Khadija Al Salami – The Communicator
Khadija Al Salami has not just defied the destiny set out for her, she shattered it. Born to a traditional and prominent Yemeni tribe in the 1960s, her life was a series of deceptions, oppression and struggles. “I grew up with a lot of violence around me. My father lost his mind as a consequence of the war [in Yemen]. After my parents separated, I was happy growing up with my grandmother and going to school until the age of 11 when my uncle decided to marry me off,” she says.
Al Salami, currently Yemen’s cultural attaché to France and a renowned award-winning documentary filmmaker, fought ardently, going so far as to attempt suicide as a last ditch hope for freedom. Her husband eventually took her back home and divorced her, “I just couldn’t accept it…I totally refused to live the life set out for me by my family.”
For Al Salami that meant a rigorous education mixed with hard work. At age 11, she worked as a children’s programme host on Yemen Television and later became its first female news anchor. Finding a passion for the communication arts, she won a scholarship the US to study Film and Television at Mount Vernon College, later to be followed by a Master’s Degree from American University in Washington DC. She is also the author of the acclaimed biography Tears of Sheba: Tales of Survival and Intrigue in Arabia.
Asked what kept her going all these years, she’s quick to answer, “Life is beautiful and I wanted to enjoy it. But the fight inside me has not yet left me and that is why I continue fighting through my films. I can’t really get rid of it.”
Lubna Olayan – The CEO
Few women have taken success in their stride as well, and as humbly, as Lubna Olayan. The youngest daughter of businessman Sulaiman S. Olayan, she began her climb to the top of one of the kingdom’s largest investment companies, the Olayan Financing Group, following an MBA in business from Indiana University and a work-related stint in New York. As ceo of OFC, she actively oversees and runs more than 40 companies and is on the board of the Saudi Hollandi Bank and multinational advertising company WPP.
Conducting her business without drawing attention to herself seems to be one of her strongest points, “Olayan tends to downplay her positive impact on perceptions of Arab women’s roles. But wherever she goes… she’s a star. She reminds everyone that Saudi women are capable of running not only the house but also major companies. It is no small measure thanks to her that the advancement of women in Saudi Arabia is finally reaching a point of the return,” wrote Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal about the Saudi prodigy.
Not content with positions on Forbes and Time magazines lists of most influential people, Olayan also gave a keynote speech at the 2004 Jeddah Economic Forum where she challenged convention by continuing with her speech despite her veil falling to her shoulders. Her words were just as controversial, “My vision is of a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender who is serious about employment, can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified. Leading to a thriving middle class and in which all Saudi citizens, residents or visitors to the country feel safe and can live in an atmosphere where mutual respect and tolerance exists among all, regardless of their social class, religion or gender."
Rola Dashti – The Activist
Kuwaiti-born Rola Dashti has made worldwide headlines due to her uncompromising call for justice. She believes that women should no longer be sidelined in the elections of this emirate; after all, the Kuwaiti constitution clearly calls for equal rights between men and women. Dashti’s struggle to emancipate her fellow female citizen began in 1992 after she returned to her homeland from the Unites States of America armed with a Phd and dreams of healing Kuwait’s gender divide. In 2005, she led a vocal group of women demanding suffrage, “[We] will not allow any group to weaken us, belittle our capabilities and prevent us from our deserved political rights,” she declared. Failing that, she sued the Kuwaiti government and managed to convince the ruling Emir to issue a decree giving women their full rights. It was then narrowly defeated by parliament. Last year, her efforts were somewhat rewarded when Kuwait named its first female minister.
A woman’s right to choose is also at the forefront of Dashti’s agenda. To the issue of Misyar marriage (temporary marriage practiced in the Gulf countries), she vehemently said, “A woman who is married the standard way faces enormous problems when it comes to getting a divorce, so what would her situation be in a Misyar marriage? Enlightened Islamic scholars should stand up to such radical thoughts… and not abandon women to stand up to them alone.”
