Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, Senior Vice President & Group Country Manager for the GCC at Visa: Empowering Women and Unleashing Opportunities
Senior Vice President & Group Country Manager for the GCC at Visa, Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, talks about why empowering women matters and how Visa is working to champion this cause.
Visa, one of the world’s leading payments companies, has been focusing on empowering women worldwide, emphasizing inclusivity to better economies around the world. For Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, SVP & Group Country Manager for the GCC, the rationale is straightforward: “economies that include everyone, uplift everyone.” That is why Visa’s She’s Next program is so important.
She’s Next is a year-long initiative where female entrepreneurs and their businesses have access to coaching, mentoring, and advice on how to grow their business. They also have access to funding to expand and exposure to a large network of partners. Dr. Jaffar speaks about how the program has had real success stories around the world, with approximately 250 organizations in the Middle East alone thriving because of She’s Next.
The program is part of Visa’s broader commitment to work with 50 million small businesses around the world. By bringing more businesses into the financial fold, Visa hopes to open up a world of possibilities for entrepreneurs.
But Visa doesn’t just empower women through pledges and programs. Diversity and women’s empowerment are ingrained in its company culture and influence every aspect of the company. Dr. Jaffar is a prime example of how far talented women can go with the right support.
“Visa is one of the rare organizations genuinely committed to diversity in the workforce, and that means very different things for very different people,” she emphasizes. As a working mother, Dr. Jaffar values the freedom and flexibility Visa gives her. She can set her own agenda and work from home when needed, which lets her balance her professional and personal priorities.
Her experience at Visa has influenced Dr. Jaffar’s leadership style. Because Visa takes such a people-first approach, Dr. Jaffar sees Visa’s teams and individuals as the company’s most valuable assets. “We fully understand that unless we really and truly work together to address all the upcoming challenges that the world will throw towards us, we will not bring the best out of ourselves,” she says. “That is really what, in my view, Visa stands for, and that is probably one of the biggest ways in which Visa continues to shape me as a leader every single day.”
