UAE wants 200 family businesses to become major companies by 2030

Thabat Venture Builder, the region’s first initiative, will offer companies support through a five-month programme.

“Our goal is to transform 200 family projects into major companies by 2030, to be one of the engines of the UAE economy within its vision for the next fifty years,” Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed Al Maktoum said in a Twitter post on Monday.

The programme, which will take on batches of 10 to 20 family businesses, will feature ideas that can be transformed into viable business projects through the adoption of emerging technology.

In addition to this, the programme will allow each company to nominate three members from the second or third generation.

A presentation of their projects to potential investors will be shown at the end of the programme.

Thabat, is supported by the Ministry of Economy’s Investopia Summit, Dubai Chambers, Family Business Council Gulf, CSR UAE, Abu Dhabi global technology ecosystem Hub71 and Dubai Internet City incubator in5.

“We are keen to develop a system that would develop family businesses; helping them adopt advanced technologies and become part and parcel of the future,” Abdulla bin Touq, Minister of Economy, said at the launch of the initiative in Dubai on Monday, adding UAE is about to enter unprecedented growth in the next 50 years, and family businesses are invited to become a pillar of this.

In January this year, former president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan has issued a new family business ownership governance law that further strengthens the sector’s contribution to the economy and facilitates the transition to successive generations.

The new law aims to further enhance the family-owned business legislative ecosystem by adopting a more flexible and sustainable economic model, in line with best international governance practices. The law also aims to boost family businesses’ contribution to the diversification and growth of the economy, as reported by the Abu Dhabi media office.

As of today up to 90 percent of private companies in the country are family businesses, with over 70 percent being employed as part of the sector’s workforce.

Family businesses contribute about 40 percent to the nation’s GDP, according to data presented by the Ministry of Economy at the launch.