Noor Shabib, Assistant Director General of Saudi Industrial Fund
Earlier this month, data released by Pew Research Center showed that Saudi Arabia has had the highest growth rate among G20 nations of women joining the workforce in the past two decades. Across industries and sectors, women are taking up jobs more than ever before, breaking into the Kingdom’s once male-dominated workplaces, and this week, it has been revealed that one area women have excelled has been in the Saudi Industrial Development Fund workforce.
According to Arab News, the number of women working for the fund in the last two years has gone from zero to 13 percent, with many women holding positions across various levels, from directors and managers to across different organizations. According to Noor Shabib, the Fund’s assistant director general for strategic planning and business development, the key mission of the fund is to attract top talent.
Speaking at “A Business Priority: Empowering Women Leaders,” a panel held during the Diversity Council conference in Dubai, Shabib, who is the first female senior executive at the Fund said, “We are very proud of this, we have been very, very busy, honestly, with everything that is happening in the Kingdom with Vision 2030” and that the Fund is planning “to increase contributions relative to GDP in industry, mining, logistics, and energy to $320 billion by 2030.”
Saudi Arabia today has been boosting its efforts in integrating women across the board, from supporting their appointment in top leadership positions, to celebrating their achievements, to proving safe and supportive environments for them at work, through various initiatives. One such initiative that is being developed is the provision of daycare facilities for working mothers through the QARA scheme, which aims to cover the cost for up to four children.
