Family businesses are uniquely positioned to create opportunities for women to advance in business more quickly , making them a torchbearer for change in Saudi Arabia
Female leadership How Saudi family businesses can be a catalyst for change
WRITTEN BY : KATE BIRCH
Family businesses are uniquely positioned to create opportunities for women to advance in business more quickly , making them a torchbearer for change in Saudi Arabia
When in 1983 , Lubna Olayan landed the CEO role in her father ’ s company , Olayan Financing Co ., part of a huge multinational conglomerate in Saudi Arabia , she became the first female leader of a large family business in the country .
And while it would be 18 years before she got her first female colleague , the company now employs hundreds of women – proof of just how far both the business and Saudi society have come .
Since then , women have flooded into the Kingdom ’ s private sector , with numbers rising exponentially in just 10 years – from 56,000 in 2010 to a staggering 935,508 in 2021 .
The Saudi government has led the way with gender reforms , the most impactful of which was outlined in 2017 in Vision 2030 , to increase female participation in the workforce to 30 %. That target was reached and smashed last year ( 2022 ), climbing to 37 % female participation .
Among other impactful initiatives is the government-led Women ’ s Support Fund , which offers employer support in covering a certain percentage of women ’ s salaries . businesschief . com 47