JEDDAH, 9 September 2004 — The women’s division of the Makkah Society for Development and Social Services is organizing the second Saudi Working Women Exhibition at the Jeddah International Exhibition and Convention Center from Sept. 21 to 24.
The exhibition will be held under the support of Princess Al-Johara bint Al-Ibrahim and in collaboration with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Eman Cancer Society.
The objectives of the forum are to enlighten women on developing their economic skills and facilitate direct contact between women seeking jobs and companies recruiting employees. It will also be a chance for women who work from their homes to demonstrate and distribute their products. The program features available training programs by different female training centers, lectures and workshops as well as successful working women.
Among the participants in the exhibition is the Women Empowerment Programs and Research Unit from the Syeda Khadija bint Khuwailid Center for Businesswomen at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The center is a newly established strategy and planning source to support and enable businesswomen to be part of the Kingdom’s economic development.
“The goal of our participation is to introduce the visitors to our initiative of supporting home-based businesses,” said Fatin Bundagji, head of the Women Empowerment Programs Unit.
“It will be our first event about the importance of home-based businesses and the chamber’s willingness to support these businesses because they reduce unemployment, help women achieve their ambitions and solve the transportation problem for them,” she told Arab News.
At the exhibition, they will provide consultation, personality evaluation tests, questionnaire, lectures and present 50 ideas for home-based businesses for women that are very applicable and customized to our culture. The ideas tackle all categories including computer, health, services, products, and event organization.
“Home business is a profession and needs to be treated as such,” said Bundagji. “We will identify these businesswomen’s needs and assist them in developing their management skills and plans and provide them with the right tools and training programs,” she said.
Her main clients are the youth because the first five years after graduation whether from high school or university are critical. “We will screen the applicants and develop some pilot projects for them,” said Bundagji.
Based on a preliminary survey of around 70 women, the biggest obstacle they face in starting business and expanding it is lack of information and networking opportunities. “This is what we will provide them with. We will be the link and source of information,” she said.
Bundagji is considering publishing a quarterly newsletter for home-based businesses that features support ideas, advertisements, training programs and a committee as a think tank. The unit will not provide funds or financial aid but they can coordinate with the sectors that give loans. As for the established home-based businesswomen who might be apprehensive about being restricted in some way, they are not obliged to participate in the unit’s activities. They have the option of becoming officially recognized because the chamber does not give licenses to non-regularized businesses, but these businesswomen can be given membership and benefit from the chamber’s services.
“We can use them for better research in this sector and identify the problems,” said Bundagji. “Ultimately, my dream is to develop a government policy that supports this sector and is included in the statistics.”
