Several Saudi businesswomen believe that there still is much to be done in the way of easing the restrictions of officialdom that hamper their movement and progress. One of the many problems they still face, which they already included in a petition they had submitted to the Minister of Commerce and Industry, is that they still need a male guardian to be able to run their businesses and process their paperwork in government agencies. The petition they filed requested that they be enabled to do these things without the need for male agent to represent them or act on their behalf. They also asked the minister to allow them to be members of the boards of directors of their family-owned companies, as well as to chair their boards. They also wanted to be given licenses to run beauty and hairdressing centers, instead of having to run such activities under other names, such as tailor's shops, to circumvent the law. Basma Abduljaleel, the owner of a beauty center said she was forced to run the center under the description of tailor's shop. She said that this is tangible evidence of the problems businesswomen are facing in investing their capital. “This is happening at a time when Saudi businesswomen and investors have proven themselves in many investment areas and activities,” she told Okaz. “What's wrong in permitting Saudi businesswomen to invest in hairdressing and beauty centers, especially that these centers offer their services exclusively to women?” Rawan Naser, who has a doctorate in accountancy with a major specialization in corporate auditing, said she has enough capital to invest in the area of her specialization. “The regulations don't allow women to open auditing or consultative offices,” she said. “I believe that the ban is unjustifiable, because this activity doesn't clash with the Kingdom's laws, nor does it run against the society's traditions and its conservative nature.” Citing another example, Habeeba Abdullah said she has a feasibility study for a textile factory. “When I approached all the local banks seeking a loan to finance my small project, to my dismay, none of them agreed to give me a loan, under the pretext that banks only finance huge investment projects, because of the higher interest they reap from such projects.” Madawi Al-Hasoun, a member of the board of directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), who is also a prominent businesswoman, stressed the importance of the intervention of the Ministry of Commerce to find a remedy and prompt solution to the obstacles hampering the investments of Saudi businesswomen. She said Article 120 of the Investment Law does not specify which activities women can or cannot invest in, so that it makes it mandatory that businesswomen and investors should be given licenses in all investment activities. “It seems to me that the concerned authorities are not aware of the new law, and thus they stick to the old one,” she said. “Sometimes these authorities reject licensing projects for no legal reason but just to satisfy their ulterior motives.” Hasoun suggests that the ministry hold a workshop to orient the responsible staff with the latest regulations and decisions, stressing the importance of punishing such employees because they defy the government's express directives. “Another factor that should be borne in mind is that the ministry's branches in Jeddah and in other major cities have no powers to look into such matters,” she added, “a matter that leaves no choice to the service seeker but to travel all the way to Riyadh to process the necessary documents.” “This once again makes me call for the decentralization of powers to simplify procedures to insure flow of work.” Mustapha Sabri, Secretary General of the JCCI, called for the removal of the procedural obstacles hampering women's investments, so thus they can run their businesses by themselves instead of hiring male mangers who may exploit them. About allowing Saudi women to open real estate offices to serve as brokers and economic and consultation offices, he stressed the importance of allowing women to participate in the country's economic development, especially that experiment has proven their success in different businesses. Sabri said Article 120 of the Council of Ministers' Decisions stipulates opening of women's sections in all government agencies which directly deal with women so as to make things easier for them. – Okaz __
