Rogaia Alshuaibi I was born and raised in Riyadh before moving to the US with my husband. We lived in Washington, DC, and I attended George Washington University, earning a degree in psychology.
Suburban life in DC was wonderful; there were lovely houses, schools, shopping centers, medical centers, all of which were deliberately planned to serve the needs of the community.
Coming from a family of engineers and architects, and having been inspired by residential suburbs in the US, I wanted to bring the same concept back home, building communities just as they have there.
When we returned to Saudi Arabia, therefore, I aimed to work in real estate development, though initially I entered the nonprofit sector, becoming director general of Al-Nahdha Women’s Association, the oldest, biggest female non-profit organization in the Kingdom.
Then, in 2008, I established my company Mosaic, the first real estate development firm in Saudi Arabia run by women. Working as a broker at first, I then moved on to real estate development. I was surprised with the ease I had in winning over new developers, but ultimately I believe it was because they trusted my professionalism, and liked my ethics.
Mosaic is now one of the leading real estate development firms for luxury houses in the Kingdom. We are currently working on a state-of-the-art “smart homes” community in the north of Riyadh, and are constantly teaming up with female investors, as well as male, to create beautiful projects and realize beautiful visions by Saudi women, for Saudi women. •