JEDDAH — For 17 years and since 1990 Elham Al-Hulaibah, resident of the Eastern Province, broke her way into the business world when she established Chenille Interiors Company Ltd. Hand-in-hand with her husband, the president of the company Mohammed Al-Eady, she ran the company as its vice president taking it from a local to an international level. The company provides furniture and interior products.
As Chenille grew, in 1994 they moved it to a larger headquarter and the number of workers increased from six in the first year to 45. In 1995 their first international project was accomplished when they landed a contract to do the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Rome, Italy. “And it is what I am proud of the most,” she said.
The company’s reputation spread and it was given charge of designing Saudi Arabian ambassador’s house in Muscat, Oman, the Saudi Arabian consul general’s house in Hong Kong, the house of Crown Prince Sultan in addition to many other projects.
Chenille was certified as an ISO 9001:2000 company on July 17, 2004 and also received the International Goldstar Award for Quality and Innovation during the International Star Award Quality Convention in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 21, 2001. In 2003 they launched their online website: www.chenilleinteriors.com. Al-Hulaibah says she believes in creativity and not limiting one’s ideas to one style because creation is the key element. She notes how she was affected with the Italian architecture and the design in North Africa.
Her knowledge in this field stems from her bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Planning from King Faisal University in the Eastern Province. This along with her husband’s master’s degree in Business Administration from Hull University in Britain provided a balance in their business and helped in improving it, she said.
The beginning was not easy, she explains. There was no governmental support for our profession except to work as a teacher. “But after graduation I did not want to bury myself in teaching art in schools, so I took a job with Aramco in the company’s interior design section to gain experience.”
From there, she knew the road to success among businessmen was difficult. She was the first Saudi woman architect to establish a company in a society where it was still not normal for women to be seen working in the field of construction, which even amazed the foreign workers.
But with determination and persistence, she said, she managed to cross all these difficulties. “This is how I managed to prove myself as a successful architect, and director of the company.”
The Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry did not make it hard, instead she added, her husband took care and dealt with them, and they were very cooperative and helpful.
Her major problem however remains with customs inspections. Though years have passed, she said, they are still suffering from what they describe as the uncivilized way the customs keep handling their products and furniture causing many of it to lose quality or get destroyed. This she said, “affects our business profits and force us to delay delivering it in time when we find ourselves obliged to order another ones to satisfy the consumers requests.”
In addition, Al-Hulaibah said that the reasons behind the road to success is, “Thanks to God,” and then to their feelings of commitment and dedication to please their consumers and work with them putting their concerns on the top of the list. Furthermore, working on offering the top services to always have the consumers’ trust.
Being one who had been through many difficulties in the beginning, she said, she wanted to make it easier for the new generations. Hence she gives summer internships for students and offer them the chance to learn and be updated with the latest technologies and products used in the world of interior designing and methods in using them. There is always cooperation between her company and King Faisal University and universities abroad like the Jordanian University in Jordan and the American University in Beirut.
Speaking about her future plans, she said, she hopes with her husband that their company would gain more recognition and become the best in the Middle East and hopefully in the world. She also looks forward to seeing her children Faisal, Fahad and Raghad successful and creative and able to run the company after them when they grow up.
“They need to love what they are doing,” she finally advised the businesswomen who wanted to start a business in this field. This Al-Hulaibah added would motivate them to face any difficulties and gain knowledge and experience. It would also make the society aware of them and their originality in this field where it requires a lot of creation and taste.