May Allah bless the soul of Abdullah Ba Hamdain, the man who initiated the idea of establishing the Jeddah Chambers of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) to help young entrepreneurs, businesspeople and newly established companies. During a visit to Makkah, I remember watching him speaking his mind to Sheikh Alireza, who on returning to Jeddah the next morning held a meeting with entrepreneurs and businessmen with an aim of establishing the first ever Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Kingdom.
It was decided in the meeting that the Chamber would operate between 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., similar to the standard office hours in the Kingdom, with an aim of enabling the chamber to effectively serve people.
As part of the work carried out at the Chamber, documents and business applications presented by individuals, organizations, companies, factories, entrepreneurs, and contractors must be legalized and certified according to the chamber’s system then forwarded to relevant official sectors or consulates.
Having early working hours has given young entrepreneurs and customers the opportunity to obtain necessary legal verification from the Chamber as early as possible and then proceed to other departments or sectors to follow relevant procedures.
In many government sectors, work starts at 7:30 in the morning and ends at 2:30 in the afternoon. Government-run companies such as Saudi Airlines, the Saudi Electricity Company, Aramco, and the Saudi Telecom Company tend to work overtime during the working week so as to avoid people filling in hours on Thursdays and Fridays.
Nevertheless, following the appointment of Saleh Al-Turky as the Chamber’s new chairman, the JCCI has began a new system of operating between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Al-Turky mentioned in his first meeting at the JCCI that it really bothers him waking up early in the morning. He also noted that the reason why he had moved from the Eastern Province to Jeddah was because his former company, Aramco, had a system that required contractors such as him to present their tenders for bids at 6:30 a.m. Because of this, Al-Turky didn’t want to be bothered again and decided that the chamber’s working hours should start at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. The change also apparently suits the operating hours of his personal company as well.
It is rather awkward for the chamber’s chairman to change a system which has been running since the JCCI’s establishment half a century ago and which was and still is most convenient to businessmen, entrepreneurs, and contractors just because the chairman doesn’t feel like waking up early in the morning. Not to mention the fact that the chairman wants the chamber’s working hours to suit him in the way he operates private businesses.
With all respect to Al-Turky, who as a public servant I believe has no right to sleep and wake up whenever he wants to, let alone adjust the Chamber’s operating hours. I also believe that the JCCI’s youthful employees can operate the Chamber smoothly with full competence without burdening the chairman with an early wake up call.
