Saudi SIDF, through W20, strives to enhance womens role in industrial sector

RIYADH — The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), represented by Riyadh’s Alnahda Society, is the hosting organization of the Woman 20 (W20) summit, which aims to enhance women’s participation in the Kingdom’s industrial sector, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The W20 is an official G20 engagement group focused on women’s empowerment and gender equality. The W20’s primary objective is to ensure that gender considerations are mainstreamed into G20 discussions and translate into the G20 Leaders’ Declaration as policies and commitments that foster gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Commenting on the sponsorship of the event, Eng. Noor Shabib, vice president of strategic planning & business development at SIDF, said, “Working together with the W20 will advance our mutual agenda on women empowerment, diversity and inclusion.

“This support stresses SIDF’s commitment to Vision 2030’s strategic goal of raising Saudi women’s economic participation rate to 30 percent and enabling women to attain more leadership positions across the country.”

She said that SIDF is considered a pioneer in workforce gender diversity within governmental entities. In less than three years, SIDF has increased the percentage of its female employees from zero percent to 15 percent of total workforce; now employing 159 female employees all of whom hold positions ranging from junior officers to top managerial posts in all departments.

“As the main financial enabler of Saudi Vision’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), SIDF deploys a wide range of lending and advisory products to the private sector. SIDF applies a gender-neutral policy that ensures no discrimination between men and women with regards to access to services and opportunities,” she said.

On her part, Salma Al Rashid, W20’s Sherpa, said that labor inclusion and inclusive decision making are one of the W20’s key priorities and we are delighted that SIDF has joined as an advocate.

“The W20 is committed to ensuring that women occupy leadership roles and engage in equal and meaningful participation in the decision making across all sectors. Through our shared agendas and joint efforts, we will be able to achieve the best positive outcomes for women in the workplace,” she added.

SIDF continues to innovate new, more tailored products and services that ensure to offer the same opportunities to both men and women investors in the private sector in efforts to increase the private sector’s participation in the Kingdom.