There’s a new Boston University alumni affinity group coming to women who live in the Middle East’s Gulf Cooperation Council nations, thanks to the efforts of the BU Alumni Association and a newly formed advisory board: the Alumnae Leadership Council—Middle East.

The Alumnae Leadership Council—Middle East will launch this spring, led by eight women from the region, to keep BU women graduates in the area engaged in the intellectual, cultural, and educational life of the University. The group will provide opportunities to network, mentor each other, and continue learning at all stages of their lives and careers. Principal beneficiaries of the group will be women living in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait.

Today, 234 female BU graduates live in GCC nations, making up 30 percent of the BU alumni population in the six GCC countries. They are a diverse group, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s and representing 13 BU schools and colleges. And yet, they also have much in common: their relative geographic proximity to one another, their BU affiliation, and their experiences related to moving to Boston, studying and living in the United States, and then moving back to the Middle East. These and many other common elements, they say, will form the foundation of a strong, supportive community.

“This affinity group is about reaching out to people who shouldn’t be strangers and really feeling like we have a connection going on in the region,” says Nihal Al-Saleh (SMG’03), an advisory board member who lives in Doha, Qatar. For Al-Saleh, a former oil and gas industry executive who is now the managing director of a nonprofit library for children, the new group is a chance for BU to play a continuing role in the lives of its Middle Eastern women graduates. “BU really opened doors for me,” she says. “I had my own friendships and they continued. But now, the benefits the University can offer women in the Middle East can go far beyond friendships.”

“One of the things that I find most interesting about what we’re doing is, we’re connecting with each other on a knowledge-sharing basis,” says advisory board member Seema Shetty (SMG’03), founder and managing director of BiteRite, a health food catering and restaurant company based in Abu Dhabi. Shetty wants the group to provide women with the “guidance of people who’ve been there and done it,” she says. “How have they done it? How were they able to overcome certain barriers? And how can their experiences help other women?”

A work-life resource and a two-way street

Over a series of conference calls starting last December, Al-Saleh and her fellow advisory board members sketched out the kinds of programming and tools they believed would be of real value to women in their region. Mentorship became a key element of their vision—in both formal programs and in the kind of spontaneous advice-sharing that can happen at events or even online.

The group’s youngest board member, Anoosha AlMarzouqi (SMG’08), a project manager in the UAE prime minister’s office, knows firsthand how invaluable access to experienced alumnae can be, particularly for recent graduates and current students. “It was Seema Shetty who convinced me to apply to BU,” she says, “because she was so passionate and she gave out a lot of information. That was nice to have: someone able to help and give you advice, someone you could ask how they went about their careers.”

The board hopes that the group’s conversations will expand beyond career matters into issues of family and work-life balance. “The holistic approach is important,” says Al-Saleh. “We don’t approach life piecemeal. And we’re not robots. We cannot cut off that part that’s a woman and a mother and just focus on being a businesswoman. It doesn’t work.”

The board also believes that by showcasing successful alumnae in the region, the Alumnae Leadership Council can educate the rest of the BU community about how women live in GCC nations. “The idea that the rest of the world has about the region is very different than the reality on the ground,” says AlMarzouqi. “So it’s important to highlight that women are out there, are influential, and are doing things. There are lots of successful women here, certainly a lot of successful BU women, and it’s time to showcase that. The women I’ve met here are just amazing.”

LinkedIn mentoring, continuing ed, and community service

To kick-start conversations, the board’s first move was to set up a private LinkedIn group for the Alumnae Leadership Council—Middle East. Through that forum, alumnae can connect virtually until (and after) the group launches its live, in-person programming.

In addition to online and in-person mentoring, the group also plans to offer opportunities for continuing education, drawing on other accomplished alumnae in the region and perhaps on BU faculty members for lectures and other educational events. And they plan to create opportunities for community service devoted to the advancement of women in GCC countries—tutoring high school students, for example, or reviewing résumés or conducting mock job interviews.

The advisory board also wants to arrange a marquee event soon that is designed to bring together BU graduates from GCC nations.

How to get involved

Alumnae who wish to get involved with the Alumnae Leadership Council—Middle East and the new affinity group can find more information on the group’s website, which includes a sign-up form for receiving updates about programming. They are also encouraged to join the LinkedIn group and start a conversation.

The advisory group says it is particularly eager for feedback from the community as members develop their programming. “We welcome any additional ideas about how we can connect and really have a good time doing it,” says Al-Saleh.

In the meantime, says AlMarzouqi, “Stay tuned for more news!”

The Alumnae Leadership Council—Middle East Board

Lama Albabtain (CAS’97), Kuwait City, Kuwait

Noaf Faisal Al-Mutawa (COM’97), Kuwait City, Kuwait

Nihal Al-Saleh (SMG’03), Doha, Qatar

Camilla Chaudhary (CAS’94), Dubai, UAE

Salina Handa (CGS’96, SMG’98), Dubai, UAE

Tasneem Mayet (CAS’95), Dubai, UAE

Seema Shetty (SMG’03), Abu Dhabi, UAE

Anoosha AlMarzouqi (SMG’08), Dubai, UAE