The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) needs women members to develop and grow businesses in the region, particularly small and medium enterprises.

This is the view of Sarah Al-Ayed, one of nine women candidates running for a board position in the upcoming polls taking place from Jan. 5-9 at the Jeddah Events and Exhibition Center, and at the chambers’ centers from Jan. 5-6 in Qunfudah, Al-Laith and Rabigh.

Al-Ayed told Arab News on that she is working hard on her profile among the 47,000 eligible voters. “For the business community to trust and vote for me they need to know me, see me and know my views,” said Al-Ayed.

The JCCI board consists of 18 members — 12 elected and eight appointed by the minister of trade and industry. Fifty candidates are running for the 12 seats — six trade and six industry. There are 42 candidates for the trade seats and eight running for the industry seats. The nine women are all running in the trade category.

Al-Ayed said that the number is fine because it is not about the quantity of board members but rather about aligning business objectives with achievable goals every year. However, she believes that the board should add three non-voting representatives with education, legal and operational experience for consulting purposes.

“This would help develop a holistic strategy touching on all aspects of business growth for the region. If there’s representation from the education sector within more than six committees in the chamber then why not have a non-voting consultancy element,” she said.

Al-Ayed said the chamber has to serve the interests of the business community regardless of sector, size and industry. “The more interaction and alignment between the chamber and businesses, the more we will see development in products and services. While the chamber is responsible for serving the business community, each and every business owner also carries a major responsibility to share their needs and help with delivery at the chamber,” she said.

She said her objective is to ensure the chamber gets back to basics and provides services for everyone, including small and medium businesses (SMEs) that make up 75 percent of the national economy. The aim should be to help community development by serving businesses, work innovation and creating jobs.

“If we work on developing small and medium businesses we will see a massive boost in business growth on all fronts. When the private and public sectors align to open new areas of cooperation that attract entrepreneurs and young business owners to study the market and identify its needs, we’ll witness business diversity and help set the foundation and structure for a strong SME sector.”

Al-Ayed said a solid goal would be to develop opportunities for 100 new establishments that can provide over 1,000 new jobs with business opportunities worth over SR50 million. The Jeddah Entrepreneurs Competition and Meet has already helped seven companies with funding and mentoring and received over 20 business initiatives from the private sector as new SME opportunities.

She said the chamber began 60 years ago with a distinct message to support business growth and development by opening doors for business leaders across the region and globally. “Today we want that mindset to prevail. My vision is for Jeddah to be the leading city for successful small and medium enterprises in the Arab World. It is a continuation of what the JCCI is built on — a focused strategy that is timely and tangible.

“But to achieve such a vision and bring back the leadership of the chamber we need voters to choose the right candidates and open opportunities for new members to come in and work on excellence in delivery,” she added.

Al-Ayed said that the chamber must serve all businesses. “That was the vision of its founders. To go about it we have to work from within, from the top down and from the bottom up. Each and every team member at the chamber has to be involved in such development, from the security team to the board.”

Ayed is contesting alone but has the endorsement and support of Lama Al-Suleiman, the current deputy chair of the board. She said that the challenges faced by businesswomen in certain areas are different to that of men. “That’s also a priority because if that challenge is tackled right it will help in the alignment across all levels in certain cases.”

She said there has been a big increase in women’s participation in the chamber including on the board and committees. However, there was a need to keep the momentum going. “The challenges and needs are different and if women aren’t part of the process then it will not be possible to work on those challenges and meet their business needs. Women are major stakeholders and require the same support on all levels.”

She said Effat University has launched its own campaign to support two of the women candidates. The initiative has over 100 students, with a campaign team leader and volunteers working with the respective candidates to help raise awareness about the upcoming elections and help getting votes.