Saudi women ‘own’ most cover-up businesses in Makkah

About 20 percent of commercial registrations at the Makkah branch of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry are being misused for cover-up business activities.The lion’s share of these registrations is owned by Saudi women who have authorized foreigners to do business in their name. In return, the women get a monthly or annual share of the profits, according to senior officials of the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Speaking to Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, deputy chairman of the chamber Mazen Tunisi said that there were more than 200,000 commercial registrations in Makkah, of which only 40,000 were registered with the ministry’s branch. “This means that holders of the remaining registrations may have either ceased their activities or not renewed their registration. Only a section of them, ranging from 10,000 to 12,000, have joint registration at the ministry and the chamber,” he said.According to Tunisi, women’s business activities make up only 13 percent of these joint commercial registrations, with a total value of SR135 million. “First of all, the percentage of businesswomen in Makkah is very low. Secondly, most of them now live in other cities,” he said. The chamber official noted that it is very difficult for women to carry out their business activities with the personal supervision of a male guardian. Therefore, they allow foreign workers to engage in cover-up activities.“Most of the problems regarding commercial registrations in Makkah pertain to cover-up activities. Those who possess 20 percent of these registrations are supposedly allowing foreigners to run cover-up businesses, while some others have either ceased their business activities or delayed opening their ventures due to various factors,” he said. Tunisi announced plans to link the Makkah chamber electronically with the ministry’s branch. “A contract has been signed with a specialized IT company. Under the new online mechanism, the chamber and the ministry’s branch will have a joint program to filter all commercial registrations.”According to the official, it is very easy to find out the real status of each registration and detect those that are inactive or used for cover-up activities. “The chamber will lend a helping hand to businessmen who are forced to cease their activities for various reasons. We will extend them either logistic support or carry out economic feasibility studies for them,” he said. Referring to the illegal sale of counterfeit goods in the holy city, Adnan Shafi, secretary-general of the chamber, said: “There are two aspects to this issue. The first is that most traders don’t know that some of the products they display for sale are fake. Therefore, we have to increase their awareness about original and brand products. They should also be aware of the fact that they are engaged in business activities in the holy city and hence must respect its sanctity,” he said, while underlining the need for an awareness campaign targeting consumers not to buy counterfeit products.According to Shafi, the second aspect is implementing a tie-up between the chamber and the ministry to put an end to the flooding of counterfeit goods and taking stringent punitive action against traders who engage in such illegal trade in the holy city.