JEDDAH: The business community in Jeddah is happy over the announcement made by Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza appointing four men and two women to the board of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).
The announcement comes almost a month after the election of 11 businessmen and a businesswoman to the board, bringing the total members of the board to 18. The appointed members include Saleh Kamil, a prominent Jeddah businessman.
Other appointed members are: Majed Al-Qassabi, a former JCCI secretary-general, Moussa Al-Amran, Muhammad Binladin, both leading businessmen and Aisha Natto, and Fatin Bundagji, who are involved in a variety of social activities.
Speaking to Arab News, Natto said her appointment to the JCCI board by the minister came as a big surprise for her. “I received a text message on my phone informing me about the new appointment, at 6 in the morning,” she said. “Later I received a letter of appointment from the minister at about 11 a.m.,” she said. Natto said she would work along with other women for the service of the business and civil society by organizing a variety of programs. “The JCCI can play a big role in supporting socially-responsible projects and I hope the new board would enter into such projects strongly during the next term,” she said.
Being a member of the Saudi Women’s Society, Natto has been making significant efforts for the empowerment of women and create suitable job and investment opportunities for them. She urged the JCCI to extend more support to investment projects of young businessmen and women. She said the reduction of women members in the JCCI board from four in the previous term to three would not lessen women’s participation in building the national economy.
Kamil is likely to become the chairman of JCCI as the business community wanted a prominent personality to head the board in order to enhance the JCCI’s position as the largest chamber in the Kingdom.
The community hopes that a veteran businessman of Kamil’s stature would be able to strengthen the chamber by containing differences and avoiding the centralization of decision-making.
Apart from his current position as chairman of the board of directors of Dallah Group, Kamil is a member on the boards of several commercial, financial and industrial companies.
