JEDDAH — The team of three Saudi women from Jeddah have reached the third and final round of a competition that challenges them with real-life business challenges; they’ve already beaten 3,600 students across Africa and Asia.
Three young Saudi women have proved that there’s no barriers to their ambition and talent. The all-female team of Linah Hussain, Malak Mously and Rawan Baik — three engineering students from Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz University — are only a step away from winning P&G’s global CEO Challenge. The ladies have already competed and won against teams from the Middle East in round one; they came out tops in the second round for the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa region. They will now represent the IMEA region in the global finals in Panama City this May.
Over 3,500 students from dozens of universities from across the region took part in the CEO Challenge, which began in January. Each team was given the opportunity to work on business challenge simulations aimed to test and further enhance their marketing, general management, human resource and strategy development and budget planning skills.
The first step in their journey was an online challenge, during which the ladies competed against regional teams. The second step was a trip to Mumbai in India, where the Saudi team competed against winners from regional heats in Bahrain, Egypt and India. The four teams were challenged to come up with a solution for a real-life business issue impacting the company’s Head & Shoulders brand. Following training sessions, an in-depth case briefing and a presentation to both P&G India’s leadership team as well as executives from Saudi Arabia, the Saudi team of female engineers came first.
Now the three ladies will compete in the global final in Panama City against teams from all over the world. They’ll have the opportunity to present their business solutions for a real-life case study to P&G’s CEO David Taylor.
“We’re incredibly proud of these three young women from Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz University,” said Hani Ismail, Saudi country manager for Procter & Gamble. “We’ve never had a team of Saudi women engineering students, and they’ve proved to everyone who’s been involved that they’re capable of anything and everything. I want to wish them all the best in the final. They’ve made us all proud with what they’ve accomplished.” — SG