Saudi woman opens restaurant in face of opposition

Almoqateeb's restuarant has now been nominated for the local Israr Award for 2014.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to vote or drive, a woman has defied the odds and opened her own restaurant.

Based in Dammam, Saudi national Noora Almoqateeb has launched a restaurant called 'Nooryat' whose kitchen is run solely by women - in the face of public pressure not to do so.

In the below video (in Arabic only), the challenges she faced were revealed; her initial application for a restaurant license was refused with an official saying it was "forbidden", and that she would "mess up the country".

However, after research she found that there was no law preventing her from opening a F&B outlet, and eventually was granted a license.

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The video also shows that her restaurant was tipped to fail by the general public, many of whom could not accept a woman was working and serving food.

Her father has been supportive of the idea, and Almoqateeb's restuarant has now been nominated for the local Israr Award for 2014. The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) in Saudi Arabia launched these to reward young Saudis who perservered in overcoming challenges to find a job or become an entrepreneur.