Word: saudi
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...They're Watching in the Middle East A syrupy Turkish soap opera has millions of viewers across the Arab world hooked--and their clerics seething. Religious leaders from Bahrain to the West Bank have condemned Noor for being "replete with wickedness, evil and moral collapse," in the words of Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti. The show has drawn ire over its portrayal of egalitarian marriage--the heroine's husband supports her career in fashion--and characters who drink and date. Despite the criticism, 3 million to 4 million people in Saudi Arabia are tuning in daily...
...Middle East Economic Digest estimates that Gulf women control around $246 billion, projected to hit $385 billion by 2011. In Saudi Arabia, women own about a third of brokerage accounts and 40% of family-run firms, albeit often as silent partners. A 2007 study by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, found that a third of women-owned enterprises in the United Arab Emirates generated over $100,000 a year, versus only 13% of American women-owned firms. Yet few Arab businesswomen could raise capital from banks, usually turning to friends and family instead...
...investment firms, the biggest prize lies in Saudi Arabia, whose women have an estimated $11 billion sitting in bank accounts. But the Kingdom's strict laws on gender segregation mean the obstacles are greater there, too. One wealth manager recalls sitting in a Saudi palace giving an investment seminar, all the while worrying about whether he'd be arrested by the mutawwa, or religious police, for being alone in a room with 40 women. Gulf conservatives may rail against women driving, showing their hair or voting, but opposition to women investors has been muted. "You don't see [extremists] worrying...
Still, there's no question that becoming financially sophisticated brings a new level of independence. Bridge Partners, which includes Gulf royals and business billionaires among its clients, began focusing on managing money for women two years ago when a Saudi princess asked the firm to organize some investment workshops. Managing director Bell says he found "a lot of anger and frustration" among the workshop participants. "They'd say, 'I inherited this money from my dad, and it's just sitting there. We're not given the ability to make proper investments, to control our own money...
...financial companies are reaching out to this lucrative demographic is by employing more women. Bridge Partners is launching the Ladies Investment House to target Saudi women. Female finance graduates will be trained as independent financial advisers, working out of their own homes to sell Bridge funds on commission. "They can sit at home on the Internet, or invite their rich girlfriends over for coffee, and help them invest," says Bell. "It's going to create wealth, and it's going to create jobs for Saudi women...