Laura Bashraheel Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The three-month long first phase of the initiative “Dollani to the Souq” (literally means ‘Show Me Where the Market is') held at Mall of Arabia ended with a ceremony on Thursday. The scheme, launched on Jan.16, gave an opportunity to owners of small and medium businesses to display their handmade items or concept at one of the largest malls in the Kingdom. Arabian Centres Limited Company, a member of Fawaz Al-Hokair Group, the owner and operator of Mall of Arabia, supports the initiative as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. The “Dollani to the Souq” is dedicated to support and empower entrepreneurs to penetrate the market. On a larger scale, the initiative targets to lower Saudi unemployment, encourage CSR, empower and assist creativity, productivity and entrepreneurship in the Kingdom. The initiative is not limited to financial or temporary support, but includes training, skills development, identifying elements of success and failure, developing plans and strategies to cope with demand and supply rather than the traditional method adopted at showrooms, traditional tents and bazaars, which all leads to enhancing the participants' skills and raising their self-confidence. The program, which took off in Jeddah, will be held in Makkah at Makkah Mall, Madinah at Al-Noor Mall, and in Dhahran and Riyadh soon. Muna Abu Sulayman, the mastermind behind “Dollani to the Souq”, said they are trying to perfect it three months after its launch. “We were trying to perfect it. For example, it was upstairs. We then realized the place wasn't suitable so we changed it to downstairs. There is a lot of commitment into making this work. We have done surveys to understand what are the needs of the participants, we have done training, but we realized that we need to do more marketing. We have tweaked it a little bit, so instead of three months, it will be six weeks,” she said. Abu Sulayman further said that they want the best results so that people who go to “Dollani to the Souq” become real retailers who one day would have their own stores and eventually employ other Saudis and become successful. The initiative is getting equal numbers of the usual things such as food, accessories and clothes but they have also gotten different things which could be more innovative. “This is what we are looking for in our next phase,” she added. Dollani to the Souq's next step is going to Madinah and also have another phase in Jeddah. “This is a national initiative and we will be in every city with Al-Hokair Group shopping centers, so that we can help create and support small and medium business economy,” Abu Sulayman noted. There are a lot more women who applied. However, the initiative is trying to change the idea of having a bazaar for sales into having a bazaar which is looking for marketing. The whole point is to teach them the business model of having a store. “One of the challenges was to get the permission. The Minister of Commerce was very helpful and he understood the idea that this is not a bazaar, it's an entrepreneurship initiative,” she explained. Areej Bin Mahfouz, a participant who sells homemade clothes and accessories, said she received a text about the initiative workshop on how to market your products since she is registered with productive families. “I liked the idea on how to start your business. They gave us a lot of tips during the workshop,” she said. Malak Felemban, who started with Bin Mahfouz, does traditional clothes with a different designs. “I started long time ago. I started with the family and friends and was encouraged by my family to participate in bazaars. The workshop helped me in being more creative and come up with new ideas and also get more known.” Fahad Al-Harthi, founder of KSA Rent.com, a website that does online advertising for real estate, said that he started with them since day one. “This project was an essay paper back at the university when I was studying in the (United) States and now it has become a small company. We are trying to change the idea of real estate advertising from very expensive paper advertising to electronic with maps, detailed information, size, space and any other useful information to buyers,” he said. The company relies on social media in its advertising techniques and also through participating in events.
