Gulf family firms urged to rethink power and succession

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Heads of family-run firms made their way to Manama yesterday for the Legacy Family Business Forum, held at the Downtown Rotana Hotel.

The meeting brought together business heirs, founders, advisers and government figures.

With a theme of “Sustaining a Legacy: The Balance Between Tradition and Innovation”, the event sought to answer a question many in the region know too well: how to keep a family enterprise alive without freezing it in the past.

Family businesses account for the lion’s share of private sector activity in the Arab world.

They make up nearly 90 per cent of the market in the Middle East and North Africa, provide jobs to about half the workforce, and bring in a third of the region’s total economic output.

A recent survey by Forbes Middle East found that three-quarters of the top-performing firms were based in the GCC.

Bahrain, long a port for traders and financiers, is no stranger to such stories.

Many of the country’s oldest firms have weathered decades of change. But as speaker after speaker reminded the audience, legacy is no guarantee.

Industry and Commerce Minister, His Excellency Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, told attendees the matter was close to home.

“This is personal for me,” he said. “I come from a family business and have lived and breathed it all my life. I’ve seen the effort it takes to build one, and the strain of passing it on.”

Centre

He said Bahrain would set up a dedicated centre to help family businesses adapt.

He also pointed to new guidance introduced last year on governance, drawn up with the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).