Thus Aziza Mansour, chairman of the board of first women real estate company, wants more freedom for Saudi businesswomen in managing their own business without being controlled by the agent or the mahram.

Mansour cites her own example as a case in point. She said she suffered at the hands of many people during her journey in life soon after the death of her husband.

“My husband died when my elder daughter was 11, and my last daughter aged five days; at that time I had SR450,000, but I was unable to benefit from this money. I could not put that money to work nor use it to buy and sell or even mange my husband’s legacy on my own,” said Mansour.

“I had to do everything through a sponsor. That’s why, at that time I had to ask one of my close relatives to be my agent, and start building a company for me, so I could manage my husband’s business.”

But that experience proved traumatic. According to Mansour, the agent set up a real estate company with too little money, and he did not follow the rules. The company built some buildings for rentals. But some of the buildings collapsed even before they were finished.

“After the buildings collapsed, he (my relative) escaped, taking refuge abroad; he did not inform me about anything and I did not know where he had gone,” she added.

Mansour said that she once again ventured into the real estate sector despite this setback. “Soon after, I started rebuilding the collapsed structures using my own money that I had saved during my marriage years. But as the rules dictated, I chose another man to work as my agent, she said.

In this instance too Mansour had a bitter experience. Instead of following my instructions, the new agent sold my land to an unknown person, and then he escaped. Though Mansour complained to the Jeddah Municipality, they just ignored her complaints.

“I had no recourse but to just carry on,” she said. “Overcoming the difficulties by accepting the losses and carrying on was the only direction I could take. I was in this situation for many years,” she added.

But she stuck it out and managed to sustain her business. Once she established herself in the sector, her next challenge was to work using her own commercial registration number. “Women were not allowed to have their own commercial registration number at that time, and this was my real challenge,” she added.

In trying for a commercial registration, Mansour finally spoke to Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, the then minister of commerce and industry, and he was receptive to her request. She then became the first Saudi woman to receive a real estate commercial registration in Saudi Arabia in 2007.

“Before 2007, I was working in many fields using my other commercial registration for cars’ workshop. This registration I used for 14 years,” she said.

Mansour said she had to take the help of the minister after failing to get her real estate commercial registration record for many years, despite repeated attempts through official channels. She knocked on the doors of the Jeddah Chamber for Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry without getting any response.

“Whenever I asked for any paper, license, or document, the officials in government departments asked me to bring a mahram, and agent. But once I received my own commercial registration, I was free,” she said.

“There are difficulties in Saudi market particularly for woman, but the most important thing is to know how to fight, and how to defend your right,” Mansour said, adding, “Just say ‘I can do it by myself’ and then focus on overcoming whatever problems or obstacles that are facing you.”

Mansour was raised in a small family in Makkah and she got married to a real estate developer, Abdulkarim bin Yakoub.

It was from her husband that she inherited her love for the real estate sector. And she proved to be a success in her chosen field because of this passion and personal grit.

Despite the hurdles and the setbacks, today she has increased her fortune from SR450,000 to SR300 million.

“I always loved the business and look to build on my husband’s effort, which was why I was interested in learning the business from him during his lifetime,” she explained. “I believe that life is a big school and we learn from it,” she added.

Mansour, established her real estate company in 1996, and in 2007 it was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the sector. The approval rating of the company could be gauged by the fact that it was chosen to work on building and construction projects in Thuwal.

“My love of media, marketing, decoration and exhibitions encouraged me to start establishing several departments in my company such as Effat Design, Aziza Sky, Target Aziza,” she said, adding that with all her work she always found time for her family. “Apart from building my business, I made it a point to be at the launch of a book in cooperation with my daughter Muhjat.”

The book that was launched by my daughter was about Arabian horses and it carried descriptions about its origins and its strengths. This book resulted in my firm being chosen by the government to arrange the First Arabian Horse Beauty Contest in Riyadh soon.

For the moment, Mansour said, that she was focusing on developing business projects and creating several opportunities for young Saudis.

“I prefer to share the experience that I had gained in establishing my own business by giving the same opportunity to my daughters and young Saudi women.”

Mansour warns new entrepreneurs to be cautious and innovative. “There is a lack of freedom for Saudi businesswomen in the Kingdom. Women who decide to start their own businesses need an agent who can help them. It is this facet of the business that is most vulnerable. If the agent is capricious then he could either run the business to ground or may steal from them,” she said. “Based on my experience, I would like the government to facilitate the rules that would help provide the Saudi businesswomen a level playing field,” she added.

Mansour said she was optimistic with the changes that have happened under the government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, and she hoped that the king would decide on removing the agent system while also decide on allowing women to travel without mahram.

Mansour is now going global with an agreement to launch “Remax Aziza” an international agency for real estate marketing.

“This step is a simple beginning, and I am looking to compete in foreign markets, especially the GCC markets, but I and all other businesswomen are being pegged back because of the difficulties to travel due to the mahram system,” she said, adding, “I need to travel several times a month, but every time I need to take permission from my husband’s brother as my husband died several years ago,” she said.

“The existing regulations on women’s travel make my business trips difficult and it delays several of my business deals,” she added.

According to Mansour, as a growing society, we need to focus more on raising women’s confidence, and allow them to benefit from their frozen assets in banks. “Every woman should try and establish a small business and develop it till she achieves her goals,” she added.

Mansour said Saudi businesswomen’s contributions to the GCC countries is limited. “Unfortunately, the Saudi contribution to the field of business in Saudi Arabia is still limited so it is normal that her contribution to the GCC market is limited as well,” she said.

But she added that conducting business in GCC states is no different, as the businesswomen in the Gulf too encounter similar hurdles. “GCC businesswomen are no more lucky than us; they are also under pressure, and are suffering from the same rules that control us such as mahram and agent.”

But Mansour is hopeful that a day will come when she would not be hearing the constant statements from men who chide her for storming the male bastion. Statements such as: “Go, you are a woman,” “You are not allowed to work because you are a woman,” “Come with your agent,” or “Bring a paper from your mahram,” she hopes, would be a thing of the past.