Around the world, companies have increasingly begun to establish a diverse and inclusive workplace to achieve a competitive advantage. Not only corporate firms, but governments including Saudi Arabia has been ramping its efforts to increase female participation in the workforce as a part of its Vision 2030, which opens doors to new economic possibilities, builds new roles and transform older ones for women in a positive way.
“With the government’s policies coming into action, I feel this our time and opportunity to fulfil our ambitions.” Layla Al Samayen, said.
Aligning with the Saudi government’s efforts to empower the women population, ABB PAEN in Saudi Arabia appointed the first Saudi female employee to the team. Layla Al Samayen, will be working as P&L Specialist/Buyer as a part of the PAEN business line.
The empowerment of Saudi Arabian women is at the heart of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform program, with far-reaching social and economic goals including increasing women’s economic participation rate from 17 percent to 25 percent this year. Since the launch of Vision 2030 in April 2016, Saudi Arabian women have already benefited from a range of reforms, gaining the right to drive among other advances.
Steppingstone to success
Layla, with more than five years of experience in the manufacturing and supply chain sector, described how she finds herself within challenges. Her positive attitude towards building her career has helped her thwart the challenges and shine in her job.
With an engineering degree in ITC (Information Technology and Computing) from Arab Open University’s Bahrain branch Layla has successfully honed skills as a supply chain expert. For her final year, Layla shifted to the university’s Dammam branch where she presented her final year project and graduated with honors.
“It is quite rare to find women in manufacturing. In my last job at a manufacturing facility, I had to work hard which was initially challenging but I adapted quickly which I feel prepared me for this sector,” Layla noted.
Taking up the position of HR coordinator at Schneider Electric during her college days gave her the chance to discover her interest in the supply chain after she had the opportunity to switch to the company’s procurement division. This laid the foundation for her interest in supply chain and manufacturing. Following a two-year stint at Schneider Electric, Layla juggled few other roles in the sector at various firms before joining ABB.
Reminiscing about her journey as a budding engineer in Saudi Arabia, Layla described her brothers and friends as her biggest inspirations. “I feel very happy to be the first woman from my country to join ABB’s PAEN business in Saudi Arabia.”
In her new role, Layla will be reporting to Ahmad Tahir, Supply Chain & Opex Manager at ABB. “We are happy to bring Layla into our team. With ABB’s drive towards a more inclusive workplace, I feel Layla’s inputs will bring fresh perspectives to our business. We welcome her to our team,” Ahmad remarked.
ABB’s Process Automation business is a leader in automation, electrification and digitalization for the process and hybrid industries. We serve our customers with a broad portfolio of products, systems, and end-to-end solutions, including our #1 distributed control system, software, and lifecycle services, industry-specific products as well as measurement and analytics, marine and turbocharging offerings. As the global #2 in the market, we build on our deep domain expertise, diverse team and global footprint, and are dedicated to helping our customers increase competitiveness, improve their return on investment and run safe, smart, and sustainable operations.
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com
