Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia's First Female CFO

In a Country Where Only 6 Percent of Women Work, Meet a Rising Star
By LARA SETRAKIAN

RSS From her smartly appointed office in Riyadh, Samira Al Kuwaiz, 44, helps manage Osool Capital, an independent investment firm in Saudi Arabia that holds 2.2 percent of the country's traded shares. Al Kuwaiz is from one of Saudi Arabia's tribal families, the equivalent of blue blood in that society. After earning a master's degree in accounting and teaching at King Saud University, she became the first female chief financial officer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Samira Al Kuwaiz helps manage Osool Capital, an independent investment firm in Saudi Arabia. She is the first female CFO in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(ABC)The World Economic Forum ranked Saudi Arabia the lowest out of 128 countries on women's participation in the workforce. Women make up roughly 6 percent of the workforce in Saudi Arabia, according to the Labor Ministry -- among the lowest in the world, but a jump up from nearly nothing a generation ago. Al Kuwaiz is part of an emerging set of women executives in the Kingdom.

Lara Setrakian: How did you get your start at Osool Capital?

Samira Al Kuwaiz: Initially, I was heading the marketing team for ladies, because the shareholders saw the prospect of women's funds in Saudi Arabia. People who own that money now in Saudi Arabia are the second generation of the people that initially made it, so we see a lot of women who have inherited money. Women own up to $60 billion in deposits, term deposits, which are not being utilized in the market. And the partners wanted to tap into this market. So I headed the finance department from the beginning. We started it form zero. I built up a team and now I'm heading the marketing for ladies and the finance department. I'm CFO of the company.

---ABC News