Driving Women's Empowerment: Sheikha Ambu-Ali on Managing Women-for-Women Taxis

Join us for an interview with Sheikha Ambu-Ali, the Marketing Director of OFemale taxi, as she discusses the importance of women-for-women taxis, the main challenges of the industry, and OFemale's plus and future plans.

What is your role at OFemale Taxi and what are your main responsibilities?

My name is Sheikha Ambu-Ali, and my role in OTaxi is Marketing Director. I was a Marketing Director before we came up with the idea of a taxi for women. After OFemale appeared, my responsibilities became to manage the OFemale taxi project from A to Z.

Were you one of the people who came up with the idea for the women-for-women taxi?

Yes, but really, the idea came from the customers. A few customers suggested the service, we liked it, and we took it seriously. It was a new idea, so it was a long process – two years! – of getting approval.

Was it the bureaucracy that took so long or did the government oppose the idea?

I think it's both. It was a new idea, so the government needed to understand all aspects. They needed to know if it was feasible from the privacy perspective, from the driver’s perspective, and whether the project was commercial. But also society and culture played a role. Multiple parties joined together to make the decision: the Royal Oman Police, the police with all of its entities, the legislators, and the ministry of transport communications and information technology.

How did you prove that a women-for-women taxi is a feasible idea?

By the time we started getting the approval, we already had a full market research. We had proof that there was a gap in the market. We could show how many women are attacked in taxis, and how many don’t have driving licenses or cars. So we knew there was a demand from the customers’ side. But also, we could show there is demand from the drivers’ side. There is an ongoing unemployment crisis in Oman, so we introduced the OFemale solution from this perspective. There are a lot of women who are taking care of their families, but they are unemployed or at risk of being unemployed. Ride-hailing could be a very good option for them. We showed how much income men get and how much female drivers could get as well.

What would you say are the main benefits of a women-for-women taxi service?

From the driver’s perspective, it's a good way to gain better income as there is a need here in this region, but also not just here, everywhere. Women love privacy, you know, we could get prepared, put on our makeup when we’re around other girls. But also, it’s the flexibility. As a mom, for example, you can work whenever you want. You can take care of your kids in the morning and then in the afternoon get some rides done, and then come back home, and then work again.

And from the passengers' perspective, the demand is just so high. Since we launched the service in March 2026, the demand has kept growing. We are trying to balance the supply with the demand, but, it turned out, our market research results didn’t predict such numbers, the actual gap in the market is much bigger than we thought. People order rides for themselves, for their mums; men order rides for their wives and kids.

Before, in this region, women weren’t really involved in the transportation industry. Women were being driven by brothers, fathers, or whoever would pick us up. So telling the girls that they can drive other women from point A to point B and be a taxi driver was life-changing.

There were also plenty of downsides. Taxi drivers have a bad reputation. So many women were opposed to the idea from the status perspective. Especially because a lot of them are university graduates or have some kind of diplomas. Besides, there is also a cultural perspective: a woman might want to work as a taxi driver, but her brother, father, or husband may be against it because of the bad reputation of taxi drivers.

Is attracting female drivers the biggest challenge OFemale has faced?

Yes, definitely. As we’re trying to meet the demand, we are persuading women day after day to join us and to see for themselves how much they can profit from this job. It has gotten much better. When we started out 1 of 100 females registered with us, as they would discover more information about the car or the documents, maybe two would stay to work. Today, I would say almost 20 out of 100 would end up working for OFemale. Also, now women come to the office themselves and ask how to join, and it’s such a relief not having to do the calls and seeing people who genuinely want to find out more about our service.

That’s such an immense increase in conversion! How did you manage to achieve that?

It was a journey. I think the best way we’ve managed to convince women to become OFemale drivers was to show them other female drivers. We would take interviews with them, show their photos, and post on Instagram and other social media platforms. We want to show the world that these women are working and that we are doing a job that brings joy and independence to them. By showing them real-life examples, we were able to break down the barriers and make them see that this is a legitimate job opportunity.

We also made sure to educate them on the benefits of working with us, from higher earnings to greater flexibility and autonomy. We want to empower women to take control of their lives and make informed decisions about their careers. By providing them with the tools and support they need, we hope to inspire even more women to join our ranks and drive positive change in their communities.

By leveraging our expertise in mobility intelligence and ride-hailing API solutions, we're able to provide women with a reliable and safe transportation option that puts them in control. Our commitment to women's empowerment and inclusivity has been at the forefront of our journey, and we're excited to see the impact it will have on the transportation industry and beyond.