“I just wanted something more. So I took a risk.” Mrs. Hanan Saab

Muscat, Oman. April 26, 2010. Women in Business Conference 2010. Female enterprise executives and entrepreneurs gathered on a fragrant sunny day at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Oman’s capital city. The topic? Changing the Face of Business – Women as an Economic Force.

One of the most inspiring talks today came from Mrs. Hanan Saab from Beirut Lebanon. She talks of the challenges she overcame creating a pharmaceutical business from scratch amidst the political turmoil of Lebanon in the 80s and 90s, all while raising three children.

Mrs. Saab is a self-described 3rd generation pharmacist. Her grandfather graduated in 1905 from the American University of Beirut…. as did his son…. as did his daughter, our very own Mrs. Saab standing before us in a crowded auditorium filled with aspiring and inspiring Omani business women.

“In 1976 political insurgents burned the our family business.”  The business of three generations of pharmacists who were there to provide aid to their community.

Lebanon is a country with 4 million inhabitants, and 15 million immigrants who live outside the country. In the face of this challenge, Mrs. Saab chose to stand her ground, Lebanese ground, a pattern she unwaveringly continues.  In 1983, she was forced to move 8 times, when she was pregnant with her second daughter, as bombs and cannons forced her family into underground shelters for protection. She stood again by her decision to remain in her home country.

In 1985 she joined the American University of Beirut Hospital Pharmacy. The years spanning 1985 to 1990 were the toughest period of the civil war in Beirut. ““What about our children?” her husband would ask. “I have a duty she says, as a mother, but as a caregiver. Who knows who will need medication at this almost full hospital? What if there is someone I know amongst the casualties?”   She stood by her decision to remain in Lebanon. Shortly after this statement, she recognized one of the bombing victims and treated none other than her very husband’s niece.

An eternal optimist, Mrs. Saab lingers not on the pain, but on the personal and professional growth these experiences gave her.  “I continued to develop conflict resolution and bettered my communication skills. One day the Vice President of the American University Hospital (AHU) at the time;  asked me to start a pharmaceutical purchasing department.”. Witnessing all the untreated pain around her (“Go home, we really can’t do anything more for you. It is untreatable.”), she envisioned an opportunity to start a business in pain management and oncology medications. “My goal was to improve patient care with controlled medication.”

Now consider this sequence of challenges Mrs. Saab faced as she tried to get a fledgling business of the ground. Your challenges may not seem as mountainous as compared to this terrain.

Finding partners was difficult. Lebanon was considered high risk due to “recurrent if not ongoing political conflict. No one was coming, so in order for me to create partnerships, I had to travel as people were concerned and afraid to make the investment.”

Connecting with partners was crippled by poor infrastructure. “To get a telephone line in Beirut we had to physically bring in wires from Cyprus.”

High interest rates plagued the dragging economy and made getting a loan a challenge. Add to this laws prohibiting her to start business without permission from her husband (In 1994 these laws were abolished). To get a loan, the Bank requested collateral from both herself and her husband that was 10 times the value requested. In order to travel, she needed permission from her husband. In order to open an account for her own children, she needed permissions from her husband. She got those permissions. Note that this was abolished in 2009.

“I was just a pharmacist. To be an entrepreneur there are many other skills you need – finance, human resources.”

Yet she persevered and obtained a license in 1990 and commercialized the company in 1992. 

“I own 90% of my company and my husband owns 10%”.  (At this, the hushed auditorium in Oman suddenly bursts into spontaneous applause).

And what did she decide to take to market as her first product?

Morphine.

“No one wanted to bring this in. Everyone thought I was crazy. ‘You have a very good position in AUH, securing the education of children. What more do you want?’”

“I just wanted something more. So I took a risk.”

The risk paid off. “Either the market drives you, or you be proactive,” she paraphrases a quote.  “In 2000, we opened up to other territories in our region – Jordan, then other regions in the Gulf followed. Dubai, Qatar, Egypt… We became the exclusive distributor for 22 companies and a major player in the field of oncology.”

