As a recognized leader in strategy development and business development, Tessa Veenboer has successfully expanded and delivered measurable growth in market share across many sectors and services, while working in four different continents. Her 20+ years of organizational transformation management skills, in combination with creative skills, have allowed her to achieve excellent win ratios for her employers and clients.
Saudi projects caught up with Tessa to find out more about her career journey in a male-dominated world.
Emma Burdett: You come from a corporate background. Can you tell us about the path you have chosen?
Tessa Veenboer: Back in 2005, I swapped the world of retail for the energetic landscape of engineering and construction. The person who took a chance on me later admitted, “Hiring her was one of the biggest gambles I’ve ever made when it came to hiring someone.” The reason I was considered a gamble was because my background and work experience up to that point was as the assistant to the regional sales director of 140+ retail outlets and I was not an engineer in a company that employed, for the most part, engineers, or a construction expert within the power and energy, and heavy infrastructure markets. And so, I started as a junior bid & tender coordinator and, since then, I’ve worn many hats within the field, from a regional market business development director and team leader, to my last role—the Director of Growth Acceleration. And you know what? That person who took that “gamble” is still one of my go-to sources for advice.
Reflecting on my early days, it’s clear now that the industry was noticeably male-centric
Emma Burdett: What inspired your drive to pursue a career in a male-dominated industry?
Tessa Veenboer: Once an intriguing opportunity crossed my path, I seized it without a second thought. The role presented an enticing mix of challenges and novelty, a welcome change I eagerly embraced. Reflecting on my early days, it’s clear now that the industry was noticeably male-centric, with few women occupying leadership positions, and even fewer in technical leadership roles. Fast forward to the present, and the landscape has shifted dramatically. Our global leadership team now exemplifies diversity in action, providing allies, both male and female.
What kept me working in the industry, despite it being a very intense journey, is that in the engineering and construction business, there is one constant; change. Engineers are always re-engineering and coming up with new solutions and I have the pleasure of listening to these and connecting dots to support the co-creation with clients on how to solve challenges when it comes to infrastructure. I love being part of the process of creating a solution to propose to our clients and performing all types of analytics regarding markets, commercials, clients, and any other subject.
We have the opportunity to re-engineer ourselves and, in turn, the industry. When I look back, I see very little diversity; I look at the present and I see many strong (female) professionals who inspire me and set a new benchmark that is very diverse, embraces sustainability in all aspects of the job, and wants to co-create solutions. When I look to the future, I don’t want to be reflecting on a male-dominated industry, but one that proves equity in opportunity.
The most important shift I’m seeing is how women are supporting one another
Emma Burdett: What has been your biggest career achievement to date?
Tessa Veenboer: Becoming comfortable with being labeled as ‘weird’! Many times during my career, people have perceived me as ‘a risk’ and labeled me as ‘weird’. However, this might be my superpower?
Every phase of my career has had an amazing career achievement. There are so many!
- Being a first international transfer in a junior role, who was not an engineer, to go on an assignment to North America as an inside sales coordinator and accordingly being promoted to a manager based on the results achieved by influencing change for the better.
- Major wins around the world that have resulted in the transformations of the way things are designed, constructed, delivered, or entire communities.
- Achieving DEI targets while growing a team and proving diversity improves revenue and profits more than many of the studies are showing!
- Contributing to agile careers and showcasing that obtaining the skills you gain within growth and sales are skills that are valuable throughout an entire career.
- Co-creating and collaborating with people to grow new service lines and solutions.
- Supporting the first in-person Jacobs Women’s Network event in Riyadh right after Covid and being part of the launch of a new initiative soon.
- Becoming a WILD Ambassador as a safe space to connect with other professional women is so important to practice and reflect on the skills you need for leadership.
- Opening The Dragonfly Majlis to contribute to enhancing the journey of female entrepreneurs in the GCC in business planning and advisory, and enabling Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to create MVPs that either establish or grow the companies sustainably.
- Becoming the managing partner of M+N Projects and through this company tapping into completely new skills, adventures, and creating a community.
In the 20 years working within my field, I have had the pleasure of working on amazing opportunities that have shaped cities, careers, and communities in Europe, Asia, North America, and mostly the Middle East. Everything I have done has been really rewarding. I truly believe the biggest achievements are yet to come, harnessing my superpower of being unapologetically weird and continually curious!
Emma Burdett: What notable changes have you seen in the workplace for women?
