In Spotlight Abu Dhabi Family Business Stories

[music] Hello everybody, welcome welcome to Abui Finance Week. Uh welcome is excellency fraim. Uh to jump in to jump right in uh the first question uh family businesses but family businesses are the heart of this session. How would you describe their role in the Abu Dhabi economy?

Well, uh, thank you, Huh. I think, uh, I did not need the extra pressure by reminding me that's a full room, but thank you for all the attendees. Uh, I think the organizer are tried extremely hard to show that we are uh, family business friendly and they brought me my cousin to be my moderator. So, thank you organizers. Um, well, has a big fan group.

So, yeah. [laughter] Uh, well, Abu Dhabi Family Business, uh, Council and and and the family businesses of, uh, in Abu Dhabi are like any other economy. They're the backbone of the economy. Um, since before the oil, uh, discovery, uh, they've always been part of the ecosystem. And uh today we're working with the family business uh ecosystem on how to work with our international friends that uh call this place home and uh work together and growing and sustaining the businesses for the longest period possible.

Um we are a very young nation. We have very big ambitions. Um and we're looking to celebrate uh family businesses that are 100 years or uh more in the coming years.

Perfect.

And speaking about how important family businesses are uh what and in terms of the continuity of the multi-generational uh uh family enterprises, how important is it to to keep the continuation? Well uh huh like any other uh again this is not very unique to Abu Dhabi it's not unique to any place the importance of the continuity of the family businesses come with proper governance uh proper succession planning proper planning and and I have to add something that we are very lucky to be in Abu Dhabi because it's one of the very few places globally that have the legal structures that support that we have uh multiple uh legal frameworks whether on mainland or uh free zone. So uh that covers the spectrum from Sharia alo to the common law. Uh we're working hand in hand with the government on even uh upgrading that and working on better solutions. So from a government's point of view, we're set in Abu Dhabi uh building the culture.

We're seeing a uh big uptake from family businesses that are interested in uh sustainability and the governance and we've seen that through the registration of family businesses uh in Abu Dhabi. Uh just for our uh guests uh we in Abu Dhabi have a special registry for family businesses. So if you are a family business operating in Abu Dhabi, you need to register at the department of economy and there are some requirements to be qualified as a family business.

Perfect. Thank you. And then as we see, you know, these international entities coming from abroad, these other family offices coming from abroad, we're seeing that they're looking to do uh and have more partnerships and we've seen a rise in the partnerships andus uh becoming increasingly important. How do they contribute to the Abu Dhabi family uh family u business council?

The international firms uh if if you remember if we go back maybe when the founding of the UEE and uh the discovery of oil a lot of these businesses started with these kind of uh joint venture uh some of these international firms that we are uh that we see in the market started as family businesses. Uh Muhammad the family represents Boschan which is a family business. Uh there are multiple of these families that came in the 60s and 70s and signed with our grandfather and uh and today we're celebrating and seeing how they have uh grown and we've grown together over these years. So we welcome these family businesses that come to Abu Dhabi. uh our role in the Abu Dhabi family business council is to put them with their counterparts in Abu Dhabi uh to grow together and and uh whether it's to grow in Abu Dhabi or even beyond Abu Dhabi because Abu Dhabi is a perfect launch pad for any business that wants to grow in the region or beyond.

Um no 100%. you know it's in terms of as well regarding to the ease of doing business Abu Dhabi has become number one for the past 5 years and as well in terms of your own opinion um Abu Dhabi has become increasingly recognized as a lead leading global hub for family offices what makes the Emirates so attractive

wellmed you guys at ADGM are doing a great job in in in uh attracting those international uh families and providing them with the legal structure and framework to establish in uh Abu Dhabi for the family officers that want to be part of a uh international free zone that applies international law and has great governance also the ecosystem in Abu Dhabi. When we started this project six months ago and we put our plan that in three years we want to become uh the international hub for uh family businesses. there was little that I knew that how much work have been done over the years. Uh and now that project has been uh cut short. So hopefully by the end of this year we want to become and announced of being the global hub for international family businesses because every stone have been turned in Abu Dhabi.

Every legal structure have been looked at. Every support is there. So we have uh we've currently signed with uh just minutes ago with the Muhammad bin Zed University of AI and we are uh and professors here. So thank you very much for that. Uh we're studying how we can work with the AI university and adopting and helping in the governance, helping in the structure, helping in uh educating people on the importance of AI.

