Eighty per cent of women’s businesses in Saudi Arabia fail in their first year, reports Saudi Gazette. This is not due to women’s incompetence, the piece says, but rather to the unequal burden women’s businesses must bear in working through legally-mandated regulation and procedures. It’s almost as if someone wanted such businesses to fail…

Most businesses run by women fail in first year
Saudi Gazette report

AL-KHOBAR – Eighty percent of women-run businesses fail within the first year due to complications posed by regulatory formalities and procedures, a gathering organized by the Council of Young Businesswomen at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dammam heard last week.

Al-Madina newspaper reported that the businesswomen’s meeting heard that the majority of their business initiatives were destined for failure from their very inception due to “lengthy procedures” to obtain bank loans with which to start their businesses, “interminable conditions” required by municipalities before granting permits, and a lack of services for businesswomen from the relevant agencies.

The gathering discussed with specialists the nature of the difficulties impeding the progress of women-run businesses ahead of the Young Businesswomen Forum which on March 29 where their proposals will be presented.