Female Entrepreneurs In Saudi Arabia - Top 5

Lubna Olayan is the CEO of Olyan financing company in Riyadh. The company was founded in 1947 by her father and now she is running organization. One of the most notable moments was be the first women to speak at Jeddah Economic Forum in 2004. She is also one of the key boards of member in the Arab Thought Foundation. Her organization is the Saudi’s most successful conglomerates having presence in different sectors.

Organizational structure

Lubna Olayan is reposnible for MENA and Hutham Olayan is responsible for American market. Khaled Olayan and Aziz Sriani lokks after different operations and sector.

Organizational culture and style

Organizational culture is participative and diverse due to the involvement of employees from different social and cultural backgrounds. Lubna Olayan maintains transformational style of leadership due to the fact that she is one of the successful women from the conservative society of Saudi Arabia (Hogan & Coote, 2014).

Organization details

Currently they are having total 35000 employees. They have their market presence in London and New York with their different sectors. Their business is mainly concentrated in North America, Europe and Middle East countries.

CSR and ethics

CSR activities of them include empowerment of the women in the Saudi society. They work more for extracting more women entrepreneurs from the society. Management maintains gender equality in their workplace.

Unique characteristics

Visionary and target oriented. She wants to set an example to represent Saudi Arabia in the world.

Challenges faced

Social barriers and less experience in the corporate world.

Introduction

Dr. Khawla AI-Kuraya is one of the most prominent women entrepreneurs from Saudi Arabia. She is scientist as well as forerunner in the medical field. She is the first Saudi woman who has received the King Adulaziz Award of Excellence. Currently, she is holding the post of principle clinical scientist in King Faisal Hospital along with being in the board of directors in other medical institutions.

Organizational structure

Dr. Khawla AI-Kuraya is the head of department in the organization. She is assited by Lahir Saqi in the medical affiars and Ahmed Lubi in nursing affairs. In addition, the financials are being seen by Hude Batchs.

Organizational culture and style

Participative style of leadership along with having the involvement of all the stakeholders in the decision making process. Moreover, diversity in the workforce is being given more concentration in the management (Dauber, Fink & Yolles, 2012).

Organization details

They are having two branches, one in Riyadh and one in Jeddah. Currently, they are having more than 18000 employees from more than 65 countries. More than 13000 surgeries are being done per year.

CSR and ethics

They provide online services for their patients along with offering virtual clinics. Effective management of the employees is also being included in the social responsibly report of them.

Unique characteristics

The business approach is more towards the welfare of the patients rather than towards the profit maximization.

Challenges faced

She faced issues from both personal and professional end. One of the key issues being faced by her is dealing with the man dominated society of Saudi Arabia.

Introduction

Princess Reema is the member from Saudi Royal family. Thus, she came from very conservative social backgrounds. She heads the Riyadh branch of luxury retail giant Harvey Nichols. She changed the business scenario of the Saudi Arabia by being the first woman CEO in retail sector. Harvey Nichols is one of the prominent luxury fashion chains in the world.

Organizational structure

Princess Reema is reponsible for the entire operation of Harvey Nichols in Riyadh along with maintaining all the internal and external stakeholders of the company. Alfa Ratch looks after the store operation along with having Seira who looks after the product designs.

Organizational culture and style

The organizational culture is oriented towards women empowerment and up gradation. She follows transformative style of leadership in order to have influence on all the employees and staffs (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013).

Organization details

Harvey Nichols is a multinational brand with having their operation in Riyadh. In Riyadh they are having total 650 employees working under the leadership of princess Reema. In Saudi Arabia, Harvey Nichols is having only one branch in Riyadh and in other major cities around the world.

CSR and ethics

CSR activities include empowering women in the mainstream corporate. Moreover, the organizational activities are being targeted towards women engagement.

Unique characteristics

Ability to handle every aspect effectively single handedly.

Challenges faced

Personal issues include divorce with her husband and raising her daughter by own. Thus, maintain both personal and professional responsibilities are difficult for her.

Introduction

Randa Jazaeri is the COO of Zaytouneh. She is one of the most prominent young female businesswomen from Saudi Arabia. This organization offers short cooking videos in YouTube to cater to the women customers in Saudi Arabia. This startup is being successful due to the reason that, online streaming is growing rapidly in Saudi Arabia.

Organizational structure

The organizational structure is small in this company due to the reason that, the operation is small and in the grwoing stage. Thus, all the activities are being divided among the top four executives.

Organizational culture and style

Due to the fact that, it is a small organization and having small number of employees, the organizational culture is decentralized and participative (Buschgens, Bausch & Balkin, 2013). All the top executives are being assigned to deal with the employees.

Organization details

Zaytouneh is originated in Saudi Arabia itself and currently they are operating in and around the country. They are having only 12 employees as of now.

CSR and ethics

They do not have any specific CSR activities due to their lack of experience and less capital. However, they promote innovation and employee engagement in the organization. Moreover, providing proper content to the customers is important for them.

Unique characteristics

She maintains the vision of the organization as the prime aim for all the stakeholders. Moreover, she aims to generate4 innovative ideas from all her employees in order to face the market challenges.

Challenges faced

Faced challenge in acquiring market presence among the existing competitors.

Introduction

Somayya Jabarti is the first female chief editor for the Saudi Arabian newspaper Saudi Gazette. This organization is one of the leading and prominent print media in the Kingdom. Thus, being the chief editor made her the first Saudi female to do that. She is also the author of various articles in the education sector.

Organizational structure

The organizational strcuture of this organization is flat and horizontal in nature. There two rankings being serving under the chief editor. One is looking after the operation in UK and another is looking after the operation in US. Thus, she is in carger of two of the biggest countries in the world.

Organizational culture and style

The organization is huge and thus, the organizational culture is also more complicated. However, directorship is maintained in the organization to direct the employees according to the requirement (Schuh, Zhang & Tian, 2013).

Organization details

Saudi Gazette is one of the leading newspapers in the Arabian regions. They are having more than 18000 employees around the world. They are having their branches around different cities in Saudi Arabia and in other countries in Middle East.

CSR and ethics

Work ethics include providing truthful news to the readers along with maintaining the safety of the employees from any external threats.

Unique characteristics

Straight forward thinking and clear idea and aim.

Challenges faced

External threats being faced due to her straight forward thinking. Moreover, the increase in the militancy in the Arabian regions also poses challenges for her to operate. Being a female, it was difficult for her to penetrate in the media world.