A GRAND VISION FOR JCCI WOMEN'S CENTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000446

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP,
INR/B; PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2031
TAGS: ECON ELAB KWMN PINR SA
SUBJECT: A GRAND VISION FOR JCCI WOMEN'S CENTER

Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller for reason 1.4 (b) and (
d).


1. (C) Summary. During a meeting with Mrs. Oberwetter and
Consulate General officers, the new director of the JCCI's
women's center outlined her plan to expand the center's
services and role in the development of Saudi women. Moving
training and placement to other facilities, the women's
center will now focus on increasing the women's involvement
in the economy using technology, lobbying the government for
equal treatment, developing young Saudi women, and
strengthening the current female business community. End
Summary.

THE CENTER'S EXPANDING ROLE


2. (U) On June 20 Mrs. Oberwetter, Pol/EconOffs, and PAOff
met with Dr. Basmah Mosleh ((OMAIR)),the newly appointed
general manager of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and
Industry's (JCCI) Khadeejah Bint Khuwailed Women's Center.
The Khadeejah Center was established in 2004 but Omair has
been in her position for about one month. The center serves
women in the Jeddah business community and is trying to
expand its services with more outreach activities. Omair
sees her role as the new director to prepare Jeddawi women
for the new wave of activity coming to Saudi Arabia and
attributes the new opportunities for women in the Kingdom to
King Abdullah, whom she referred to as "the humanity king".


3. (U) Omair is trying to move the Khadeejah Center beyond
simply finding a job for Saudi women to helping them develop
and learn skills to fully participate in the changing Saudi
society. She would like to educate women and private
companies about e-learning and teleworking so that women will
be able to work from home in areas such as accounting and
graphic design. Currently, she is consulting with King Abdul
Aziz University on the subject. In addition she would like
to train women in e-commerce so they can market and trade
online to increase their international exposure.
Other Initiatives:
- A flea market for women to sell goods on land donated by
the Jeddah municipality
- Career Days at area universities
- Conference in February with leading women in various fields
from the Middle East and West
- Arab News listing and DVD of top 20 businesswomen in Saudi
Arabia to complement February 2007 conference


4. (U) Omair also wants to focus on lobbying various
Ministries on the issues confronting Saudi women in the
workplace. While some government ministries have women's
departments, they generally are inadequately staffed and
funded. Likewise, they are not fully functional and still
often have to operate through departments run by men, which
constrains the development of initiatives led by Saudi women.
Job training has also moved from the Khadeejah Center to
another JCCI training center that provides job skills
training and interest testing.


5. (U) Omair said that while there are efforts to employ
young Saudis, the private sector is not satisfied with the
quality level of the labor force. At a recent career fair
5000 young women were present to apply for jobs in the
private sector; however very few were actually hired because
they lacked even basic work skills such as customer service.
Not only is the quality of the Saudi employee an issue, and
the obvious infrastructure problems, business owners do not
know how they will train and manage female employees with all
male management.

SERVING THE SAUDI WOMAN AT ALL STAGES


6. (U) Omair has a number of programs for students to gain
more exposure to the work world. She is starting a college
internship program at the Khadeejah Center in the coming
months. She hopes to begin compiling research by doctoral
candidates on women and employment that will be available in
the JCCI library. She is also working on a project in which
college graduates make websites for private companies; recent
examples include the Savola Group and Panda grocery. The
JCCI also houses a small business incubator in which Saudis

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can rent office space and have access to phones, fax,
computers, etc. for 600 SAR a month to help new entrepreneurs
get started. Six out of 20 current participants are female.


7. (U) For the more experienced businesswoman who does not
need assistance setting up her business, Omair hopes to offer
advanced training. She wants to offer courses to teach women
about strategic planning for business expansion, how to work
with the media, and protocol for handling official visits.
In addition, she wants to offer workshops on merging,
franchising, and international legal issues in business. To
make sure that the ladies continue their enrichment even when
not at the center, Omair publicizes international forums for
the ladies to attend while they are traveling abroad on
summer vacations.

FEMALE BOARD MEMBER INVOLVED AS WELL


8. (U) During the meeting, Olfat Qabbani, one the four JCCI
female board members and a Jeddawi business owner, also
greeted the Consulate group. Qabbani described her own
efforts to create a Businesswomen's Club apart from the JCCI.
She hopes this club will be up and running by this
September. The club will have monthly meetings to discuss
their experiences, concerns, and issues facing them as women
business owners in Saudi Arabia. While one will not have to
be a member of the JCCI to participate, she expects the
membership will rise to 2000.


9. (C) Comment: Omair's plan for the Khadeejah Center, while
seeming overly ambitious may come to fruition given the large
monetary resources the center can draw from. The Khadeejah
Center does receive a portion of the Chamber's budget (last
year 71 million SAR) for its programs, but Omair is also
expected to find sponsors for her operations and generate
income for the center to operate. Omair's strategy of trying
to serve a wider spectrum of Saudi women is a positive move
for including more women in the economy. Expanding the
mandate beyond finding a job to supporting and developing
women in various aspects of economic activity might help
Saudi women in the long run as they become more involved in
the economy. End Comment.


10. (U) Bio Note: Omair is a rising star in the Jeddah
commercial scene. Prior to taking her post with the JCCI, she
worked for the Savola Group during 2004-2006. She said that
although she did not receive much guidance when she first
took over the Khadeejah Center, she believes in setting high
goals and considers successful women, such as Oprah Winfrey,
as her role models. She appears to be well versed in modern
business theories and comes across as very American in her
manner and fluent English skills, which she learned while
living in the United States for 23 years when her father
worked for the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington. Omair
mentioned that she is friends with the family of Prince
Bandar bin Sultan, who was the Saudi Ambassador to the US
during that timeframe. Omair graduated from Langley High
School in northern Virginia in 1988 at age 16. She then
earned several degrees from American University in
Washington, DC, including a bachelor of the arts in business
administration and marketing (1993),a master's degree in
special education, and a Ph.D. in technology education with a
focus on using technology for learning disabled children
(2003).


11. (U) Omair has an 11 year-old daughter and two sons, ages
7 and 2. Omair mentioned that her husband is currently
working in Riyadh but she and the children remain in Jeddah
because she thinks that Riyadh is too oppressive. She also
said that, although she likes Los Angeles, she prefers the
eastern United States, adding that her brother once worked as
IBM's manager for the East Coast.
Gfoeller