The guests and organisers during the dinner at St Regis Doha.
Doha: The Family Business Network GCC (FBN-GCC) headed by Chairman Abdulaziz Al Ghurair recently organised a gala dinner for a group of Qatari families. Various leaders and decision makers involved in local family businesses attended the event. Organised at St Regis Doha, the event was the first initiative of its kind aimed at strengthening communication channels among family business owners in Qatar and across the Gulf.
The meeting was hosted upon a special arrangement of Alfardan Group in support of the initiatives of the Network. FBN-GCC has had great success in encouraging dialogue on joint mechanisms to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship, excellence, corporate governance, and transparency among family businesses which have become mainstays for advancing economic and social development in Qatar and Arabian Gulf.
The event served as an ideal interactive platform for exchanging experiences among owners of Qatari family businesses that have had a clear imprint on national economic growth in the past decades. It also facilitated discussions on ways to apply best international practices while maintaining family values in business to ensure the success and continuity of the sector for generations to come with the help of the network’s continued support for Gulf families via various strategic initiatives.
The results of the discussions will significantly contribute to the development of future strategies and plans of family businesses in Qatar and across the Gulf. This comes at a time when family businesses are playing increasingly major roles as powerful economic agents within the GCC markets. The region currently hosts 5,000 family-owned companies with total revenues collectively worth $600bn according to figures released by the Institute for Corporate Governance (Hawkamah).
Omar Hussain Alfardan, President and CEO of Alfardan Group, welcomed FBN-GCC led by Al Ghurair, a prominent leader among the Gulf’s family businesses. Alfardan hailed Al Ghurair as a model of excellence and business leadership, adhering to the values of trust and commitment, making Al Ghurair Group one of the most influential corporate entities in the UAE and the region.
Al Ghurair discussed the goals and initiatives of FBN-GCC, which was founded in 2012 as a private non-profit organisation to represent the leading family businesses in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE. He highlighted the vision of the network towards encouraging and facilitating knowledge transfer and the dissemination of best practices that ensure continuity among family businesses and maintain professional values and social responsibility across generations.
The Peninsula
