One of the Most Essential Businesswomen Worldwide, Read About Nahid Taher

A Saudi businesswoman and economics consultant, the British Financial Times ranked her among the 50 most essential businesswomen worldwide for three consecutive years, 2009, 2010, and 2011. She is the first Saudi woman to hold a senior management position inside and outside the Kingdom. Founder and CEO of Gulf One, the first investment bank of its kind in the Middle East, in the State of Bahrain, along with its branches in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Germany, in addition to its services in developing banking education methods and economical educational curricula in the Kingdom. Forbes included her on its list of the most influential women in the world for three years in a row, in the CEO position. Who is Nahid Taher, and how did she get there? Let’s talk about it.

Who is Nahid Taher?

Nahid Mohamed Taher was born in Austin, Texas, USA, on June 2, 1964, where her father was educated. After she finished primary school in America, she returned with her family to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of her parents. So her father joined his work in the Ministry of Petroleum there, but after one year of their stay in Riyadh, he was delegated to Kuwait, so the family moved again, where she spent 7 years, during which Nahid managed to finish middle school.

She completed her secondary education at Dar Al Hanan School for Girls in Riyadh after the family returned to settle there. She obtained her high school diploma with distinction, and she was among the first in her class in the Kingdom. She did not think much about the university major that she wanted to study after that. Her father, who had a keen insight into the field of finance and business, instilled in her a love of economics, so she joined King Abdulaziz University to obtain a degree in economics. Then a master's degree, where she worked as a teacher at the university while studying for her master's.

In 1998, she was one of the first Saudi women to be sent on a mission to study outside the Kingdom, specifically in Britain, at Lancaster University, where she obtained a master's degree in international economics and then a doctorate in monetary economics in 2001, with distinction at the level of all British universities, although she was taking care of her three children alone at that time.

She then returned to the Kingdom and taught as an assistant professor and head of the accounting department at King Abdulaziz University immediately after her return for six months before launching into the field of entrepreneurship.

Nahid’s Greatest Achievements:

During her period of teaching economics at the Founder University in Riyadh, she presented the National Bank with many financial studies and was offered an unprecedented opportunity to work in the National Bank of Saudi Arabia at its headquarters at the rank of an economic advisor. She accepted the offer and thus became the first woman in the Kingdom to work in a bank that employs 4,000 men. A few months later, she became the official representative of the bank in conferences and meetings and the head of its economic department.

During more than three years of working with the National Bank, Nahid participated with her family in launching many projects in various fields, and of course, she was an important member of its board of directors and a financial advisor. She also participated as an official speaker in dozens of local and international economic conferences and helped appoint more than 50 female employees at the National Bank before taking a new turn in her career.

She took a somewhat bold step and established Gulf One Investment Bank in Bahrain, and the reason for choosing Bahrain was that the Capital Market Authority in Saudi Arabia had not yet been established and therefore could not establish its project there. It is also the first bank specializing in infrastructure financing in the Middle East. After that, the bank opened branches in Kuwait, Germany, and Saudi Arabia, of course, after obtaining the license from the Capital Market Authority, and renamed it “Gulf One Capital” in 2006. She is the founder, co-CEO, and a member of the Board of Directors of Gulf One Bank. So, by virtue of her work, she heads the management of many companies.

Nahid aspires to be able to focus on financing environmental projects, and in this regard, she has written a book with her partner in the field of economics that has been released to the market. She is also a member of the Supreme Council for the Environment in Saudi Arabia, the International Committee of the King Abdullah Center for Energy and Petroleum Research, the Council of the Financial Group of the Organization for Cooperation and Development in the Middle East, and the Saudi and German Business Council.

During her career, she presented many important economic and banking studies and helped develop economic educational curricula in the Kingdom. She is also a member of the board of directors in some international universities, such as IMD University in Switzerland, which is considered the best European university in the field of business, and a member of the Saudi Committee for Eisenhower Fellowship and the Organization of Young Presidents (YPO), honored by its British University, Lancaster, with an honorary doctorate degree in 2015.

Nahid’s Personal Life:

Nahid is married to an unknown person and has three children. She loves her family as much as she loves her work, and she feels great pleasure in her ability to reconcile a hard profession that requires intellectual effort and a great deal of time, a large family that relies on her and looks forward to her, and pursue the hobby closest to her heart, which is reading.

There were many rumors about her being the richest woman in Saudi Arabia, but she categorically denied them. Nevertheless, Taher and her family are considered wealthy in the kingdom.

Finally:

Nahid has reached all these achievements because of her commitment and discipline in pursuing her goals in life, and she is considered a living example of the success of every persistent person.