Qatar Chamber board member and chair of Woman Committee Ibtihaj Al Ahmadani held a webinar with many owners of beauty salons. The meeting held upon a request from several businesswomen and investors in beauty salons to review losses incurred by this sector due to practices of “home hairdressers” who practice the profession at home without a license, adversely affecting the licensed salon sector.
The webinar saw the participation of many businesswomen including Dr. Sheikha Al Kubaisi, Hessa Hamed, Turfa Al Malki and Nora Al Kharji. Addressing the meeting, Al Ahmadani said that the Chamber’s Woman Committee is interested in discussing all obstacles facing businesswomen to find appropriate solutions with concerned parties.
She noted that the problem of unlicensed hairdressers is one of the obstacles that face commercial sectors worldwide, affirming that it must be addressed to find effective solutions.
Al Ahmadani also said that the Woman Committee in the Chamber received complaints from businesswomen who are suffering the spread of the phenomenon of unlicensed traders in beauty sector, who work without a license in violation of the law. She noted that these unlicensed hairdressers damage licensed plastic salons, referring that this action is harmful to this important economic sector.
Al Ahmadani assured that this phenomenon had been raised many times in the meetings of the Woman Committee, underlining the importance finding deterrent solutions for this problem. The webinar also reviewed all legal and moral violations of this phenomenon, as well as its health and financial impacts on the national economy, and the financial impacts on licensed salons.
The meeting also touched on the positive impacts of licensed salons on the state’s economy and their contribution to making Qatar a tourist destination in the field of women’s beauty centers.
Attendees said that the beauty centers provides jobs and income for the staff working in many fields, noting that salons are required by the Ministry of Commerce to use products that meet standard specifications in terms of components and validity, so salons supply other commercial sectors with liquidity to buy cosmetics, sterilizers, and new products that are offered in the market.
The meeting also pointed out that salons also contribute to increasing profits of local banks, like other commercial sectors, from opening workers’ accounts, transferring monthly salaries, requesting facilities, loans, card exchange and paying tenants’ checks, in addition to salons’ contribution to the real estate market through hiring service and commercial property.
The meeting highlighted the role of those who are facilitating the work of unlicensed hairdressers such as social media activists who make advertisements and promote unlicensed employment, visa traders and shell companies, and a segment of Qatari women who deal with these labourers.