Tessa Veenboer: The most important shift I’m seeing is how women are supporting one another. When we combine collective power, we can truly make an impact. You can’t see a thousand individual fires from space, but when you combine them, you can see a critical burning mass. This is the critical change that the industry needs; women supporting women. I’ve seen women hold each other against very high standards whilst male counterparts forgive themselves many imperfections.
Emma Burdett: What challenges do women still face in the workplace?
Tessa Veenboer: Lack of equity. Many companies still wish to squeeze everybody in the same shape while providing choices or various alternatives that might be more valuable to the company and profession. This requires self-leadership and focus on creating a win/win situation for both the individual and company. There is still a lot of pressure that women carry because of the number of roles they fulfill, both inside and outside of the workplace. This can create the feeling that they need to hide or can’t reschedule a meeting due to other obligations, with many of their male counterparts delegating these pressures unapologetically. I still feel guilty if I log off for 45 minutes as I want to have dinner at least twice a week with my children. Once upon a time, being a mother and housewife was considered a full-time job and if you consider this, many women have three jobs at once and there is little to no empathy.
Research shows I’m not alone. As per a recent PWC report, the majority (67%) of the surveyed women in Saudi Arabia who took career breaks were in experienced senior management and C-level roles. I have seen and considered the same myself in my local and international network, and these women are real powerhouses who seem to have it always altogether!
There is still a lot of pressure that women carry because of the number of roles they fulfill
Another example; it was just last week that I spoke to someone who is about to start her maternity leave and is worried about what length of leave to take. Should she take 45 days off? Now this was in the UAE. In contrast, Saudi Arabia it is 8 to 10 weeks. However, regardless of country-determined paid leave, this still shows the pressures faced by new moms and the impact that taking maternity can have on your career. How are you perceived upon return? What can you handle? Will your output be affected? This is not just external pressure from the business, but internal pressures women with ambition still have to face. I felt an incredible pressure to show the world that my ambition was as strong as ever. It resulted in me being focused on everything but my health, both physical and mental wellbeing. Businesses can, and need, to do more, to normalize this ‘problem’ and the stigma attached to maternity leave and the return of its female workforce.
The same goes for career breaks. A woman still has traditionally a lot of roles to play within society, meaning that they need that break from time to time to recharge and prioritize their health or family. If I would map out my days, they used to be packed, and I have a very supportive husband who takes on a lot of tasks.
At least once a year, I got mom-shamed at the school my children attend by women who work there with comments such as, “It is good to see the mom for once.” These comments really made me feel like a failure. I reflected on the last two weeks I had; I had sat on a panel discussion that week on driving sustainable social value at Harvard University, and the week prior I had just finished onboarding an unbelievably talented professional in our Saudi Arabian business who had just started a new part-time role following taking a break to focus on her family: two weeks I’m extremely proud of. Once the emotion of their throughway comment had left, I could reflect clearly; I knew this wasn’t me that was a failure, it was the perception of others on working or returning to work females.
At least once a year, I got mom-shamed at the school my children attend
Emma Burdett: How do you suggest companies in KSA attract and retain the best female talent?
Tessa Veenboer: Listen, stimulate, and train female talent. Self-leadership is an important part of that journey and supports females in articulating what matters, providing ideas and solutions to improve retention and paying it forward to others within the organization to extend that value.
Stimulate and create communities within a company that allows people to create a network and use these as opportunities for talent to practice skills and influence changes needed.
I also believe it’s important to not see everybody as the same and apply a one-size-fits-all approach. It doesn’t work, nor is this needed with AI and all the amazing tools that are out there. We can easily generate standardized processes, but this doesn’t deliver value to individuals with specific needs. To feel, to be seen and heard, it needs to be personal. I hope companies consider being more flexible, and creative communities of experts who work from within their own companies and are included to make special projects, company challenges, and other items possible.
An important one to me is to continue to offer hybrid working options where possible, despite the role I’m in or company I work for. It does wonders for my productivity and increases the value I can deliver.
Emma Burdett: How important do you feel the WILD network is for women in the region and why?
Tessa Veenboer: Networks such as WILD provide an authentic platform to connect and to discuss professional and personal situations that require soft skills, allowing female leaders to share in a safe space whilst learning systems, tools, and new skills, all whilst getting that peer-to-peer support that can help achieve growth.
It’s connectivity among female leaders that is needed to help navigate your career and prevent burnout in an environment that harvests belonging and purpose.
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