#SaudiArabia's retail market more investable as more women enter workforce, Majid Al Futtaim chief says | The National

Saudi Arabia's retail market more investable as more women enter workforce, Majid Al Futtaim chief says | The National

The increasing number of women entering Saudi Arabia's workforce is one of a number of fundamental factors encouraging Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim to make more investments in the kingdom, its chief executive said.

Last week, the Dubai-based group appointed Aecom as lead consultant on its 16 billion Saudi riyals ($4.26bn) Mall of Saudi project and opened its first artificial intelligence-enabled, fully automated fulfilment centre in the kingdom’s commercial capital, Jeddah, as part of a series of ongoing investments in the market.

"As you know, women now are working and their integration in the workforce is happening in a very good way. This will have a major impact on household income in Saudi Arabia," Alain Bejjani, Majid Al Futtaim Holding chief executive told The National.

"Saudi Arabia used to have a relatively modest household income because you had just one bread-earner with large families," he added. "With better gender equality, we will see the Saudi economy develop and … consumption contributing a much higher share of GDP".

MAF, which is the Middle East's largest mall operator, first announced plans for Mall of Saudi, which is being built in the north of Riyadh, in February 2016. The project will house the Middle East’s biggest indoor ski slope and snow park as well as 600 shops over 300,000 square metres of leasable mall space. It also includes nine hotels and serviced apartments.