Dashti has also excelled in the professional field. She is currently the chairwoman of the Kuwait Economic Society which focuses on studies, proposals and conventions relating to issues of national economy, the economics of the GCC, culture and Arab issues in general.
Zaha Hadid – The Architect
Unconventional in style and in attitude, Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid has wooed the design world with her creations. Her concept of spatial experimentation within an urban landscape has won her fans and critics alike. “Like many women today,” she said in an interview, “I am traveling a lot and I work crazy hours, working on an architecture project means perseverance. But no matter how much progress has been made, there is still a world that for women is taboo.”
Hadid was born in Baghdad in 1950 and studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut. In 1972, she moved to London to study architecture and later joined the Office of Metropolitan Architecture. In 1980, she opened her own practice in the British capital. In 2004, she became the first woman to win the much coveted Prtizker architecture prize. Though she was awarded the Commander of British Empire Award, she has yet to build a major project in her adopted country.
The world’s perceptions have been greatly influenced by a personal vision that Hadid terms as, “Virtuoso of elegance, personal investigation, research. It is laden with so many ideas that one cannot extrude a single one, there is no formal repertoire.” She is most famous for projects including the Vitra Fire Station and the BMW building in Germany and the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, USA. She has recently further pushed the boundaries of contemporary living with an awe-inspiring futuristic display of her ‘Ideal House’ in Germany.
In 2006, her work and her contribution to architecture and design were honoured with a commemorative retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. She has also designed the Performing Arts Centre and the Dancing Tower in the UAE.
Shamsa Noor Ali Rashid – The Fundraiser
Few women in the United Arab Emirates would be able to fulfil their potential were it not for Shamsa Noor Ali Rashid. As the ceo of Forsa (Opportunity), a 272 million USD fund dedicated to women investors and entrepreneurs, Rashid has opened up doors for women throughout her country. “By forming equity relationships with promising start-ups, Forsa will ensure optimal returns for investors as well as business owners. Our goal here is to provide every woman who has the capability, the skills, the desire and the commitment to run and grow her own business, the means to be able to do so,” she said in an interview.
With women comprising about half of the Emirates’ population, Rashid and her team of experts offer invaluable advice and finances to begin their own businesses. The company created ‘for women and by women’ also focuses on sectors of real estate, retail, education, health and technology. It also provides businesswomen with expertise, support and participates in equity partnerships. The women-exclusive fund has also allied itself with the INSEAD and the Wharton School of Business in the US. Forsa is part of Dubai World holdings company.
Rashid understands a woman’s struggle in the corporate world firsthand. Having lived for 25 years in the United States of America and in the United Kingdom, she gained extensive experience at Proctor & Gamble. She also established a successful IT company in competitive Silicon Valley which she later sold before returning home to the UAE. She was also one of the first women from the Emirates to study abroad, gaining and MBA from the University of Chicago in America.
Sheikha Hanadi Bint Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani – The Investor
Not your average Middle East royal to say the least. Sheikha Hanadi Bint Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani is currently managing director of Qatar’s most prominent investment bank, asset management and financial planning company. First founded as the Qatar Ladies Investment Company in 1998, receiving the first investment license in the tiny emirate, the bank was later re-launched as Amwal, which quite appropriately translates as money.
Not content with heading one company and with a passion to further advance her country’s economy, Sheika Hanadi is also ceo of the real estate company, Al Waab City Real Estate, a development project which plans to develop an area of more than 1.2 million square metres into a mixed-use development of residential, office, entertainment and leisure facilities. In April of this year, she secured a 225 million USD funds in Islamic finance with a consortium of local and regional banks.
“I believe that with farsighted vision and perseverance backed by our rich heritage, Arab women have many opportunities to be at the forefront of the business world,” she said. In 2006, she was named ‘Woman CEO of the Year’ by the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute. Sheikha Hanadi is also on the executive committee of the Young Arab Leaders and is a trustee on the Board of the Arab Women’s International Forum. She has a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and lectures at Qatar University where she began her career as an assistant in the Economics department.
