Cairo: A Saudi woman has converted a room in her family’s home into a makeshift plant for manufacturing natural soap, according to a local media report, amid encouragement for women in the kingdom to initiate their own enterprises.
Maryam Al Saghir, who is in her 30s, said she began her project about three years ago. “I make natural soap inside the house, after I prepared a designated site inside it. The place is like a factory and a mini laboratory that includes all the sterilisation and manufacturing tools,” she added on the fringe of her participation in a marketing fair in H’ail in south-western Saudi Arabia.
The process, in which a long time and a lot of work is invested, starts with preparing and heating the oils, purifying and grinding the herbs, through the stage of cooking and mixing the soap, and ending with the packaging stage.
“All the used materials are natural, clean, and of high quality. They include olive oil, castor and sweet almonds, rice bran, argan oil, and coconut,” Maryam was quoted by the Saudi news portal Sabq as saying.
Maryam said she was able to obtain a permit from the Heritage Commission after her professional manufacture of products were verified.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has ramped up efforts to empower women in different walks of life and appoint them in leading posts as part of sweeping changes in the kingdom. There are six women ambassadors representing Saudi Arabia abroad.
In 2018, the kingdom allowed women to drive for the first time in its history, ending a decades-old ban on female driving.
