Fatima Muhammad

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — A municipality official has called on businesswomen to use the maiden gathering of female employees at municipal departments to fast track their efforts in obtaining business licenses.



Speaking at a press conference, Arwa Al-Ama’a, assistant to Jeddah Mayor for Information Technology and Women’s Section, said:



“They seek through this gathering to have an electronic based interaction between all government departments to help ease the process in issuing licenses for women’s businesses. Some licenses need approval from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs and the Civil Defense, among other government departments.”



“If the woman gets a go-ahead from the concerned bodies she can get her license done within one week,” said Al-Ama’a.



The event, arranged by the women’s sections of the municipal departments, hopes to enhance cooperation between different departments in various regions of the Kingdom, and will stress the role of women’s contribution in the development of the country. This is the first gathering after the municipality started employing women.



She told Saudi Gazette that they have expanded the number of branches to serve women clients seeking to start their own businesses in the city. She said they are not considering any women branches in rural areas for the time being.



According to her the municipal work is a new sector that the Saudi women have started to approach as a form of employment, and added that the first women to go into this field had to struggle and face many opposing views.



Al-Ama’a added that women tend not to read all the regulations before they start a business and they tend to spend lots of money before they know that they are actually violating a rule so they end up with huge losses.



“We need more awareness, despite the fact that we have the regulations clearly written down on our website and in our booklet yet businesswomen who seek to start a venture do not read them or understand them fully.



“For example, a woman starts a project at a location, spends lots of money and then approaches us to get a license. But she cannot get it because a similar business is run 500 meters away from her location. This is a major obstacle.”



Women, she added, are thinking outside the box as they have come from abroad after completing their studies. Previously women used to open only women-related businesses but now they are seeking licenses for health, art, catering and childcare. “There is only a short list of sectors that women cannot invest in, which include mining and asphalt,” said Al-Ama’a.



According to Naima Bogari, consultant for the Women’s Section at Jeddah Municipality, the rules applied for a woman to start a business should be unified in all regions of the Kingdom. She added that businesswomen often point out the issue of different rules present in each region, and it is because of this they are looking for this gathering to help unify all rules that women need to be able to start a business or extend it to other regions.



The Women’s Branch started with just four workers a few years ago, said Samar Al-Sulami, head of administration at the section. It now has over 100 employees, 20 of them field inspectors, she added.



Women at the municipality also work at the information technology department, customer services, law, and accounting, said Al-Sulami.



The gathering will introduce different sections for women at municipalities in Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Jeddah, Eastern Province, Tabuk, Al-Wajh and Dhiba.



The gathering will also shed light on procedures that should be applied in order to provide licenses for women’s projects, as well as commercial monitoring of women-run enterprises. It will also have an open discussion with different government bodies that are involved in providing licenses for women’s businesses.