Paper no. 23 E-Business Providing a High-Tech Home-Based Employment Solution to Women in Kuwait with the Assist of e-government Incubators Abstract The educated women of Kuwait have been faced with sociological problems often prohibiting them from pursuing professional careers, because sharing the work place with male co-workers is not considered acceptable in quite a few families. This research examines how e-business could provide a legitimate alternative to the office environment. This will allow educated women to pursue sophisticated careers right from the comfort of the woman s home. Moreover, unemployment for Kuwaitis in general has been increasing recently; the public sector has been over employed forcing fresh Kuwaiti graduates to wait a year or two for a job in the public sector to open. Introduction Educated Arab women in general and in Kuwait in particular, have always faced additional gender-related sociological challenges, mostly related to traditions and local customs (Chamlou, 2005). Most of these women have to cut their careers short simply because it is not acceptable for them to share the work place with men. The local society seems to have somehow coped with the reality that women attend colleges not to work afterwards, but rather to be educated. The state of Kuwait has invested a considerable amount of money in women s education,but with the increased global competitiveness, the lost work force, and the lost investment caused by keeping the Kuwaiti woman out of the work place, it has become imperative to overcome this problem and try to harvest this otherwise untapped resource. Traditionally, home-based businesses have always been available even in Kuwait. But up until a few years ago, home-based businesses were mostly focused on simple trade or minor services. Women college graduates were hardly impressed with what a home-based business could offer them. After all, some have obtained I
technologically advanced degrees, and would not settle for a home-based business selling household items. That s until e-business has emerged as a cutting edge career opportunity. With the proliferation of online companies and the globalization of marketing and commerce, Kuwaiti women can obtain a home-based employment opportunity possibly working for even large companies, regardless of location. And they could perform their jobs right from the comfort of their own homes. E-Business has made it possible to even offer a wide spectrum of professions that can be performed from one s home. Information Technology graduates can perform technical work on servers half way across the world. Similarly, other professionals, such as engineers or pharmacists, can provide their services as consultants, entirely online and to customers who could be residing in the southern half of the hemisphere. One of the problems which may hinder this effort is the lack of local businesses that are setup to be able to employ professionals on a home-based basis. This brings up the issue of having to solicit these jobs from international companies. Traditionally, Kuwait is not known to be a target of these international companies when they look for recruits. This research focuses on the various ways to establish links between these companies and the potential workforce in Kuwait. It also focuses on ways for local business to rely more on home-based help. This research will suggest ways to close this gap which currently exists between the potential and mostly women workforce, and business opportunities. This will take place through educating women on how they can convert their already existing home-based businesses into home-based e-businesses (Belew 2001), or through bridging the digital divide between the Kuwaiti high-tech workforce and high-tech employers abroad through becoming outsourcing business providers. II
Kuwait Workspace Environment Due to oil price increases, Kuwait s economy is universally reported to be doing well. In an April 2006 public opinion survey conducted by the Kuwait Economic Society, 1, 200 respondents were asked if things will be better or worse in Kuwait in five years. 49% believed that things would be better due to countries development and only 5.0 % thought things would be worse (Media C.R., Inc. 2007). Moreover, Media C.R., Inc. (2007) reports that there is several development projects underway in Kuwait related to modernization that are considered to be highly visible projects and will translate into jobs for Kuwaitis citizen. Due to certain obstacles against attracting Kuwaitis to work in the private sector; Kuwait intends to take action to have more qualified Kuwaitis working in the private sector and/or having their own businesses. To overcome those obstacles, Kuwaiti government established a special institute called the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) which is responsible for preparing young Kuwaitis for their careers and provides Kuwaitis nine months worth of training in different sectors and fields (Fattahova, 2007). Another solution the government created for the local unemployment problem in Kuwait was the passing of the Kuwaitization law which was issued in 2005. This law sets an obligatory percentage of Kuwaitis to be employed in any private organization. Problem Definition Local customs make it difficult for a large segment of the Kuwait workforce, represented by educated women, to obtain professional jobs due to the taboo of sharing the work place with their male counterparts. Keeping the educated women away from the market impacts the Kuwaiti economy and the Kuwaiti society in a negative manner. The study will suggest the solution to introduce e-business as an alternative to the traditional work place, since several tasks related to e-business can be performed from home. There are several problems in implementing this solution. Local e-businesses are not large in number and prefer to hire people who attend regular office hours. International e-businesses also, don t typically look at Kuwait III
as a possible place to recruit employees. Further problems relate to the online and computing infrastructure in Kuwait and whether or not it is feasible for individuals to obtain their own online workstations. Furthermore, currently there is not a specialized body within the Kuwaiti government to address this issue of women staying home. An official body needs to be established to assist women in starting up their own home-based businesses through incentives and training. The study will suggest the solution of introducing e-business as an alternative to the traditional work place with the government acting as incubator to assist working from home. Justification This research is important because it can potentially resolve the problem of a large segment of the Kuwaiti workforce being kept out of the Kuwaiti market. Moreover, the Kuwaiti government has spent a considerable amount of money in subsidizing women s education, and it would be economically wise to try and harvest this investment. In addition, by adding this new young and dynamic workforce, Kuwait can benefit in the global market by increasing its competitiveness. Objectives The objectives of this study are to tackle the problem of providing a socially acceptable solution to the Kuwaiti women where they can utilize their education by obtaining a professional rewarding job, and not get entangled with social taboos and their consequences. The objectives can be summarized as such: 1- Identify the size of the workforce represented by educated Kuwait women who currently do not have jobs because of problems related to not desiring to share the work place with male co-workers. 2- Identify existing home-based businesses in Kuwait and whether or not they can be successfully converted to e-businesses. 3- Identify the feasibility of starting up new home-based e-businesses. 4- Identify local e-businesses that are willing to hire women to work from their homes in Kuwait. IV
