Since Sundip Patel began expanding his business in Saudi Arabia three years ago, he says there’s been “astounding” growth in the kingdom structurally and socially. As the cofounder and CEO of Avana Companies, a direct private commercial lender, Patel works directly with women and minority entrepreneurs to build their companies. He says that things that would have been unthinkable in Saudi Arabia not long ago are now everyday occurrences, particularly as it relates to the treatment of women.
“People are accepting that women can be breadwinners,” says Patel. “Imagine that seven, eight years ago. That was not there, but it’s there now.”
What Patel, who has lived in the region at least part-time for the past 18 years, is experiencing is the changing landscape of Saudi Arabia following the creation of Vision 2030, a government program launched by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016 that seeks to diversify Saudi Arabia economically, socially, and culturally. As part of that mission, many of the barriers and mores that held women back from the workforce are no longer in place. Saudi women can now drive, travel freely without a guardian, converse with men they are not married to in public, and, yes, work.
The change in the country in less than 10 years has been dramatic. Women now comprise around 36% of the workforce, according to the government, up from 17.4% in 2015 and well past Vision 2030’s initial goal of 30%. The religious police—previously a threat to anyone not adhering to the kingdom’s strict conservative laws and norms, especially single women operating in the public sphere—are far less visible, particularly in large cities like Jedda.
