The Exchange is an upcoming Kuwaiti television show on Netflix. The limited series takes viewers on a stroll through the male-dominated finance industry in Kuwait as the country’s stock market reached for the moon.
In an interview, Writer Nadia Ahmad said The Exchange is “a love letter to all empowered women, who demand they be heard and succeed.” Calling the series’ characters trailblazing spirits in male-dominated industries, particularly finance, who inspired the next generation of women to follow the money.
The Exchange drops on Netflix this weekend.
Plot: The Exchange chronicles the tale of the only two women to work in the cut-throat Kuwait stock exchange and their roles in shaking up the notorious boys club in the late 1980s.
Who are the cast members of The Exchange?
The Netflix series features Farida (Rawan Mahdi), a newly divorced mother looking for a way to care for her child, and Munira (Mona Hussain), Farida’s cousin and a clerk for the Bank of Tomorrow’s Trading Division.
Farida, a housewife unemployed for 13 years but determined to be self-sufficient, joins her cousin Munira to become the first working woman in finance on the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange. Munira is an independent, educated, and sarcastic woman, passionate about her profession and independence.
Kuwaiti actors Hussain Al Mahdi, Mohammed Al Mansour, and Faisal Al Amiri also appear in the six-episode series.
About the production of The Exchange
The Exchange is Netflix’s second Kuwaiti series, created by Nadia Ahmad, Anne Sobel, and Adam Sobel, and directed by Jasem AlMuhanna and Karim El Shenawy.
“I grew up in Kuwait, surrounded by empowered women who were pioneering industries, especially finance. ‘The Exchange’ is my love letter to them, bringing an amalgamation of them to life in Farida and Munira in a new and exciting way,” Ahmad said.
“Having grown up in Kuwait and surrounded by independent women my whole life, this production is one that is close to my heart. Besides the plot, I’m excited for the audience to see how we brought this era to life, which brings together local and international expertise in a high-production masterpiece, shot and produced entirely in Kuwait,” producer Abdullah Boushahri added.
What is special about The Exchange?
In The Exchange, we’ll get an up-close look at the Kuwaiti stock market in the 1980s, when it was said to be the third most valuable in the world – behind the US and Japan. But we’ll also get a glimpse of the grim reality working women in the Middle Eastern nation faced. In one of the most competitive markets in the world, two brilliant, charismatic, and self-assured women collaborate to upend the status quo. What can go wrong?
Banding together to combat the established patriarchy from the inside, the pair begin to carve out their corner in the finance world. The Exchange promises us a story of sisterhood, determination, ambition, and fortitude.
Working tirelessly to attain success, Farida and Munira are likely to find themselves in perilous situations. However, we’re expecting great things from the duo, who are determined to improve their lives despite out-of-date social hierarchies that prevented many women from holding a job in the oil-rich nation.
The series kicks off just two years before Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, which resulted in a short-lived military victory for the Baath Party, and the subsequent United States intervention and invasion of Iraq via Operation Desert Storm.
Streaming This Weekend has given The Exchange a projected audience score of 73.
On February 8, 2023, the first season of Netflix’s original series “The Exchange” will air exclusively on Netflix.