Nermin Sa'd is a senior mechanical engineer and CEO of Handasiyat.net, the first virtual engineering company for women in the Middle East.

Handasiyat won the Best Female Competitor Award at the 2013 Tech-I competition in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Since the competition, she’s made the “100 Most Powerful Arab Women” list for her achievements and impact on the region. 

Recently, Sa'd  was featured in Forbes for her new venture, SDB (Smart Detection Bra). 

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According to the article, Sa’d was running Handasiyat when she got a piece of devastating news: One of her close friends had advanced breast cancer, which required a double mastectomy. Then, even more devastating: “After 20 years of marriage, four adorable children, (her husband) chose to divorce her,” said Sa’d.

The news led her to launch a company to create bras for breast cancer detection, which she is now seeking to fund with $3 million.

Sa'd stated in the interview that In Saudi Arabia, for reasons mostly related to reluctance to reveal themselves to doctors, many women don’t report symptoms or get regular mammograms. She said, “I thought, I’m building houses, when inside these houses families are being destroyed by this disease.”

So far Sa'd has spent $15,000 to develop a prototype of a bra that detects changes in breast tissue across five different criteria. The bra would be worn one day a month.

Good work, Nermin! 

[Photo: Nermin Sa'd speaking at 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit/Credit: Global Entrepreneurship Summit]