Previous
Next
Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
Lubna S. Olayan
Lubna S. Olayan serves as Chair of the Executive Committee and Deputy Chair of Olayan Financing Company, Chair of Olayan Saudi Holding Company, Chair of SABB Bank, the HSBC affiliate in Saudi Arabia, and last year served as Chair of the B20 Trade & Investment Taskforce.
Her success has been recognized by Time, Fortune and Forbes, and has led to her being invited to serve on several boards of directors, boards of trustees, and advisory boards. Yet, when she arrived back in Saudi Arabia in 1983 after studying and working in the US, she did not even know if she would be able to work.
Women at that time were pretty much limited to education, medicine, or women’s banking. When her father - who once told a friend who questioned why his daughter was working with him “I didn’t know that God gave men more brainpower than women” - took the bold step of inviting her to join him as his executive assistant, she was the only woman at the office. She remained the only woman for 18 years. Throughout that time and her tenure as CEO of Olayan Financing Company from 1986 to 2019, she focused on doing the best job she could and earned the respect of her male colleagues. But over time she felt an obligation to afford other women the same opportunity she had - to prove their capabilities and build a career, should they choose to do so.
With the support of the shareholders, that led to the hiring of a woman to focus on gender parity in 2001, and it took off. In a speech at the Jeddah Economic Forum in 2004, the first in which a woman delivered a keynote speech, Lubna articulated the bold vision of “a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender, who is serious about finding employment, can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified.” She made sure that vision took root at Olayan.
Today, there are just under 1,000 Saudi women at Olayan in Saudi Arabia, in roles ranging from assembly line workers to salespersons to senior executives, who gather each year for the Olayan Women Network Forum. And if you ask any one of those women, they will without exception tell you that Lubna’s breaking the glass ceiling is what inspired them to take up the opportunity presented to them.
Her success has been recognized by Time, Fortune and Forbes, and has led to her being invited to serve on several boards of directors, boards of trustees, and advisory boards. Yet, when she arrived back in Saudi Arabia in 1983 after studying and working in the US, she did not even know if she would be able to work.
Women at that time were pretty much limited to education, medicine, or women’s banking. When her father - who once told a friend who questioned why his daughter was working with him “I didn’t know that God gave men more brainpower than women” - took the bold step of inviting her to join him as his executive assistant, she was the only woman at the office. She remained the only woman for 18 years. Throughout that time and her tenure as CEO of Olayan Financing Company from 1986 to 2019, she focused on doing the best job she could and earned the respect of her male colleagues. But over time she felt an obligation to afford other women the same opportunity she had - to prove their capabilities and build a career, should they choose to do so.
With the support of the shareholders, that led to the hiring of a woman to focus on gender parity in 2001, and it took off. In a speech at the Jeddah Economic Forum in 2004, the first in which a woman delivered a keynote speech, Lubna articulated the bold vision of “a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender, who is serious about finding employment, can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified.” She made sure that vision took root at Olayan.
Today, there are just under 1,000 Saudi women at Olayan in Saudi Arabia, in roles ranging from assembly line workers to salespersons to senior executives, who gather each year for the Olayan Women Network Forum. And if you ask any one of those women, they will without exception tell you that Lubna’s breaking the glass ceiling is what inspired them to take up the opportunity presented to them.