Women executives in the Arabian Gulf corporate world are still few and far between at a time when the region is looking to diversify its economy and create jobs for its citizens in the private sector.
The evolution of women's careers despite the challenges was a topic touched on in a new report, Women's Careers in the GCC, published this month by the Pearl Initiative.
One of the significant challenges that women face in the corporate world regionally relates to perception, says Carla Koffel, executive director at The Pearl Initiative.
“For one, there is a challenge of hiring women in a region where they have been expected to take up more traditional or caregiving roles,” she says. “This becomes even more difficult at more senior positions, as women, particularly those with families, are often expected to work harder to prove their competence or demonstrate their commitment.”
The diversified Saudi company Olayan Group is among a handful in the region that is led by a woman. Set up in Riyadh in 1947, the group now has interests in distribution, manufacturing and services. Over the past 15 years, it has focused on boosting its female workforce – increasing the number of women executives threefold, according to the company.
That is a long way from 1983, when the first woman employee, Lubna Olayan, joined the company’s financing arm; she remained the only woman in the company for 18 years. During that period she became the chief executive and the deputy chairwoman of Olayan Financing Company, and later of the merged entities, Olayan Saudi Holding Company and Olayan Financing Company.
It was in 2001 that she hired the second woman employee as part of the firm’s diversification effort.
A previous focus group run by the Pearl Initiative in Bahrain found that men often assume that women are unable to cope with work, marriage and motherhood.
Yet over the years, Arabian Gulf companies have made progress in hiring women in various positions. Aside from Olayan Group, international companies are also ramping up the representation of women in their Middle East offices.
The US company GE hired its first woman employee in Saudi Arabia in 2009; today the female workforce is around 100, while in the Middle East and North Africa and Turkey region overall, it has 850, including 25 in senior leadership positions.
“The intersection of our physical and digital worlds, software and hardware – is going to create new opportunities and careers for women,” says Nabil Habayeb, the president and chief executive at GE Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
In 2008, the US food and beverage company PepsiCo’s Saudi office had two women employees. Today there are 150, or 6.5 per cent of all employees, with five in managerial positions.
At Petroleum Development Oman, almost a third of its directorial team – four out of 15 directors – comprises women, both in technical and non-technical roles.
To help retain their women employees, the companies are also putting incentives in place.
At Olayan, to encourage its women employees and to create a support group for them within the company, Ms Olayan created the Olayan Women Network Steering Committee in 2011. It now tracks its own diversity performance through a Diversity Index and presents Diversity Awards every year to its best performing companies.
“My vision is of a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender, can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified,” says Ms Olayan.
GE’s development programme targets young female graduates and involves a 12-month training programme. There has been 40 graduates since 2014.
At PepsiCo’s Saudi office, employees and their managers decide on flexible work times, summer hours and 90-day maternity leave benefits. And during the hiring process, the shortlisted candidates must include at least one local woman for each position, according to company policies. As part of its retention efforts, the company also sought to understand why women want to leave at midcareer levels so that they could offer solutions to help them stay on.
To encourage more women engineers to take up position in remote oilfields, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) developed a three-year field-based programme. The company also set up special accommodation and facilities for the female operators while also coaching its male field managers to adjust to the changing work environment. For each cycle, PDO chooses 15 women employees.
PDO conducts regular internal surveys to understand existing biases and concerns.
While companies – both local and international – have made progress in hiring and retaining women employees in junior and executive positions, a lot more needs to be done.
“Policies that encourage a positive work-life balance are essential for women to be able to combine a high-power career with a family,” Ms Koffel says. “There is no one-size-fits-all model for implementing gender parity, as each company has its unique challenges and the onus is on its senior leadership to identify these gaps and take necessary action.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Defending champions
World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
if you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals (more at www.hertz.com/etihad). A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com
