Nahed Taher - first Saudi woman in the Gulf to head up an investment bank

The Saudi-born CEO holds the accolade of being the first woman in the Gulf to head up an investment bank.

As the leader of Gulf One Investment Bank, which she co-founded in 2005 after a tenure as a senior economist at Saudi Arabia’s NCB, Taher was the first of a growing number of women to break the glass ceiling. She turned down a high-powered job with the International Monetary Fund before taking the job with NCB, saying at the time that she wanted to “do something for my own country”. Having excelled in a male-dominated field, Taher is also a strong advocate for a greater role for women in the kingdom.

Dima Ikhwan - Saudi woman who has made a significant contribution to the entertainment industry

She may be in the corporate world now, but Dima Ikhwan has made a significant contribution to the region’s entertainment industry.

An associate at KPMG Advisory, she was also one of the writers of On The Fly – an online comedy show which has enjoyed millions of hits since debuting on YouTube in 2010, and has been called an Arabic version of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

What makes Ikhwan’s story all the more interesting is that she is from Saudi Arabia where comedy, let alone female comedy writers, is thin on the ground. As such, she has become to many the face of the modern Saudi female, writing socially conscious satirical comedy as well as excelling in a corporate career.

Now five years old, On The Fly no longer benefits from Ikhwan’s writing. Her contribution to the first season of the show set the foundations for the online programme to flourish, and helped encourage an online viewing boom.

Nermin Saad - Saudi woman who developed a virtual engineering office

The idea for Nermin Saad’s business, Handasiyat.net, came when her husband took a job in Saudi Arabia.

According to the qualified engineer, she found herself unable to work in the engineering field, forcing her to either “sit at home or change my career”. Taking her own experience into consideration, as well as that of her over-worked husband, Saad developed a virtual engineering office that has grown to work with many of Saudi Arabia’s top construction firms. Handasiyat.net aims to provide jobs for female engineers without having to upset the social boundaries within the workplace and physically mix the sexes. The online platform outsources work to women who can work from home, easing the load on the male employees, while allowing women to use the qualifications they had worked so hard to achieve.

Badreya Al Bishr - Saudi woman who takes on numerous themes affecting Arab women

Controversy and Badreya Al Bishr have never been far away from one another. The author, journalist and TV host has never shied away from tackling major issues and taboo topics.

Writing in her daily column for Al Hayat, and hosting her own talk show on MBC, Al Bishr takes on numerous themes affecting Arab women today, as well as religion and extremism. The multi-award-winning Saudi writer is a PhD graduate from the American University of Beirut, and an alumnus of the US State Department International Visitor programme. She also lectures at King Saud University’s Department of Social Studies.

Manal Al Sharif - Saudi woman who worked hard for women's right

When Manal Al Sharif got behind the wheel of a car in her home country of Saudi Arabia in 2011, she almost immediately became a focal point for women’s rights in the Kingdom.

Arrested as a result of her actions, which were part of a campaign to call for women’s rights to drive, Al Sharif was been applauded across the globe, and has since brought international attention to a number of women’s rights issues including the murder of five-year-old Lama Al Ghamdi by her father in 2013, and the plight of female domestic workers held in Saudi prisons.

Dubbed Saudi Arabia’s Rosa Parks, Al Sharif was honoured last year at a Women In The World luncheon in California, where she told an audience “To me, if you see something wrong, you have to speak up… If we keep quiet, nothing will change.”

Mishaal Ashemimry - Saudi woman who scored well in Aerospace Engineering

Having developed a fascination with the stars aged just six years old, it should come as no surprise that Mishaal Ashemimry now builds rockets for a living.

The US-based aerospace engineer, whose masters degree research was funded by NASA, has held true to her young passion for space, founding MISHAAL Aerospace in 2010 and specialising in launch vehicle development to send  small satellites to Low Earth Orbit. Clients to date have included governments, research companies, commercial companies, and telecommunication players. Based in Miami, Ashemimry holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Aerospace Engineering, and in Applied Mathematics, as well as a Masters of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, with academic focus on experimental and analytical aerodynamics, rocket design, and nuclear thermal propulsion.