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Glowork, a startup that seeks jobs for Saudi Arabian females, announced that SAS Holding has acquired 51% of the shares in the company for $16 million (60 million Saudi Riyals), which will be invested in the startup over the next few years. The remaining equity will be divided between founders Khalid Alkhudair, Jamal Almansour, and Khalid Alsaleh.

Even though a $16M investment may not be much impressive for Silicon Valley, it is a good sign of a developing entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region. Being one of the numerous small-scale investments that occur regularly in the Middle East, this acquisition reminds us of the lack of larger funding in local startups. 

Nima Adelkhani, founder of PITME clearly stated the issue by saying: “The biggest problem in the region is not getting started. The gap is in the growth stage; in securing A-round investments.”

About Glowork

Glowork was established in 2011 as a solution to the staggering rate of unemployed females in the Kingdom, which reached more than three quarters of the female population as compared to just 6% of males.

“Unemployment is very unsustainable for the government,” Alkhudair explained. “It pays 2,000 Saudi Riyals or $800 a month to anyone unemployed.” 

The unemployment problem doesn’t stop there. Certain segregation laws and historical precedents prevent a large number of educated females from working, even though 52% of university graduates in the Saudi Arabia are females.

Alkhudair even mentioned that it was hard for him to find a job in the Kingdom and even harder for his sister, whom he claims to be “smarter than him.” He also added: "I was very curious to understand why there was a problem with unemployment.”

Through Glowork, Alkhudair and his partners aim to overcome similar obstacles to this matter, such as child care costs and transportation issues, by creating new positions for women and giving those in rural areas access to work-from-home opportunities. “We entered into companies that didn’t have women and convinced them to employ females,” said Alkhudair.

Saudi Arabia was ranked among four countries which have made key investments in women’s education, according to a 2012 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, yet barriers to women’s participation in the workplace have not been removed and thus are not seeing returns on investments in their human capital. Alkhudair explained that it’s not because there’s a lack of job opportunities but it’s just that some women have yet to know how to find jobs.

Alkhoudair mentioned an example of a female who wanted to present her CV to a firm but was stopped by a security guard who stated that she cannot enter an all-male workplace. So, he took her résumé, but it never fell in the hands of the HR department. 

The founder said that it was time for change, beginning with Glowork, whose first career fair attracted over 17 000 females and resulted in 500 women getting hired. 

“In the next three years, there will be a big fight in the Kingdom for female employment,” stated Alkhoudair.

With a recent opening of an office in Jordan, Glowork is definitely heading in the right direction by expanding its services into other Gulf states like Oman and by its anticipation of growing investment from 10 employees to 150 in the next few years while maintaining its social focus.