Walking into a patient’s room eight years ago to do her regular routine as a dietician, Noha Kattan realized that wasn’t her place. Just as much as she didn’t find herself in it, she also felt that there was much more she could achieve. Then began her journey based largely on trial and error, trying out different jobs that all brought their good and bad days.
Having studied medical science - a subject that her parents pushed her to pursue, and working in the field, Kattan said she never found herself in it. After doing dietetics for a while, she opened up her own business and then started a non-profit. Following the non-profit, she pursued project management for some time and eventually, all of a sudden, found herself in the Kingdom’s ministry of labor. “It was a bumpy ride by all means but I enjoyed every minute of it and learned so much through the opportunities that came and this is where I am today,” said Kattan in an interview with Weoritu.
Kattan holds a master’s degree from the University of Sheffield in medical science. Currently heading the vision realization office and as an advisor to the vice president for women affairs at the General Sports Authority in Riyadh, Kattan is a role model to many women.
A lifelong long learner by nature she took every learning opportunity she had and went through it all in all. “I’m extremely happy with what I do now,” she said. “It’s so fulfilling, the experience itself. Coming into work and enjoying what you’re doing and not only going to work for the sake of working or for the sake of having a job but really finding yourself a sense of purpose and sense of belonging to somewhere is what keeps you going.”
Kattan participated in several programs at the University of Michigan, Columbia University, and the Harvard Business School. She truly believes in the statement, ‘When there’s a will, there’s a way.’ “If you’re patient enough and you’re driven enough, I don’t think anything is impossible or anything is out of reach. It’s just a matter of how long you take to get there. But you will get there.”
Commenting on the advancing progress of Saudi women, Kattan said “Saudi women have come such a long way as a lot of us come from first generation working females, especially because our mothers were not there to tell us or show us the way like in western countries. With that we have come such a long way to not only entering the workforce and not only making careers and being successful at them but in a lot of cases outdoing our male counterparts.”
She believes that if that is the case with her generation that received little or no guidance at all, the sky is the limit for what the future generation can do. “The female population growing into the workforce and into really successful careers is huge in the GCC,” she explained. “The future generation is very lucky because we feel privileged to pass whatever we have learned on to them.”