“We have 40 employees and 78% are ladies,” Mrs. Saab announces, her next words nearly lost after thunderous applause from the Omani business ladies. “…and these ladies occupy our highest administrative positions. We give employees who are mothers flexible hours, extended maternity leaves, and the flexibility to nurse their babies in a nursery that faces our office. – For as long as they want. The health of our babies is number one.”

“We are a small company and at the same time, a well bonded family.”

She concludes, “Even if they say no, try diplomatically to find a way around the obstacle. Never give up. If you fail, make sure to learn. And always, help one another.”

Mrs. Hanan Saab is is also one of twelve architects behind the Lebanese League of Women in Business (LLWB), and a founding member of the Middle East North African Business Women’s network, whose mission is to “Take the Lead And Succeed”.

Dubai. March 2, 2010. Tech Ed Middle East & Africa. Dubai is hosting the first ever Tech Ed in the Middle East and Africa, one of only 10 cities in the world to host this 17 year old tradition. Today, during the keynote, S.Somasegar, Senior Vice President Developer Tools,  presented the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, Babar Iqbal, with a round trip to Redmond to visit with product managers and executives.  Walid Abu-Hadba, Corporate Vice President of DPE WW, also presented Babar with a new Windows 7 tablet PC. Babar is the highest contributor to ImagineCup through the power of his 80,000 person fan base.

I had an opportunity to ask Babar, along with his older brother, Asif, and asked a few questions about Microsoft and our role in technology for youth and girls.

There’s a lot of technologies out there, you started with Flash. What interests you most about Microsoft technologies?

“Touch. Game development. Windows development. Surface, Windows 7, XBox XNA and .NET 4. I like interface development.  For non Microsoft products I do like UnReal and iPhone development.”

What could Microsoft do with Mobility?

“We should have a portable XBox games to Zune as handheld control.  With Win7 mobile, I compare it to Zune interface. I think Zune interface is simpler and easier to use than the Windows 7 mobile interface. I like the Zune more than Win7 interface. Easier to navigate with Zune and more simple."

I am excited about project Nepal did programming experiments with V-mode, it was very good. I am excited about learning more about project Nepal. “

You received your MCP at age 9. What would tell other 9 year olds about the benefits of being an MCP? What can Microsoft to help attract young developers like yourself?

“Education, technology, programming – these should be fun things to learn. Also there should be more teaching on Games development – fun stuff should be taught. not all the boring stuff. we have IT education, but it is not fun. They teach : Theory theory theory. Instructors should teach fun stuff and easy stuff.”

Until we do that, do you think kids will not be interested?

“When I was working in flash and web development first, it was a hobby at first, and this way, always fun.  I do it because I like to do it. The kids should start with something fun to do.”

There are not a of girls doing what you do, are there? Why do you think that is? What do you think we can tell girls your age to get them interested in technology?

In this region, girls are far more interested in technology than the boys are. Babar’s brother Asif comments that girls are more interested in the graphical elements, like iPhone and gaming development.

More than 60% of Babar’s 80,000  fans of girls – many of these local Emiratis. Geographically dispersed with 2300 in UAE.  You can find Babar’s community at Students-cafe.com –  nearly most of these are university and college students. “People want to work with technology but they don’t know how to do.”

“I do posts and asks them questions what facilities your university provides in IT, posted and gathered ideas on Students-cafe.com.” Babar finds it difficult to manage all these questions all by himself, and asks Microsoft to do something small, in a sustainable way with good quality.

What should be do for the people are local?

Asif remarks “Microsoft needs to get to the level of students. evangelists are talking at too complex levels, need to have students teaching students. Students want someone young like Babar to teach them, especially in this region. When he shows them.  They are comfortable at his level. He’s one of us. Bring one of their own to teach them. Grooming program in Gulf region for people he’s teaching. Some show good promise – 50 people. All they need is incentive.  Build a simple gaming animation app app and get a tour. Led Babar leads 10 people. Small tours Burj Al-Arab. Microsoft Gulf offices. Trips to Redmond. “

Babar cites a lack of resources in schools. “Game development should be taught – 3D modeling. In big university I have visited there are no facilitators for 3d animation, 3d modeling. No classes or  trainings. “

Who are you most interested in meeting when you visit Microsoft?

