JEDDAH, 21 March 2007 — Education and training are the two most important elements in the empowerment of women, said Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Saleh Al-Turki, who was speaking yesterday at the Khadija bint Khuwailid Forum for Saudi Businesswomen at Jeddah Hilton.
“Our women need training so that they can play an even greater role in the country’s development,” he said. “They have the potential and they can do it. Despite all odds, they have proved their worth by contributing handsomely to the national economy.”
The private sector, Al-Turki said, needed to pay greater attention to the training of women.
“We need to have catalysts in the private sector that can promote women’s training,” he said.
Al-Turki’s speech was followed by the announcement of the Top 20 Saudi Women’s Businesses for 2007 published by Arab News.
Sheikha Nadia bint Khaled Al-Dossary, whose Al-Sale Eastern Co. Ltd. was ranked No. 1 in the Arab News Top 20 Companies run by Saudi businesswomen, said it was a great moment receiving the plaque in the presence of Princess Adelah bint Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz and JCCI Chairman Al-Turki.
“Their presence made all the difference,” she said while talking to Arab News on the sidelines of the forum. “I felt honored.”
Al-Dossary, who capitalized on her education and market experience, shares responsibilities at the head of the largest Saudi scrap-metal recovery operation from her base in Alkhobar. Al-Sale Eastern is a major supplier for Hadeed and other players in the metals industry. The company currently has more than 15 scrap-metal recovery yards in the Kingdom equipped with large shears, weighing systems and manpower.
Talking about her candidature in the recent elections to the chambers of commerce, she said: “I didn’t win a seat and I didn’t think I would, but I wanted to do it for the experience. I won 400 votes, mostly from men. I think that illustrates one of the biggest issues facing women in business in Saudi Arabia: the lack of support from other women. It is very sad that women in Saudi Arabia do not understand the ethics of business and the importance of networking and teamwork.”
She thanked Arab News for coming out with the Top 20 supplement.
“This is one way of empowering women,” she said. “Also, because Arab News’ online edition is widely read outside, the profile of these Top 20 companies will come in handy for us to explain our business to people outside,” she said. “We export steel to India, Pakistan, China and Russia. I can now tell my clients in these four countries to just log on to arabnews.com and to know all about my company,” she said. “It is definitely a big plus.”
Aisha A. Natto, chairman of the board of Eye-2-Eye Optics, whose company was ranked No. 11 on the Arab News Top 20 list, was all praise for the English-language daily for taking the initiative in compiling the list.
“The newspaper has in a sense introduced us to the wider world. And now we know that there are very many Saudi businesswomen,” she said.
Natto said the initiative would go a long way in prodding others to do more to get into the list next year. “They have sort of ignited competition which always is good for the growth of our economy,” she said.
Speaking at the forum, Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena recalled how the idea of the paper’s major annual supplement, the Top 100 companies in Saudi Arabia, was greeted with skepticism when it was first floated to companies, marketers and advertisers 18 years ago. “Even knowledgeable businessmen looked at it with suspicion and cynicism,” he said. “But we carried on and the list became a regular Arab News publication.”
“The publication of the Top 20 List of Saudi Women’s Businesses is something we are proud of,” he said amid thunderous applause from the women participants.
He said the Kingdom has witnessed some very rapid economic changes and a number of women have played important roles in the changes in the last five years.
“Of course, oil prices have helped create this new economic boom, but more than that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has shown his personal determination to put Saudi Arabia firmly on the world economic map,” he said. “However, in order to do this, it is clear to everybody that an atmosphere conducive to economic and social development is needed. And the quickest and most effective way to achieve our goals is through the entrepreneurship of both men and women.”
Almaeena had fulsome praise for the Khadija bint Khuwailid Center for Businesswomen. “The determination of the women we met at the center, their hard work, their aim to solve women’s business problems and increase the role of women in the Kingdom’s economy is commendable,” he added.
The heads of the Top 20 companies each received a plaque from Arab News and a certificate of appreciation from Princess Adelah.
The two-day conference ended last night with a call to empower women. The forum provided a valuable platform for an exchange of ideas that many said will prove beneficial to the economic progress of the country.
