AMAL Al-Jibreen is the founder of Rahalah, a strategic planning office that aims to help to solve the unemployment problem in Saudi Arabia. “I wouldn’t call myself a businesswoman,” she said. “I am more of a woman with a mission.” And the mission is the investment in humans and paving the way for generations to come. Al-Jibreen chose the word Rahalah (“Traveler”) for her project because she sees her efforts as an attempt to explore opportunities on behalf of unemployed but talented young Saudis.
“I wanted to be a consultant or an agent on behalf of others. The real gain in this high risk business is to succeed in paving the path for others to follow,” she said. “We do a lot of research and studies on the opportunities available in the market that the youth are not paying attention to.”
Al-Jibreen, who is in her early 30s, said she focuses on how to work out the unemployment problem by being the link between the government and the private sector to find solutions for Saudis with creative skills, such as graphic design, photography, writing, art and even cooking.
She later joined Al-Faisaliah Group as a nominated member of the board of directors. She was nominated for consultation as a woman representative at the Shoura Council on behalf of the company. After that, she took over her family business (mainly involved in real estate and agricultural development) after the death of her father. “It has been a paradigm shift in my career path. I have moved up from a junior executive to a decision maker,” she said. “I have had the mission of taking my family to the other side of the river. At the same time I felt it was the right time for me to pay back to the community and the country what I have been taking.”
Rahalah is the fruit of this effort. Formed earlier this year, the organization recently completed its first event: a combination of an arts exhibition and a job fair for some of Saudi Arabia’s young creatives.