“Our objective was to use our events as a platform to bring businesses together — to facilitate the exchange between the buyer and seller — but more so, to facilitate the exchange between East and West,” said Sophie Le Ray, CEO of naseba, a Monaco-based company that produces, promotes and hosts business summits, professional training courses and business exhibitions targeting executives.
Shortly after their move, naseba’s four musketeers — Scott Ragsdale, Sophie Le Ray, Fabien Faure, and Nicholas Watson — encountered many ‘powerful’ women in their executive events.
“It was ironic, because although these women held very powerful positions, they were usually discreet and almost always in the background,” said Le Ray. This is what inspired Scott Ragsdale, Chairman of the Board, to create the Women in Leadership series. “He strongly believed that there was something to be done for the women in the Middle East. As an American, he was sick and tired or the misconceptions the West had of Middle Eastern women, that they are not up to par with the women in the West, and this of course… is not true,” said Le Ray.
During their encounters, they found a recurring theme: Men had all sorts of networking avenues however there was no ‘club’, per say, for women. “So there’s a need for something like that. When you’re a woman in the corporate world, there’s a need for the support from the sisters. Men help each other all the time. We have to do the same thing because let’s be honest, they aren’t going to do it for us so we need to do it ourselves. We need to get the ball rolling,” commented Le Ray.
With Saudi Arabia’s changing economic environment, higher costs of living, inflation, and a population of over 25 million — over 50 percent of whom are women — women’s participation in the workforce is no longer a social issue; it is an economic one. Single income families can no longer afford to accommodate the needs and wants of an average-sized family. Currently, only 14 percent of the Kingdom’s workforce is comprised of women, and it has now become a necessity for our societal and competitive development to include more females in the Saudi workforce.
A recent study, entitled "Global Gender Gap Report 2010" by the World Economic Forum found that Saudi Arabia is making good progress in narrowing the gender gap in the workforce. Women’s participation in the work force grew from 20 to 22 percent between 2009 and 2010. Out of the 114 nations that were covered by the study, Saudi Arabia’s performance over the last five years indicates that it has been one of the peak climbers in this initiative.
“The most important determinant of a country’s competitiveness stands in its strategy of leveraging human talent and women account for one-half of the potential talent base throughout the world. Innovation requires new ideas, which can flourish only in a diverse environment and companies across the Kingdom already recognize this,” commented Le Ray.
naseba recently held their second annual Middle East and North Africa WIL Forum in Abu Dhabi, which successfully united a dynamic audience and an impressive group of women leaders, public figures, and industry professionals to speak in interactive panel-style discussions. The forum used the topic of leadership as the over-all tone for the two-day event.
The Kingdom forum — an invite-only event — will be more focused on the topic of Entrepreneurship. “Saudi Arabia has not yet seen a platform of this magnitude dedicated solely to strengthening the entrepreneurial skills that businesswomen nurture in the Kingdom. The first annual Kingdom Women in Leadership Forum goes a step further than any other preceding initiative. It seeks to capitalize on a dynamic and forward-looking Saudi society by bringing all leading businesswomen at the same table. Furthermore, the forum is fully aligned with the Kingdom’s competitiveness strategy, offering the tools and means to develop leadership mindsets even further,“ said Le Ray.
“We need to have more women in hiring positions and in order to do that we have to start supporting the younger generation, and this is what the event is about. It’s all about gaining confidence, networking in a structured and efficient manner, and then passing the buck to the new generation of women leaders,” explained Le Ray.
The Kingdom WIL forum will include a remarkable and diverse selection of Saudi Arabia’s women leaders: Dr. Arwa Al-Aama; Vice Mayor IT/Women Affairs of the Jeddah Municipality, Munira Al-Ghamdi; National Entrepreneurship Center Manager of The Centennial Fund, Muna AbuSulayman; Secretary General of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, and Dalal Kaaki; President of the Businesswomen Center for the Makkah Chamber of Commerce — to name a few.
For more information on the Kingdom Women in Leadership Forum, visit www.wilforumksa.com
