The month of March has seen two major celebrations honoring women and their role in society across the Kingdom — International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day. With the current reform drive in the Kingdom that aims to see women play a more active role in society this year, these celebrations seem more profound than ever before.
International Women’s Day was marked in Saudi Arabia in a way we have never seen before. For example, we saw women joining together in a celebratory jog across Jeddah, and the BinDawood group honored the occasion by releasing data that supports the trend that Saudi female millennials are driving the growth of e-commerce in the Kingdom (they are the largest customer group of Danube’s e-commerce platform and app).
As a young leader of the group that has pioneered the development of the retail industry in Saudi Arabia and as a business leader, it’s been wonderful to see how fast the transformation of the role of women is occurring across the Kingdom. This transformation underpins Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 goals and the role women will play in driving Saudi Arabia’s economy.
As a business, BinDawood has a long legacy of championing and supporting women. For example, this week for Mother’s Day, we launched multiple video campaigns that praise and commend Saudi working mothers and honor them as the person with most responsibility in the family. Across all our Danube stores, our female customers were presented with roses and cards as a gesture of acknowledgment of the female contribution to Saudi society.
These sentiments in our marketing efforts are also backed up by our business practices where we actively seek to hire Saudi women across our teams and business units. Currently, women make up approximately 20 percent of the Saudi workforce. As a group, we employ over 10,000 people across our business entities and part of our vision is to become the retail sector’s preferred employer. That vision includes hiring more women.
There remain many barriers including organizational, attitudinal and societal, to the advancement of Saudi women in paid employment. However, as the leading retail group in Saudi Arabia, we understand that an inclusive workforce is a crucial factor to our success.
Transformation of women’s role is key to driving Saudi economy
Transformation of women’s role is key to driving Saudi economy
Tourism Minister opens Radisson Hotel Madinah
Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the Board of the Tourism Development Fund Ahmed Al-Khateeb recently inaugurated the Radisson Hotel Madinah. The hotel has been enabled by the TDF, a Saudi government fund dedicated to supporting and developing the Saudi tourism sector. The opening of the new property falls within ongoing efforts to enhance the hospitality infrastructure in Madinah and increase its readiness to receive visitors, thereby improving the quality of tourism services in line with the objectives of the National Tourism Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030.
The minister stated that the opening of Radisson Hotel Madinah reflects TDF’s commitment to high-quality and diversified projects that meet visitors’ needs. He said: “Saudi Arabia continues to advance the development of the hospitality sector across different regions to ensure the provision of exceptional accommodation experiences that enhance the visitor journey and support the sustainable growth of tourism, particularly in cities of religious and historical significance such as Madinah.”
TDF CEO Qusai Al-Fakhri said that the fund continues to perform its role as the national enabler of the tourism sector by supporting projects that generate tangible economic and developmental impact. He explained that the hotel’s opening represents a model of TDF’s role in diversified tourism investments and support for the private sector’s hotel projects, which increase accommodation capacity, create job opportunities, and enhance quality of life in Madinah.
The four-star Radisson Hotel Madinah spans an area exceeding 2,300 square meters and comprises 165 rooms. It is located next to Quba Mosque, 12 minutes by car from the Prophet’s Mosque, and 20 minutes from Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, making it a convenient choice for city visitors and pilgrims. The hotel includes a restaurant serving guests and visitors, dedicated meeting and event spaces, and sports facilities.
The hotel contributes to stimulating the local economic activity and supporting the tourism and hospitality ecosystem, enhancing Madinah’s readiness to receive increasing numbers of visitors and pilgrims in the coming years.
This project is part of the TDF’s portfolio of tourism projects in various regions of the Kingdom. The TDF has contributed to more than 130 tourism projects in Madinah, with total contributions exceeding SR1.5 billion ($400 million) and accommodation capacity surpassing 2,100 hotel rooms, reaffirming its role in advancing tourism investment, sustainable development objectives, and the tourism sector’s contribution to the national economy, in line with the National Tourism Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030.
