, she goes outside of the Kingdom — to Beirut, Rome, England, some of the Gulf countries. On return, she uses the media coverage she gets there for marketing in the Kingdom.

"We are moving step by step because we are such a unique culture where it is difficult for a woman to move. We have waited, and the results are good. In 1-2 years we will see a lot of changes in our businesses. We will have a real jump in our lives. No one is pushing us away. All are supporting," she said.

Dina Hasan Al Nahdi, general manager, ENTEC - Environmental Technology, said the business environment in general is booming right now, and as for the environment, her field of business, the realisation in the Kingdom of a healthy environment is growing.

"Of course, first, as a woman it was very difficult to get commercial registration. Secondly it was about environment. And environmental commercial registration was completely new in the Kingdom. Nine years ago it was a hassle. We had to hassle for a long time for them to finally agree -- first of all about the female name and why would a woman be in this. Women were usually in tailoring, and hair dressing," she said.

"Honestly I cannot say that I could have done something like this 20 years ago. But there were some women, older than me, in business at that time. They had started a road. It was a bumpy road because there was not a road before. So they had at least opened up a road for the other women. I started following that and we did get together. The Khadija bint Khuwailid Centre was helpful to an extent. We have been getting together and trying to find solutions and making life easier for us," Al-Nahdi said.

"Now we are looking forward to forming a consortium — a group of Saudi businesswomen that would be looking into preparing something like — I wouldn't say chamber of commerce — a group to help any upcoming Saudi businesswoman. Helping women in commercial matters. Helping them to start their businesses. We are looking to make life easier for the generation to come," she said.

She said it is a very ambitious, top grade plan — Kingdomwide. "I am not ready now to give any details. Let's say one year approximately — may be within six months, it will take off," she said."We see a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. It has already started lighting and it is getting brighter and brighter," she added.




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