JEDDAH: Nouf Abdullah Al-Rakan has been appointed executive director of of the Saudi Arabian Federation for Cyber Security, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), with the unanimous approval of board members impressed by her practical and administrative experience.
Saud Al-Qahtani, consultant at the Royal Court and head of the SAFCSP, announced the appointment of Al-Rakan, whose many professional roles include being CEO of an educational organization, through his Twitter account, describing her as a great addition to the federation.
On the sidelines of the MiSK Global Forum, Al-Rakan, who previously urged all women to believe in themselves, described her own academic and professional career as being “more difficult compared to nowadays.”
She said she received a first-class education and her parents did not spare any expense in her schooling, but added that it was difficult for her generation to achieve a high level of education that would pave the way for them to enter the labor market.
“When I started working, the job market had very few offerings for women,” said Al-Rakan. “It is something that I carried over as a person. When I worked as a pro-bono in the chambers of commerce, we lobbied a lot in the job market trying to create vacancies for women and change the labor law for their interests.”
She added that people cannot just wait for something to happen for them, adding: “You have to push for that change.”
Al-Rakan aims to encourage improvement and change for Saudis through good education, hard work and, most importantly, by improving self-confidence.
She says she is proud of being a businesswoman, and her role as CEO of Educational Initiatives, an educational-development center in Riyadh. She is a strong believer in a bright future for Saudi Arabia, driven by young talents in a country where women are empowered through studies and work.
The SAFCSP is a national institution, under the umbrella of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, which seeks to build national and professional capabilities in the fields of cybersecurity and programming, in line with established and internationally recognized practices and standards, to help the Kingdom rise through the ranks of developed countries in the domain of technology innovation.
