Riyadh – Mubasher: After Saudi women began driving for the first time, ride-hailer Careem announced that it was looking to employ up to 20,000 women in its fleet.
The women drivers, known as “captinah”s via the app, would begin working with Careem starting 24 June, the first day Saudi women began driving in the kingdom.
The move comes as part of the Dubai-based ride-hailing platform’s plans to expand and improve its services in Saudi Arabia.
“We are delighted to welcome these pioneering women to Careem and in line with Careem’s commitment to create job opportunities across the wider Middle East region, 2018 will see a new focus begin on attracting women to sign up to the platform,” commented Careem CEO Mudassir Sheikha.
The Saudi-women-driver service will be launched in three major cities, namely: Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, to begin and will later include other cities.
Careem eyes creating around 60,000 to 70,000 jobs per month across all cities of operation, the top official said, noting that his company has “set a longer-term target of having 20,000 females signed up region-wide by 2020.”
Meanwhile, Careem general manager for Saudi Arabia Abdulla Elyas revealed that since the announcement that Saudi women would begin to drive, the company had taken steps to invite these women to sign up to Careem and receive an initial training.
“We have been overwhelmed by the response, with some 2,000 women already having taken part in sessions from our operational, safety and technology teams,” Elyas revealed.
Rival Uber had also announced similar plans for Saudi women once the ban was lifted.
The ban on Saudi women driving was officially lifted on 24 June, enabling thousands of Saudi women to drive for the first time.
Following the lifting of the ban, Bloomberg reported that the move would increase Saudi women’s participation in the workforce and bolster the Saudi economy’s overall performance with up to $90 billion in investments by 2030.
The outcome of the women-driving ban lift may even outpace the widely-anticipated by several-times-postponed initial public offering (IPO) of a 5% stake in Saudi Aramco, which has so far been expected to generate around $100 billion.
