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FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
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INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1432
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1510
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 6600
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
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RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000446 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP, 
INR/B; PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2031 
TAGS: ECON ELAB KWMN PINR SA
SUBJECT: A GRAND VISION FOR JCCI WOMEN'S CENTER 
 
Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller for reason 1.4 (b) and ( 
d). 
 
 ¶1. (C) Summary. During a meeting with Mrs. Oberwetter and 
Consulate General officers, the new director of the JCCI's 
women's center outlined her plan to expand the center's 
services and role in the development of Saudi women.  Moving 
training and placement to other facilities, the women's 
center will now focus on increasing the women's involvement 
in the economy using technology, lobbying the government for 
equal treatment, developing young Saudi women, and 
strengthening the current female business community. End 
Summary. 
 
THE CENTER'S EXPANDING ROLE 
 
¶2. (U) On June 20 Mrs. Oberwetter, Pol/EconOffs, and PAOff 
met with Dr. Basmah Mosleh ((OMAIR)), the newly appointed 
general manager of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and 
Industry's (JCCI) Khadeejah Bint Khuwailed Women's Center. 
The Khadeejah Center was established in 2004 but Omair has 
been in her position for about one month.  The center serves 
women in the Jeddah business community and is trying to 
expand its services with more outreach activities.  Omair 
sees her role as the new director to prepare Jeddawi women 
for the new wave of activity coming to Saudi Arabia and 
attributes the new opportunities for women in the Kingdom to 
King Abdullah, whom she referred to as "the humanity king". 
 
¶3. (U) Omair is trying to move the Khadeejah Center beyond 
simply finding a job for Saudi women to helping them develop 
and learn skills to fully participate in the changing Saudi 
society.  She would like to educate women and private 
companies about e-learning and teleworking so that women will 
be able to work from home in areas such as accounting and 
graphic design.  Currently, she is consulting with King Abdul 
Aziz University on the subject.  In addition she would like 
to train women in e-commerce so they can market and trade 
online to increase their international exposure. 
Other Initiatives: 
- A flea market for women to sell goods on land donated by 
the Jeddah municipality 
- Career Days at area universities 
- Conference in February with leading women in various fields 
from the Middle East and West 
- Arab News listing and DVD of top 20 businesswomen in Saudi 
Arabia to complement February 2007 conference 
 
¶4. (U) Omair also wants to focus on lobbying various 
Ministries on the issues confronting Saudi women in the 
workplace.  While some government ministries have women's 
departments, they generally are inadequately staffed and 
funded.  Likewise, they are not fully functional and still 
often have to operate through departments run by men, which 
constrains the development of initiatives led by Saudi women. 
 Job training has also moved from the Khadeejah Center to 
another JCCI training center that provides job skills 
training and interest testing. 
 
¶5. (U) Omair said that while there are efforts to employ 
young Saudis, the private sector is not satisfied with the 
quality level of the labor force.  At a recent career fair 
5000 young women were present to apply for jobs in the 
private sector; however very few were actually hired because 
they lacked even basic work skills such as customer service. 
Not only is the quality of the Saudi employee an issue, and 
the obvious infrastructure problems, business owners do not 
know how they will train and manage female employees with all 
male management. 
 
SERVING THE SAUDI WOMAN AT ALL STAGES 
 
¶6. (U) Omair has a number of programs for students to gain 
more exposure to the work world.  She is starting a college 
internship program at the Khadeejah Center in the coming 
months.  She hopes to begin compiling research by doctoral 
candidates on women and employment that will be available in 
the JCCI library.  She is also working on a project in which 
college graduates make websites for private companies; recent 
examples include the Savola Group and Panda grocery.  The 
JCCI also houses a small business incubator in which Saudis 
 
JEDDAH 00000446  002 OF 002 
 
 
can rent office space and have access to phones, fax, 
computers, etc. for 600 SAR a month to help new entrepreneurs 
get started.  Six out of 20 current participants are female. 
 
¶7. (U) For the more experienced businesswoman who does not 
need assistance setting up her business, Omair hopes to offer 
advanced training.  She wants to offer courses to teach women 
about strategic planning for business expansion, how to work 
with the media, and protocol for handling official visits. 
In addition, she wants to offer workshops on merging, 
franchising, and international legal issues in business.  To 
make sure that the ladies continue their enrichment even when 
not at the center, Omair publicizes international forums for 
the ladies to attend while they are traveling abroad on 
summer vacations. 
 
FEMALE BOARD MEMBER INVOLVED AS WELL 
 
¶8. (U) During the meeting, Olfat Qabbani, one the four JCCI 
female board members and a Jeddawi business owner, also 
greeted the Consulate group.  Qabbani described her own 
efforts to create a Businesswomen's Club apart from the JCCI. 
 She hopes this club will be up and running by this 
September.  The club will have monthly meetings to discuss 
their experiences, concerns, and issues facing them as women 
business owners in Saudi Arabia.  While one will not have to 
be a member of the JCCI to participate, she expects the 
membership will rise to 2000. 
 
¶9. (C) Comment: Omair's plan for the Khadeejah Center, while 
seeming overly ambitious may come to fruition given the large 
monetary resources the center can draw from.  The Khadeejah 
Center does receive a portion of the Chamber's budget (last 
year 71 million SAR) for its programs, but Omair is also 
expected to find sponsors for her operations and generate 
income for the center to operate.  Omair's strategy of trying 
to serve a wider spectrum of Saudi women is a positive move 
for including more women in the economy.  Expanding the 
mandate beyond finding a job to supporting and developing 
women in various aspects of economic activity might help 
Saudi women in the long run as they become more involved in 
the economy.  End Comment. 
 
¶10. (U) Bio Note: Omair is a rising star in the Jeddah 
commercial scene. Prior to taking her post with the JCCI, she 
worked for the Savola Group during 2004-2006.  She said that 
although she did not receive much guidance when she first 
took over the Khadeejah Center, she believes in setting high 
goals and considers successful women, such as Oprah Winfrey, 
as her role models.  She appears to be well versed in modern 
business theories and comes across as very American in her 
manner and fluent English skills, which she learned while 
living in the United States for 23 years when her father 
worked for the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington.  Omair 
mentioned that she is friends with the family of Prince 
Bandar bin Sultan, who was the Saudi Ambassador to the US 
during that timeframe.  Omair graduated from Langley High 
School in northern Virginia in 1988 at age 16.  She then 
earned several degrees from American University in 
Washington, DC, including a bachelor of the arts in business 
administration and marketing (1993), a master's degree in 
special education, and a Ph.D. in technology education with a 
focus on using technology for learning disabled children 
(2003). 
 
¶11. (U) Omair has an 11 year-old daughter and two sons, ages 
7 and 2.  Omair mentioned that her husband is currently 
working in Riyadh but she and the children remain in Jeddah 
because she thinks that Riyadh is too oppressive.  She also 
said that, although she likes Los Angeles, she prefers the 
eastern United States, adding that her brother once worked as 
IBM's manager for the East Coast. 
Gfoeller