KSA: Woman Entrepreneur Opts for Xerox

Sozan Abdullah Akeel, entrepreneur and founder of Net-A-Print in the Riyadh Digital City champions digital technology

Printing is considered by many a man-dominated industry, especially in our region. One Saudi woman entrepreneur who is reversing this gender stereotype is Sozan Abdullah Akeel, a passionate and dynamic woman who has experienced firsthand exposure to the paper and print world from a tender age of five years in Riyadh.

She belongs to a family that has been in the print industry for the past fifty years and since then she has created her own niche passion for the print industry.

A finance graduate by profession from the prestigious King Saud University and worked in the Banking and Financial sector for few years.

In the year 2019 Saudi Arabia has paved the way for more Saudi women to enter various fields other than the regular professions. She decides with her friend to start a print shop with her expertise and knowledge in the industry by hiring more women workforce in a traditional man-dominant environment and has not looked back since. She also recently invested in all-new Xerox Iridesse Digital Press.

In Saudi Xerox she found a perfect partner that shares her values, entrepreneurial spirit, and vision. Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of Xerox culture. Saudi Xerox’s commitments to respect and listen to its customers remain critical to its success.

“Women can find big opportunities in the printing industry and unlike before, the current situation is completely different for Saudi women. All fields are open to them, “comments Akeel and adds,” The culture of inclusion and diversity in Saudi Xerox also motivates women to work with this company. On the other hand, Xerox is the oldest and biggest company in the field of digital printing.”

Regarding the role of women in Saudi Arabia’s printing industry, she believes that printing as a career for women still lacks a major pull factor, especially as an operator of the equipment. However, she believes one way to encourage women to join the graphic arts industry is more awareness, training, and internship in the printing companies.

“Saudi women have a great ability to evolve and by creating such specialized internship programs the chances will be higher to attract them,” maintains Akeel. She also says that considering the impact of printing and its relevance in all aspects of daily life as well as the opportunities in the job market, women’s interest in printing will increase with time, especially in creative aspects such as design and innovation.

As for her reasons to join such a man dominated industry she says,” I have been interested in printing for a long time as it is the industry that my family has been practicing for more than fifty years, so my interest in digital printing was natural, and since Xerox is one of the leading companies in this industry, they were my first choice. Also, at the end of the day, speed, price, and quality are the priorities for the customers, not the gender of print service providers. Our expertise coupled with Xerox equipment and their support helps us to deliver professional services and quality printed products to our customers.”

Mehmet Sezer, General Manager of Saudi Xerox who is excited about working with Net-A-Print says, “Xerox being an ethical company, has the highest regards to ensure the empowerment of women workforce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We have a great mix of talent in various levels up to senior management and they are very dynamic in the approach and highly competitive in the work environment. I see great potential in our pool of talents and wish to see them take the country to further economic advancement in the years ahead.”

Net-A-Print in partnership with Saudi Xerox, provides a set of integrated services using state-of-the-art digital printing technology.

About Saudi Xerox

Saudi Xerox is the representation of Xerox in Saudi Arabia. It was established in 1986, with business lines that include providing solutions to improve business processes, automation and printing technology through an innovative vision of maximizing productivity and efficiency to create a better work environment. Saudi Xerox offers the full array of Xerox products and services ranging from workplace assistants, workflow solutions and managed print services in the KSA market. We address global and local market challenges consistently together in alignment with Xerox global standards.

For more information, please visit www.saudixerox.com