By Sarah Al-Shareef

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

ILLUSTRIOUS Saudi women are proving once again that they are capable of becoming entrepreneurs in a market where the challenges of scarce opportunities and male dominance are apparent.

The production and trade in floral designs is a profession that Saudi women have gotten to master through online marketing and e-commerce.

Female florists create floral designs and bouquets, merchandise and deliver them to the desired destination. This saves time and effort for the customers and at the same time highlights the success of women in creating new business opportunities, taking advantage of materials available at home and recycling them without the need for any substantial investment.

Ibtisam Al-Saadi developed the idea of setting up an e-shop for gifts and roses. She targeted customers on specific occasions anywhere and was able to attract 59,000 followers.

The first phase of her project was launched taking advantage of the materials available at home. After making some financial profit, she started to acquire the rest of the requirements to expand the project in its second phase, without requesting any funding. She put up a clear plan to benefit from after noticing that social media projects do not need a large budget to start up with.

Al-Saadi however did not underestimate the prices of raw materials and roses. She bought her tools from outside the Kingdom. She wanted to offer her products to customers at an appropriate price with a guaranteed profit. She also attracted and trained a number of assistants to promote the website.

Hanouf Al-Radadi agreed with Al-Saadi that rising prices of roses and flowers is becoming a problem in the absence of monitoring.

Bedoor Al-Harbi believes that floristry is a job for women because of its beautiful side. Al-Harbi points out that the field holds a successful and enjoyable future especially for those with an artistic taste.

Eman Mohammed, a client of the e-floral shop, expressed her admiration for the workers and affirmed her confidence in Saudi women is what motivates her to support them while abandoning shops where men work. She said women have a natural sense for aesthetics and therefore floristry.

As for allowing Saudi women to work in flower-arranging shops, she said: "These shops should allow women to work there. This field has opportunities that will attract women and allowing talented girls or students to get busy in floral shops will help reduce unemployment among women."

Director General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development in Madinah Ali Al-Ghamdi said a decision to allow Saudi women to work in floral shops was not included in their plans yet. "However, Saudi laws do not prohibit Saudi women from working in any business as long as it is in accordance with the requirements of the Islamic law," he added.