the police had ended up apologising to Salem for the trouble caused. He’d done a brilliant job in acting utterly outraged that “these apartments, which I rented out in good faith to Saudi Arabians from good families, have been used in this manner. I will be writing to their parents and asking for recompense for the slander this has brought on my name. Allah be praised that my poor father is no longer alive to hear of this”.
She’d considered ending the business venture right there and then but Salem and Rahmaniah had insisted she continue. The basic cost model was simple, leases on the apartment, modest salaries for the hosts and hostesses and some food and soft drinks. Revenues came from a ‘recommended donations’ system. She’d set the price at a relatively high 600 Riyals to try to deter demand but in reality she could have charged pretty much what she wanted. Those that failed to make the ‘voluntary’ donation weren’t invited back to any future gatherings. The business was booming and the money was really beginning to roll in, to the extent that one day when she was at the office with her father he’d asked her about the new ‘Eventing’ business which was posting a 20% return on capital. She’d almost choked on her pomegranate sherbet when he went on to suggest that the new company might consider staging the annual shareholder board meeting.
“Oh baba the company’s only just started and though it’s doing well its more about small business networking and seminars than staging events for large companies like our own – maybe next year if it’s still doing as well?”
“Ok bint il-beled you know best but no need for you to hide your talents under a bushel, this has all the hallmarks of another successful enterprise. Let me know if you need anything”.
Little did he know how successful. Even though she was scrupulously posting a 20% profit to the Bajubair holdings accounts (as the company’s cut for putting up the initial investment) she was also posting a further 50% of the cash based business to her own personal account. Salem and Rahmaniah were getting 10% each of this but basically she was well on her way to becoming a US dollar millionaire in her own right and she wasn’t even 25 yet. In fact this had meant taking a leaf out of her father’s book and start converting some of her funds into gold as she knew the authorities started looking more closely at personal bank accounts with more than 5 million riyals in them.
Of course while she was setting up the new business and acting as the deputy head of her family’s conglomerate she didn’t exactly have an awfully lot of free time. The gatherings that Rahmaniah and Salem organised in their apartments were the only time for her to relax and do some of her own speed dating Saudi style. As a result of this she’d already met most of the bachelors that were subsequently introduced to her at family parties. Of course in this more formal setting both she and the bachelor guest made a show of introducing themselves and exchanging a few polite comments, but in fact already knew more about each other than the watching relatives suspected.
The gathering at her apartment this evening was actually more of a business affair, hosts and hostesses from around the country who had been invited to Jeddah to swap stories and exchange best practice with regards to the events themselves. Salem would be giving a presentation about the best methods for keeping under the radar of the religious authorities and Javeira was looking forward to meeting her employees, most of whom she hadn’t yet met face to face.
She’d made a conscious choice to recruit people based on recommendations from Salem and Rahmaniah, therefore keeping herself out of the spotlight. The less people who knew about her role the better. Salem had proved to be a surprising asset as he was an astute reader of people and
She’d considered ending the business venture right there and then but Salem and Rahmaniah had insisted she continue. The basic cost model was simple, leases on the apartment, modest salaries for the hosts and hostesses and some food and soft drinks. Revenues came from a ‘recommended donations’ system. She’d set the price at a relatively high 600 Riyals to try to deter demand but in reality she could have charged pretty much what she wanted. Those that failed to make the ‘voluntary’ donation weren’t invited back to any future gatherings. The business was booming and the money was really beginning to roll in, to the extent that one day when she was at the office with her father he’d asked her about the new ‘Eventing’ business which was posting a 20% return on capital. She’d almost choked on her pomegranate sherbet when he went on to suggest that the new company might consider staging the annual shareholder board meeting.
“Oh baba the company’s only just started and though it’s doing well its more about small business networking and seminars than staging events for large companies like our own – maybe next year if it’s still doing as well?”
“Ok bint il-beled you know best but no need for you to hide your talents under a bushel, this has all the hallmarks of another successful enterprise. Let me know if you need anything”.
Little did he know how successful. Even though she was scrupulously posting a 20% profit to the Bajubair holdings accounts (as the company’s cut for putting up the initial investment) she was also posting a further 50% of the cash based business to her own personal account. Salem and Rahmaniah were getting 10% each of this but basically she was well on her way to becoming a US dollar millionaire in her own right and she wasn’t even 25 yet. In fact this had meant taking a leaf out of her father’s book and start converting some of her funds into gold as she knew the authorities started looking more closely at personal bank accounts with more than 5 million riyals in them.
Of course while she was setting up the new business and acting as the deputy head of her family’s conglomerate she didn’t exactly have an awfully lot of free time. The gatherings that Rahmaniah and Salem organised in their apartments were the only time for her to relax and do some of her own speed dating Saudi style. As a result of this she’d already met most of the bachelors that were subsequently introduced to her at family parties. Of course in this more formal setting both she and the bachelor guest made a show of introducing themselves and exchanging a few polite comments, but in fact already knew more about each other than the watching relatives suspected.
The gathering at her apartment this evening was actually more of a business affair, hosts and hostesses from around the country who had been invited to Jeddah to swap stories and exchange best practice with regards to the events themselves. Salem would be giving a presentation about the best methods for keeping under the radar of the religious authorities and Javeira was looking forward to meeting her employees, most of whom she hadn’t yet met face to face.
She’d made a conscious choice to recruit people based on recommendations from Salem and Rahmaniah, therefore keeping herself out of the spotlight. The less people who knew about her role the better. Salem had proved to be a surprising asset as he was an astute reader of people and
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