Embracing the enlightening philosophy of facing the world with active optimism throughout her journey as a mother and a business woman, Soha A. Jalil, Executive Vice President and Business Development Director of Tia, exemplifies how even the smallest dreams can grow and flourish to become an undeniable reality.

Brief Family and Educational Background

Soha was born in Beirut to a family already dominated by male presence. Growing up among her 4 older brothers and being a mother of 3 boys was the fuel that ignited her self-confidence and motivated her to become the successful woman she is now. She says, "I am lucky to be surrounded by 4 older brothers and 3 sons. Their presence in my life taught me a lot of lessons and helped me gain a lot of experience."

Growing up, Soha was raised and educated in Montreal, Canada, where she attended HEC University and graduated with a degree in Management Information System (MIS).

Life started challenging her during university years. Back then, Soha had to look for a balance between studying and being a mother at the same, as she had already given birth to her second baby boy by the time she graduated. However, her philosophy of life - especially her belief that anything can happen if the right action is taken - pushed her a step closer towards achieving her dream of becoming an independent businesswoman.

Career Start-up

Born in a business oriented family, Soha started her career by joining her family business as an administrative assistant. Working with her father, she gained a lot of experience about the requirements and demands of the business world. Those early years helped in shaping her personality as a businesswoman.

By the time her father closed the business, Soha had already gotten married and moved with her husband to Dubai, where a whole new journey began.

With strong management, communication and presentation skills as well as good customer relations, Soha started her career path with THA Consultancy as a Business Development Supervisor. Talking about this experience, Soha says, "This position made me come closer to the Arabic culture as I had to deal with GCC countries as well as some countries in the Middle East. This position gave me a lot of experience especially in multinational communications."

Gaining experience in multinational communications served Soha well and helped her righteously win an even more challenging position with a telecom company in UAE, where she held the position of Senior Acquisition and Communication Manager from November 2007 to January 2009. As her job entailed outsourcing with Motorola Networks IBS project in the UAE, Soha started opening up to the business world.

Commenting on this phase of her life, Soha says, "This job was a big challenge to me. I had to deal with many fields other than telecommunication including construction and governmental institutions. However, this made me open up to the reality of business in UAE. It helped me make a lot of connections in different fields, and thus the vision of my future business started to materialize."

Kicking Off the Future Business

Having gained enough experience in telecoms (GSM/New Technologies) and having worked with start-ups and regional operators, Soha started working on her own career path and objectives. She was determined to leverage her executive track record, sales and regional experience. She was seeking to diversify from sales into operational roles.

Soha's proven track record of managing business to ensure efficient operations that deliver profitability goals, strong strategic direction backed up with operational expertise from financial management, driving KPIs and capturing market share in the fast growth markets, established solid ground for her business.

With the strategy of an entrepreneur, Soha started a small business in IBS and GSM coverage. She says, "My eyes are always wide open. I always search for weaknesses in the market. I am always on the lookout for missing strategies and technologies in order to be able to develop new projects. Working on developing what is lacking is the right way to grow and improve."

With a key vision of adding more quality, value and asset to the telecommunication field and technology services, the company came to life with Soha as its Founder and Executive Vice President. And so, the first stage of the dream came true.

Company Group: Early Rays of Light

Step by step, the company started to see the light after 4 months of hard work and research even amidst the hustle and bustle of the economic crises the country was witnessing. Soha says, "The crises neither affected me nor brought me down. On the contrary, it was like a chance to prove myself in the market and establish a solid reputation."  This is exactly what happened. The company survived the crises and launched with vehemence.

The first big achievement was a major cornerstone. du, one of UAE's biggest operators, became a client. Working with such a big name in the telecom industry, Soha found further motivation. She comments, "Working with du encouraged me further as it helped me build up my reputation in the market. It was challenging for me as a woman, yet it opened the doors for infinite possibilities to communicate."

Within 2 years, projects started to pour in and Soha started looking for better ways to organize her business in order to be able to share it with others. Having smartly acquired all the qualities of a successful leader, Soha established all the foundations for this reputable organization and the company flourished.

A Woman in a Man's World

Being a woman in the telecom industry, challenges are but part and parcel of such a field comments Soha who continues, "It is a challenge as a woman to be in this field. I look at it not as a man's world; it is just like any other field. All this talk about telecom being a manly domain is but culturally dictated and has nothing to do with reality."

"Mentalities as such are imposed upon us by society. However, this situation is exactly what pushed me further and motivated me to achieve more so that I am at the same level with men in the same domain. Unfortunately, there are very few women in this field. This is why I believe that women in the telecom industry must cooperate. They can benefit and learn from each others' expertise as they can bring along their own experiences, perspectives and personalities."

It is exactly this fusion of personalities and expertise that can empower and differentiate women and make them shine in the telecom sector. Women are capable of achieving everything. There are a lot of women who seek to do the impossible, and the telecom industry is not an exception.

From Management to Telecommunications and Beyond

Talking about the move she made from occupying management positions to dealing with technical and telecommunication issues, Soha's philosophy towards life shines through her answer to this query. She says, "Life is all about telecommunication and technology. We cannot survive without technology." Hence, this leap was not intimidating to her; rather, it came as a natural step further towards growth.

Growing further, Soha comments that her company is not just limited to telecommunications. She states, "We are in the process of developing IT services and other businesses for oil and gas companies mainly related to the environment."

"Whether in telecommunications or any other field, I am always on the lookout for specific tools that help projects to grow and develop. Now, there are plans with companies like iBwave and JDSU. We have also started to deal with LTE projects."

The Mother vs. the Businesswoman

Finding a balance between being a mother and a businesswoman is not easy at all as per Soha. She says, "With 3 boys at home, the situation is very challenging. However, my husband and I provide our family with the time they need. Our relationship is very tight, and we are very close to one another."

"Nothing is easy, but a good healthy and positive start accompanied by a fair balance between the two will ensure success whether as a mother or a businesswoman. My career has helped me out in organizing my time with my family. Business, if looked at from the right perspective, could be a calendar of life where priorities are determined."

A Final Thought

No one is exempt from difficult times, and positivity is the right way to overcome it all and reach success. This is how Soha looks at the future. She says, "I cherish success and all attempts at success; failure is not the end. We have to learn not to look back and keep on looking for new means to overcome past experiences in order to survive. Positivity is the best way to the top."

© Telecom Review 2012