Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud interviewed by Fast Company editor-in-chief Robert Safian on Saturday. The keynote was part of SXSW Interactive. Credit: SXSW On
In a keynote presentation that highlighted the stark cultural differences for women between U.S. and Saudi Arabia, Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud was on hand Saturday for a #SXSW keynote interview with Fast Company editor Robert Safian.
In the well-received talk, Princess Reema discussed the challenges of working as an entrepreneur in luxury retail in a country where women are not encouraged to drive and where they have only recently been given the right by law to work (and not in sales positions).
Princess Reema discussed her work as the former CEO of Alfa International where she worked to empower women after realizing that focusing on the business and bottom line was not holistically helping when women employees were not confident or had a stable life that could benefit from their work. All of these things have only begun to happen in the last three years. “We really are living in changing times,” she said.
In the talk, Princess Reema was presented on screen from above the shoulder and behind, a nod to security and privacy concerns, Safian said. The thousands of attendees in the Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall 5 were asked not to post photos of Princess Reema’s face, though the presentation was streamed for free online (her face was not shown in the video stream either).
After much talk at the beginning about the cultural reasons Princess Reema wears what she wears and how law changes have affected women's lives, she announced that she is working to launch a breast cancer awareness campaign called 10KSA which will unite 10,000 women, but no men.
Rather than seeming entitled or privileged, Princess Reema came across as practical, down-to-earth and good-humored. And strong. She said at one point, “If you stand still you give them the power to push you down. I’d rather keep walking. Then they have to follow.”
Keynote hashtag: #empower
A sign for the 10KSA campaign outside the keynote presentation with Princess Reema. Photo: Omar L. Gallaga / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
