Fatin Youssef Bundagji

Fatin Bundagji (born in 1958) is an appointed Member of the Board of Directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry; The Chairman of its International Relations Committee; A Member of its Management Committee and the President of her firm, Think N Link Cooperation Consultancy.
She is an Eisenhower Fellow and the founding member of its Saudi Chapter and a Member of its Board of Directors. She is a founding member of the Gulf Chapter of the Women Corporate Directors (WCD), and a member of the Manarat Business Organization (MBO). She holds a Master in English Literature from King Abdul Aziz University.

In 1998 she was appointed to establish the first women’s division in the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry a position that is the first of its kind for Saudi women in all the Chambers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

During her tenure at the Jeddah Chamber she founded and headed six departments that aimed to develop and promote women in management and in business. Her determination, will and vision allowed her to pave the way for the inclusion of women in the years to come. She was secretary general to the first business committee that led to the establishment of Sayidah Khadija Center at the Jeddah Chamber.

Bundagji established several departments for the advancement of women through business and employment - all of which consequently lead to the establishment of Sayidah Khadija BintKhuwailid Center for Business Women, a milestone in activating the role of business women is Jeddah, under the leadership and patronage of her Royal Highness Princess Adela Bint Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz.

Additionally, she was actively involved in several internal committees for the institutional advancement of the Chamber. She was an active member of the HR Mercer Team and won the highest number of votes from among her male colleagues during the chamber’s historic election for its Labor Union in 2003.

Her areas of expertise and passion are in organizational development, corporate citizenship, youth and women’s advancement through social entrepreneurship activities, community development and civic engagement - all of which are evident in her op-ed columns in Arab News Daily.

On the civic level Bundagji was a key player in bringing about the desire of women to run for municipal council elections. In 2004, she was the first woman in the Western Region to announce her desire to run for elections. And in 2009 she co-founded the Balady Initiative that advocates for the right of women to leadership positions in public office. She is a co-founder of MUWATANA a group that advocates for city development by focusing on man, place and the rule of law. The Group works actively with youths and was instrumental in catalyzing the emergency relief efforts of the Jeddah floods of 2009 and 2011.