That's one of the example. So every stone that is related to family businesses has been turned in Abu Dhabi. The overwhelming support I am getting from all the institutions whether they're financial whether they're legal or even auditors that are and consultants that are willing to be part of this ecosystem. It's it's mind-blowing. I think we are in the best time uh best place earlier uh mentioned uh that we are there's a utopia in a disturbed world and I think I would like to quote him for that we are in a very special time very special area and with great support from the leadership so I think there isn't anything that is making our life uh difficult ult if we fail it's because we have not done our job.

So

yeah, thank you. Um looking ahead, what does the Abu Dhabi Family Business Council's long-term vision for the family enterprises in the Emirates look like?

Well, I started with saying uh we want to celebrate family businesses from Abu Dhabi that are at least 100 years old or 150 years old. uh we travel all out since uh we've started this office. We've been to New York, we've been to London, we've been to Berlin, Singapore, Mumbai. And there is a long list of countries that we're going to visit soon to collaborate and learn from uh those places. And something that I've always seen is these companies celebrating or proudly mentioning that they are 100 years old, multiple generations.

There is a company that have met that we're talking about eight generations across five different continents. They speak five different languages, five different nationalities. I think the long term is to celebrate that Abu Dhabi deserves that we have families that have sustained that are as old as the country that reflect the uh ecosystem that and and how we blessed we are in this city.

Okay. Thank you very much. Maybe I'm uh I'm going to throw you just uh a question in your opinion not talking about the international market but talking about you know generations and uh the family members that are you know the younger generations or the third or fourth or fifth generations what they what can they do you know to grow in the family business

says I'll just give you some feedback so that everybody in the room knows why Hammed uh is asking this uh I don't know if I was blessed or cursed to be the first third generation to join our family business and uh in reality I don't think it was uh well structured I was thrown in the business and uh had to learn it the hard way. uh the clarity for the younger generation like Mhammed uh is there now and uh this is a question that I hear from a lot of family businesses when I speak to the family businesses what should we do where is our role how can we do this from best practices that I've seen uh across the globe in all my uh journeys I would say that uh depending on the business you are in, depending how attached the family business, but eventually the family business or family members eventually should become great shareholders probably sit on the board and help uh on the strategy level and stay away from the operational uh model in the businesses. This is something uh that I've seen globally. Culturally, I don't know if we are ready in many cases in Abu Dhabi or in in the region. Uh yet I think that long-term that would be the solution.

There should be a clear structure on the role of family members, how they do it and how they detach themselves from the ownership and not be emotional.

Thank you for that. Um and just as the closing message uh what best reflects the importance of family business in your point of view when you go anywhere uh and I'm very interested in in in culture I'm very interested in in the human mind and how the human mind operates there are very common values between the uh family businesses and uh some government or some institutions We always think about long-term. So there's long-term uh vision. Uh there is the trust issue. We're not transactional.

And I don't think many families are transactional. They're always thinking about sustainability, thinking about how will we give back to the community, how will we contribute to the community. So we're not very transactional. And I've seen this everywhere I've uh traveled. And that I think makes a lot of value or brings a lot of value when you're dealing with family businesses across the board.

You see the uh drama sometimes in in the movies or or the TV series. Uh yet there is that part of it. But the long-term uh strategy and the long-term vision of family businesses is what helps economies thrive because you need that in the in the ecosystem. You need that in the economy and you need the sustainability. Uh I'm proud of being a family member that comes from a family in business and uh I'm proud that I'm being dealing with many families in Abu Dhabi.

Uh the interest uh the energy and uh the the growth mindset is all there. Uh today we are in a special time. We all lived or we did not actually live but but we heard about the uh pearl dive era and then that crashed. Then came the oil era and that is uh we're planning how we get out of that. I think today we are living through a new era technology AI and I think that's where family businesses will hopefully look into it and be part of this ecosystem and grow.

So we will see new families grow. We'll see new families, business families part of Abu Dhabi. And we welcome all the international families that call this place home. And for the family uh businesses that still don't call this play place home, please reach out to us. We will help you grow in Abu Dhabi.

We want you to be part of this beautiful story that we are building in Abu Dhabi. And uh let's all grow together.

Thank you. Thank you your excellency. Thank you everybody for joining uh the talk. Um I don't think we have any time for uh any questions but thank you. Thank you again.

Thank you. Thank you.

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