The businesswoman, Shirooq Jamal Al-Sulaimani, is competing against 58 men to win elections to join the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (JCCI) Real Estate and Construction Development Committee.

“By joining the committee, I will endeavor to bring innovative and comprehensive changes in the real estate industry which is one of the Kingdom’s most important economic sectors,” said Al-Sulaimani.

The elections for the committee are to take place on Tuesday. Out of 60 candidates, 12 will be elected and six appointed by the JCCI’s board of directors.

Apart from Al-Sulaimani, there is only one other female candidate, Huwaidah Austa.

Al-Sulaimani, a specialist in real estate marketing and development, is the owner of  an international real estate company. She has experience of real estate in both the Kingdom and abroad, and has a team of qualified young Saudi women. She is also confident she can represent Saudi women in one of the JCCI’s hottest elections.

“I will try my level best to contribute to the progress of the real estate industry ... through the committee,” she said.

Al-Sulaimani has called for laws that are in sync with local and international developments in the industry, and for the establishment of advanced research centers, and specialized real estate institutions and academies, and the preparation of specialized cadres.

She added that she will provide Saudi businesswomen in Jeddah with the opportunity to take feasible investment decisions that will benefit them economically.

“If I am elected, I will work to get young Saudi men and women qualified to enter the real estate sector and will begin this by training university students on the basic concepts of real estate and its positive impact on the economy,” she said.

She also called for developing traditional real estate products and creating new ones to increase real estate investments and provide safe investment solutions.

“We should come up with marketing methods, which are both new and nonconventional and which target Saudi families. These methods should be particularly suitable to businesswomen and provide real estate opportunities in a professional framework during social events in which all members of the family can participate,” she said.

Al-Sulaimani urged the youth, both men and women, to establish their own real estate establishments and called for small real estate companies to merge.