5- Solicit help from the Kuwaiti government to organize pools of talents, which would make it easier for international e-businesses to outsource from these pools. 6- Suggest to the Kuwaiti government, to establish a body as an incubator to provide incentives and training to those women wishing to start their own home-based e-business. Research Questions This research will attempt to answer the following questions: 1- Is it economically feasible for women to start their own home-based e- Business where they can market their services locally and internationally? 2- Is it technically possible for potential e-businesses to setup their portals locally? 3- What is the percentage of women who are willing to start their own homebased e-business? 4- What is the percentage of women who will accept a home-based business solution for employment? 5- What is the percentage of these women who speak and write English fluently? 6- Is the State of Kuwait willing to assist in establishing these talent pools, or is it going to have to be a private initiative? 7- Is the State of Kuwait willing to extend incentives to women wishing to establish their own home-based e-business? These incentives could be in the form of loans, reduced prices on online subscriptions, or other matters. Methodology The approach is likely to be a quantitative research design along with qualitative (Triangulated Research); where the qualitative will approach high authorities in government and quantitative will be aimed at the women in a form of survey questionnaires. The research will cover current statistical data mainly on fresh graduates from universities and colleges and their likelihood to won computers, and the bottom line V
the percentage of them interested in further pursuing their careers if the proper conditions were to be provided to them. The research will also examine the investment made by the state of Kuwait in women s education and how the State can recover its investment through the employment of these women, and their becoming contributing members of society. Financial figures will be obtained from official offices to support the study. The research will then focus on current home-based businesses and their owners, their nature, and their market share. Furthermore, it will focus on the technical and financial feasibility of converting these home-based businesses into e-businesses (Belew, 2001). To make for a successful e-business, a solid technical online infrastructure needs to be present in Kuwait. The research will examine the current state of Kuwait s online infrastructure, cost from the consumer point of view, and accessibility by the average Kuwaiti both as a user, and as a provider. Also, e- Business owners are considered to be contents providers and have special technical needs from the online provider. The research will examine the various technical options available to a potential e-business owner. The research will show that the majority of women cannot be business owners, but rather employed by these business owners. The research will then examine various ways to help women to be employed by e-business owners, with the training needed at all levels. Another aspect of the research will be to examine how the State of Kuwait can help in establishing pools of a potential workforce and help them market their skills, establishing in essence outsourcing houses for the outsourcing communities when looking for employees. To work for an outsourcing provider, which is also another form of home-based employment, one has to possess certain communication and possibly foreign language skills, for the majority of outsourcing customers are from Europe and United States of America. VI
Furthermore, in many different countries, there exist certain incentives for women to run their own businesses. This subject will be brought up to the proper Kuwaiti authority to see if they re willing to extend similar incentives, financial or otherwise, to Kuwaiti women wishing to establish their own home-based e-business. Suggested Model Incubato r Summary Educated women in Kuwait who suffer from the lack of professional opportunities due to local customs which make it unacceptable for them to assemble with men at the work place, now have several opportunities to become contributing members of the business community, working right from the comfort of their own homes, through e-business. These opportunities come in different forms. First, they can be as home-based business owners; with the advent of the Internet and e-business, home-based businesses can now be of sophisticated nature. The second form of these newly founded opportunities is to be employed by an outsourcing company (Gartner, 2006) VII
local or international, and be paid for services which can also be provided from the employers own computer at her own home. Certain problems exist in implementing the e-business solution. Certain levels and types of special training need to be provided to these individuals seeking these new opportunities. The research will focus on the feasibility of the premise of e-business holding the solution for the problem of women s employability in today s world, and the potential problems in implementing this solution, from the financial, social, and technical aspects. References: 1. Belew, S., 2001. Converting Your Home Business to E-Business. Suite101. [Online]. Available at: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/home_based_business/53973 [Accessed 10 April 2004] 2. Chamlou, N., 2005. Dwindling Gender Gap Sparks Entrepreneurial Spirit. The World Bank Group. [Online]. Available at: http://web.worldbank.org/wbsite/external/news/0,,contentmdk:203655 36~pagePK:34370~piPK:42768~theSitePK:4607,00.html [Accessed 10 March 2008] 3. Fattahova, N., 2007. Steps to employ more fresh graduates in private sector. Kuwait Times Newspaper. [internet]. November 1, 2007. Available at: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=mtixmtyymzkyma== [accessed 17 April 2007] 4. Gartner, Inc., 2006. Gartner Outsourcing. [Online]. Available at: http://www.dataquest.com/press_gartner/quickstats/outsourcing.html [Accessed 10 October 2007] 5. Media Contact Resources, Inc. 2007. Kuwait's consumers experiencing more stability. Entrepreneur.com, Inc, [internet]. April 1, 2007. Available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/162480872.html [accessed 17 April 2007] VIII