“Steve Ballmer & Bill Gates. I would like to get involved with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to help children get education.”

For more stories like this, read Sara Ford’s blog

Redmond, Washington. October 27, 2009.   Thousands of mostly female Microsoft employees from all over the world gathered for the 3 day Microsoft Women’s Leadership and Development Conference. One of the many charismatic and talent speakers is Bonnie St. John, who shares with us some tips on how to be a super star.

Bonnie is certainly qualified to deliver this talk, as she is the author of numerous books, a magna cum laude Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar, served as White House Director of the National Economic Council for  President Clinton, and oh yes – she is a Olympic medalist as an amputee.

Bonnie taught herself to program at age 12 and worked for IBM. Her accomplishments are too numerous to mention, so read November’s Oprah’s O magazine, where she most recently featured (page 84). In her talk today,  Achieving Peak Performance, Bonnie offers her special uber tips for being a world class game changer.

Be a helpable person

Bonnie speaks of advice given to her by Ken Kragen, Hollywood’s premier agent who secured the talent for the We are the World event.

Kragen says that  in order to be a superstar, “it’s not about how good your voice is, how hard you work, or your positive attitude. The key characteristic of whether I can take you to superstar status – is how much of a helpable person you are.”  Helpable versus being independent, with the “I can do it on my own” attitude. Not showing weakness.

How to be more helpable? Ask for help!  Send more thank you notes – and rely on more people. Reach out and ask for help. People can’t help you if they don’t know you who you are. In the Linda Babcock – Women Don’t Ask (book), it states some interesting facts. Men initiate negotiations 4x more often than women. Women will avoid asking for a better car deal – women in fact will pay $1300 just to avoid negotiating a car deal. 63% of Saturn buyers were women. Women ask for less and settle for less 30% more often than men.

Vocalize the help you need. To demonstrate this point, Bonnie tosses a blue balloon and into the audience and asks people to bat it around. The room is silent except for the thumping sounds of the balloon being hit randomly across the room. Bonnie intently focuses on the path of the balloon for a long 2 minutes. Suddenly she says “you, with the red shirt, please stand up” . This woman was quite far from the path of the balloon and asks the room if we could hit the balloon to her. The balloon immediately changes course and in moments crosses the 400 people in the room to the woman in red, who stands holding the blue balloon. Bonnie then asks anyone who has touched the balloon on the course to the woman, “please stand up”. There were 8 women in total of 400. “When you ask for help, look how fast something gets done. Everyone was willing to help” . Think of something that you are willing to do to make yourself more helpable. Some examples from our audience:

• “Ask for help”
• “Delegate”

Confidence is a Muscle

· She speaks of ıntervıewıng the Presıdent of Lıberıa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. President Sirleaf speaks of how she took risk after risk in the face of adversary and she said, with each risk she became stronger, and then she took another risk. And then finally she said she got to a place “where fear had no power over me”. Bonnie speaks of how confidence is a muscle. The more you exercise it the stronger you get. Think of one thing that you will do that will build this confidence muscle.

• “Deliver a presentation to my upper management on a topic I don’t know… yet.”
• “Every day write in my journal what I have done to take care of myself that day.”

Balance, Joy and Education

Education is the most important game changer of today.  Wendy Kopp was a game changer by creating a program, Teach for America, which is the equivalent of the peace corp for teaching.  At one point she had said to herself that she had so much to do that she will just sleep every other night. Balance was one thing she had to learn and this was achieved by having a touchstone “Stop and think. What is it that brings you joy?”  Ask yourself “What is that thing that gives you joy? Now make time for it”. Some of the audience answers were:

• “My niece”
• “Buying a new book”
• “My dog”

With these tips, or “gifts” as Bonnie calls them, you can take your top performance capabilities and rocket them into super stardom.