JEDDAH, 28 February 2005 — A seminar on the potential of real estate investment in the Gulf region is being held tonight at the Khadija Bint Khowailid Businesswomen Center at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The seminar is for women and it is about everything involving real estate investment in the Gulf region,” said Nadine Rasim, head of specialized businesswomen support unit at the center.
Invitations have been sent to around 120 women, 50 of them have confirmed their attendance but more are expected. “More and more Saudi women are interested in real estate whether they are businesswomen or simply looking for investment opportunities,” said Rasim. There are no statistics on the size of women’s investment in real estate, but it is clearly an attractive field for them and the number of women investing in it is on the rise especially with new projects getting under way in the whole Gulf region.
“Now that women are allowed to open their own real estate services offices, we have seen an increasing number of women registering at the chambers for such offices, which will make it even easier for women to invest and conduct their business in real estate,” said Rasim. Added to that is the fact that women have a huge capital resource that is sitting idle in bank accounts and many real estate companies are marketing their projects to them.
The seminar will discuss the development stages of real estate investment in the Gulf region, particularly the United Arab Emirates, and the role of the public and private sectors. Participating in the seminar are Dubai City Development and Investment Authority, Al-Nakheel Company of Dubai, Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority, Jeddah Municipality, Erth Real Estate Company, and Sokuk-Remax Company. “One of the important goals of the seminar is raising women’s awareness on investing in real estate and point them toward entering in joint-stock companies as an option,” said Rasim.
Among the speakers is Saudi businesswoman Hussa Al-Oun, the president of the first woman real estate company. Her session is about the current environment of real estate investment.
The seminar will also present a future vision for real estate in the Gulf region.
