JEDDAH, 3 December 2004 — Saudi businesswoman Lubna Sulaiman Al-Olayan has become the first female board member of a Saudi listed company. The Saudi Hollandi Bank shareholders elected Al-Olayan, CEO of the Al-Olayan Group, to a three-year term on the bank’s board at a meeting late Tuesday.
The Al-Olayan Group is one of the largest Saudi companies running more than 40 firms across the Kingdom.
President of the Board of the Saudi Hollandi Bank, Sulaiman A.R. Al-Suhaimi, emphasized that the election of Al-Olayan as a board member was the result of her qualifications and proven experience in finance and business. In 2003 she had announced the Al-Olayan Group’s purchase of 16 percent of SHB shares for SR1.348 billion, becoming the largest Saudi shareholder at the bank.
“A Saudi woman voluntarily elected is good news that inspires us to hope for the better,” said a prominent Saudi banker who wished to be called Abu Mamdouh. “I believe that women have more than proved themselves the equals of men in business and finance.”
A senior manager at one of the local banks told Arab News: “This is very promising. I think that qualifications and professions shouldn’t be looked at from a gender point of view.”
Some members of Imam Mohammad ibn Saud University disagreed with Olayan’s appointment. They told Arab News: “Earlier this week Saudi women were allowed to directly vote without their male guardians in the elections for the Riyadh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. There was also opening of the business center for Saudi businesswomen in Jeddah Chambers of Commerce and Industry. What next?”
A prominent Saudi businesswoman, who chose to call herself Umm Fayez, said: “The fact that the Prophet’s wife, Khadija bint Khuwailid, was a businesswoman herself and totally involved in managing, financing and in a form of banking goes to show that there’s no validity to objections to women’s involvement in this professional sector.”
