Family Businesses Forum 2006

The press conference was attended by H.E. Abdurrahman Al-Mutaiwee, Director General of DCCI, Dr. Husam Al-Talhuni, Director of DIAC, Dr. Omar Hafny, Director General of Dubai University College, in addition to a number of directors and representatives of the family companies in Dubai and a group of journalists and reporters.

The forum will shed light on the key role the family companies play in setting up the pillars of national economy. The forum will also discuss the reality of the family companies, and the challenges and risks they encounter under economic globalization, liberalization of markets and the foreign companies' competition.

Abdurrahman Al-Mutaiwee, Director of DCCI said, "In view of the essential ground the family companies represent, consequently, it is a must that there should be a focus on building efficient strategies moving towards modifying the family companies' structures and positively switching to new structures going with the international variations imposed on these companies, like the Free Trade Agreements, World Trade Organization (WTO).

Also other challenges that have recently started to emerge so fast under the economic globalization, where the family companies have to benefit from these challenges, as well as benefit from others' successful experiences in this aspect in a way that tunes with the continuity of their products and services development and enhancement, and the nature of the markets they deal with locally, regionally and internationally."

Dr. Husam Al-Talhuni, Director of DIAC, said that this forum would be based on three key segments. These segments are acquainting with the globalization and international agreements' risks and how they might affect the future of family companies. Highlighting the importance of modernizing the organizational and administrative fundamentals in the family companies to ensure the continuity over generations, evaluating the incorporation and conveyance into PLCs and entering stock markets, as well as the recommendations the participants in the forum would come up with.

Through these segments, the forum will handle topics of interest to the family companies' owners, researchers and specialists in this aspect, like the challenges family companies encounter, the dominance of the capitalist companies, let alone the legal and administrative obstacles that stand against these companies, how they negatively affect the possibility of these companies' development and continuity, and the importance of women's contribution to developing these companies.

Family companies represent around 92% of the privately-held companies in the UAE. Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has statistics indicating that there are 56374 companies operating in Dubai including 30769 represent family businesses.

It is worth noting that the family companies constitute the biggest percentage of the companies operating in the economy. In the EU countries, for example, they range between 70-95% of their total companies, and these companies contribute 70% to the national produce. In the USA, family companies registered, are around 20 million, representing 49% of the national produce, employing 59% of the workforce and creating around 78% of new job opportunities.