JEDDAH, 17 February 2005 — The Business Ladies’ Committee at this year’s Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF), to be held at the Jeddah Hilton Feb. 19-21, is playing a bigger role than ever before.
In 2003, Saudi businesswomen and academics were invited to a one-day women’s only event for the JEF. In 2004, the committee was formed to assist in organizing the women’s section of the conference room for women to attend the same JEF program with men for the full three days. That year Lubna Al-Olayan, CEO of Al-Olayan Group, made history by being the keynote speaker of the event and she spoke of the need for change.
This year, the businesswomen’s committee was involved from the start with the main organizing committee in defining the forum’s title and goals, setting the program and contacting the speakers. Amr Enani, president of the forum, had announced that Dr. Haifa Jamal Allail, dean of Effat College, was the chair of the Business Ladies’ Committee and a member of the forum’s Organizing Committee.
After choosing the members of the Business Ladies’ committee in October, the women formed sub-committees. The Business Ladies’ Committee members include: Madawi Al-Hassoun, assistant chairperson; Faten Al Yafi, coordinator with Jeddah Marketing Board on processing any issues related to the participants visas; Maha Fitaihi heads the PR sub-committee; Maha Akeel heads the Media sub-committee; Dr. Asma Siddiki and Mrs. Kerry Laufer jointly heading the training and recognition sub-committee, and Dr. Nadia Baeshen, director of the Khadija Bint Khuweilid Center for Businesswomen heading the registration sub-committee.
Members of the PR sub-committee include Ms. Hunaida Sairafi, Dr. Basmah Omair and Ms. Mawada Al Wazir, and members of the media sub-committee include: Samar Fatany, Somayya Jabarti and Ghada Aboud. The sub-committees consist of women from the Jeddah community and student volunteers from several education institutions including Effat College, Dar Al-Hekma College, College of Business Administration, The Continental School, Jeddah Private School, and King Abdul Aziz University.
“The committee was involved in intensive planning in cooperation with the main organizing team for the Jeddah Economic Forum. The selection of the volunteers from many education institutions and corporations was processed during Haj break and their training sessions were successful,” said Dr. Haifa.
The Jeddah Economic Forum has become the region’s strategic think tank focusing on local, regional and international economic and social issues. “It is a great opportunity for businesswomen and academics to establish contacts and exchange expertise with their counterparts from around the world that could lead to business and investment relations,” said Dr. Haifa to Arab News on the importance and relevance of attending these forums. The forum this year is addressing the social dimension of economic development with a focus on concepts such as capacity building, expansion of social capital, and the adequacy of soft infrastructure; how institutions of learning, production, regulation, and social support all fit together and support social and economic development.
One of the important issues to be addressed is human resource development as a key to national economic success and capacity building. Abdullah Badawi, prime minister of Malaysia, will speak on the Malaysian experience in transforming it from an agricultural based economy into a high-tech Asian economic tiger by transforming its human resources.
Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, minister of labor, will speak on the Kingdom’s employment strategy.
“The issue of unemployment and human resource development is critical for our society and women’s role in reducing the impact of unemployment and the dependence on foreign labor and consequently contributing to the country’s economic growth is a factor that cannot be ignored,” said Dr. Haifa. “Therefore her participation and follow-up on the discussions for this issue and others is invaluable.”
