Arab Women's Careers - Interview 2

Nadia AlBar – Associate Director, Sales Operation, ROSHN, Saudi Arabia

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/nadia-albar-b6711a46/

Interview conducted on zoom, 6 February 2021

 WHO ARE YOU?

I am Nadia AlBar, born and raised in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia, Statistics and Computer Science King Abdulaziz University graduate, almost 20 years work experience in different industries. I started as a private teacher, then I worked in the retail industry, in education, now in real estate.

I started working immediately after graduating from high school. This happened because I was waiting for my university acceptance, so rather than stay home doing nothing, I became a private teacher. Afterwards, I worked for the KOJ (Kamal Osman Jamjoom) Establishment as sales executive for Body Shop, and after 5 months got promoted to shop manager for Body Shop & Nayomi Division . I stayed with them for a year, then the university acceptance came, so I began studying. But I still worked for the company in peak season, and this lasted for six years, one month each year, so everytime they had peak season they called me to support them during these days.

After I graduated, I worked with Berlitz Language Center for two years in education, assisting the center director in customer service and student support, then I moved to the real estate field and worked with Emaar Middle East and Saudi Arabia, and worked for one of the subsidiaries of Emaar Properties in Dubai. I stayed with the company for almost 11 years: I had started in 2008, and left in 2018. I gained a lot of experience with Emaar, and they usually called me a “joker”, due to my experience in different departments during the 11 years, so all of this supported and shaped my career progression.

WERE YOU ALWAYS VERY AMBITIOUS?

Of course…and because of this, when I received a job opportunity in Riyadh, I took the decision to move there, and now I live alone, my family is in Jeddah, and I live in Riyadh. I got a good opportunity because when I was in Jeddah with Emaar, I reached managerial level and became Head of Sales Operations and CRM in Riyadh, so I took the chance to move to Riyadh and experience a new role within the industry. Now it has been almost 2 years and 2 months in Riyadh. I moved to another company which is ROSHN, Real Estate (public investment fund), happy and honoured to be with them, especially that this company is one of the companies supported by Prince Muhammad Ben Salman in the 2030 Vision Planning.

HOW DID YOUR FAMILY REACT TO YOUR PLANS? HOW ABOUT STEREOTYPES?

Actually I am very lucky that my parents are very supportive, my sisters, my brothers, all of them are supportive, although you will see families with a very conservative mindset in Saudi Arabia. Like when I was in the retail industry, I was working in 2 shifts, so I had to go from 10 am to 1pm, and then from 5 to 10pm. Some people were criticizing us, talking about how women were working late shifts, however because of the support of my family, I didn’t care about what people could say. But yes, in some of the families there is criticism about working late shifts and maybe in malls, because the shops were in one of the malls. However, as long as a woman has her family and her friends’ support things get easier!

 SO WOULD YOU SAY THAT IF YOU HAVE FAMILY SUPPORT YOU CAN REACH YOUR GOALS?

Of course family support matters, friends support matters, and still you will face some people who will be against what you are doing, but actually things are now changing in KSA, the mindset is changing, and some things which were previously forbidden are not anymore.

SO YOUNG WOMEN HAVE NOW MUCH MORE OF AN OPPORTUNITY TO REALIZE THEIR DREAMS?

Yes. Maybe before there were lots of obstacles, and now the situation has definitely improved.

HOW IS EDUCATION CONSIDERED IN YOUR FAMILY?

Education is very important, for females and males actually, there is no discrimination between them, and I have this support from my family, and even you will find families supporting their kids, their daughters and sons to even reach a PhD, it is not only High School level, but they support them to reach the highest levels in education.

In Saudi Arabia there are all the scholarship programs which were started during King Abdallah’s reign and are still ongoing…Now there is also a focus on the tourism sector.

HOW IS THE IMPACT OF COVID ON YOUR WORK?

Covid is impacting all of us in different aspects in Saudi Arabia. By the way, when I started with the new job, I joined the company during lockdown, so I passed my probation period during lockdown, and was meeting with colleagues virtually. I mean it was hard to introduce yourself virtually, but we had to face it and deal with it, and then we had the chance to meet personally in the offices. Nowadays*, the situation with Covid is increasing so most sectors are back to 50% occupancy of the employees and organizations, and some days we go to the office while we work remote on other days. We got used to it!

* At the time of the interview which was early 2021

ARAB WOMEN ARE EXPECTED TO MARRY, GET CHILDREN…HOW IS IT FOR YOU, A CAREER WOMAN MOVING FAST UP THE CAREER LADDER?

The pressure is of course there, but Thank God, my family is very understanding. They always tell me, Nadia, as long as you find the right guy and you are ready for such a move, you can do it! I mean there is no coercion from their side, they hope to see their daughter with someone who can take care of her, I mean you can see that from other families maybe, conservative families which are in that mindset, that when a girl reaches a certain age, she should get married. I mean it is not my case, Thank God! It is my decision in the end, and my family wishes for me to find the right person, there is no force.

I believe age is a number. Thank God, I have inner peace, I am happy with what I am doing, and I leave it for time to give me this chance, or not.

WHICH HURDLES STAND IN THE WAY OF A WOMAN’S CAREER IN SAUDI ARABIA?

Nowadays, I don’t think that there are hurdles. It depends on the female. If she has the strong desire, if she is ambitious, has determination, I think she can reach a very high level professionally, especially with the support of the country, and the support of what Prince Muhammad Ben Salman is doing, focussing on empowering women, big time! Education…The chance is there as long as we want to change and move onwards. There were obstacles for women in KSA, but today one can even say that females have more chances than males actually! Women are considered to strive more for perfection, and are more dedicated…

YOUR HOPES & ASPIRATIONS FOR THE FUTURE?

I hope we can overcome this global ordeal, and stay healthy, and see peace over the world.