UAE family firms generate 60% of GDP as up to $700B changes hands

Family-owned companies generate roughly 60% of the UAE's gross domestic product and account for close to 90% of private-sector firms, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism's acting undersecretary said in Abu Dhabi, placing inherited businesses at the centre of the country's diversification effort.

H.E. Juma Mohammed Al Kait, giving the keynote at a two-day family business summit held under the ministry's patronage and presented by First Abu Dhabi Bank, argued that those numbers make governance and early succession planning urgent rather than optional. The gathering, the first of its kind, opened on Wednesday, October 28.

Al Kait framed support for family enterprises as part of the country's push toward a knowledge- and innovation-driven economy, rather than a matter of keeping a company inside a family. Handing responsibility to younger members, he said, has to mean more than offering them a title.

"Empowering the next generation is not simply about providing opportunities. It also requires giving them real responsibilities, allowing them to make decisions, build teams, and take accountability for outcomes."

He pointed to Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022 on Family Businesses, which sets out a framework for governance and business continuity, along with the Unified Family Business Registry and family charters that spell out ownership arrangements and management duties. He also cited the Thabat programme, which lets younger family members start ventures inside an existing group using its capital, expertise and networks.

Technology, manufacturing and tourism were the sectors Al Kait named as opportunities for family capital. Artificial intelligence, he said, can raise productivity and improve how decisions get made.

Abu Dhabi leans on its oldest commercial relationships

H.E. Hamad Sayah AlMazrouei, undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, traced the partnership between the emirate's government and its leading families to 1968. That year the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan began Abu Dhabi's first comprehensive socioeconomic plan and established the National Bank of Abu Dhabi alongside prominent local families. The lender later became part of FAB.

"Family businesses have a natural advantage. You think in decades and generations, not quarters."

That long horizon, AlMazrouei said, is what economic transformation requires. He described departmental work to shorten the path from setting up a company to expanding one, through clearer regulatory requirements, faster processing and coordination with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Abu Dhabi Chamber, Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Customs and Abu Dhabi Global Market.

"Our responsibility is to help you move from ambition to operation, with clearer requirements, faster processes and coordinated support," he said.

Food security, healthcare and life sciences, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence, logistics, construction, infrastructure and tourism were the areas he identified for family groups looking to widen their footprint.

H.E. Khaled Alfahim, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Family Business Council and a board member of both Abu Dhabi Chamber and the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Center, said the council had travelled to at least six countries in the past year and found growing appetite abroad for the emirate's economic resilience and business climate. Families, he added, are increasingly asking for help with governance, restructuring and succession — though putting those changes into practice remains the hard part.

"I think most of the Abu Dhabi families are ready mentally. It's a matter of timing. Is it today, tomorrow, when shall I do it?"

Wealth transfer pushes family offices toward strategy

Futoon Al Mazrouei, group head of Personal, Business, Wealth and Privileged Client Banking at FAB, put the scale of the handover at $500 billion to $700 billion of family wealth moving to the next generation across the Gulf Cooperation Council by 2035.

"Our industry is rapidly moving from a family business mindset to a strategic approach for family capital," she said. "The conversation now is how families can secure, manage, and grow their wealth across generations."

Family offices, she said, are running broader portfolios that include overseas assets and long-dated allocations, which demands more sophisticated wealth management and governance. She named artificial intelligence as an emerging priority, citing a figure that 74% of family offices treat the technology as a top investment target, and noted that the UAE's National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 targets up to $91.2 billion (AED 335 billion) in additional economic growth.

FAB serves more than 100 family businesses and offices through private banking across its markets, she said. Small and medium-sized enterprise relationships grew 85% in the first half of 2026 and retail assets under management rose 20%. She did not specify the periods used for comparison.

Akram E. Makarem, managing director and global sector head of Family Groups and Diversified Conglomerates at FAB, argued that time is the structural edge family groups hold over listed competitors — and that the edge only pays off if it comes with discipline.

"Family businesses can think in generations rather than in quarters. This is what we can call patient capital. Patient capital can allow family businesses to think long-term. But at the same time, patient capital needs to be disciplined capital."

He set out three tests for allocating that capital: putting money back into core businesses that still hold a competitive advantage, steering a slice toward emerging industries, and selling holdings that no longer earn a sustainable return.

"Exiting a business is not a failure per se. Sometimes monetizing yesterday's successful investment is what will fund your future successful business," he said.

Artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, logistics and healthcare were the growth areas he flagged, with a caveat that diversification should follow relevant expertise and a clear rationale. Banks, he added, have to look past traditional lending for groups expanding abroad, offering acquisition and structured finance, access to capital markets and introductions to investors across markets.

Succession runs on trust and written rules

Zaid S. Al Khayyat, managing director of Al Khayyat Investments, described turning a pharmaceutical business founded in the 1960s into a diversified investment group, and the difficulty of the handover itself.

"Passing it on to the second generation is never easy for a founder, the entrepreneur, to let go and give the reins to his children. But it takes time, it takes trust, it takes you to prove yourself as well. Continuing the legacy is the utmost important thing."

Keeping an entrepreneurial culture alive as a company grows, he said, depends on leadership and on employees who share the group's ambition. Alfahim added that founders weighing a new venture worry less about money than about the family's values and standing.

"They're not worried about losing that investment. They're worried about the effect on the values and on the family reputation."

H.E. Rashed Abdulkarim Al Blooshi, chief executive of the Registration Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market, said continuity has to be designed long before it is needed: governance on paper, defined voting rights, agreed methods for distributing profit and transferring shares.

"Transferring ownership, or continuity, is not a decision taken today and applied tomorrow. From the start, the founders must put in place clear governance, in management, in voting, in the family charter."

As ownership spreads across more relatives, priorities diverge. Some heirs want to reinvest and expand; others want cash or an exit. A charter, Al Blooshi said, should set out how those conflicts get handled and make every member's position legible — board member, manager, finance officer or someone simply collecting distributions.

ADGM's English common law framework, he said, gives family groups a structure for cross-border transactions and partnerships, and its multinational business community opens doors to investors and specialist advice. Al Khayyat was blunter about the local environment: "The UAE, Abu Dhabi, has created such a unique ecosystem. It's plug and play for anybody."

Ownership is not a job title

Ghassan Aboud, founder and chairman of Ghassan Aboud Holding, said a family name should not be enough to secure an executive post. His group runs 145 companies across eight sectors, having expanded from automotive trading into hospitality, food, logistics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

"I don't bring someone in just because they're a member of my family and should be beside me. If my daughter isn't prepared, doesn't have the necessary competence, and hasn't worked for 10 or 15 years, she cannot simply take a position."

Speaking in a fireside conversation on staying competitive, Aboud said he would accept a serious business loss if it produced a capable successor.

"If my daughter were to lose an entire sector but become a successful businesswoman, I would still consider myself the winner."

His daughter Alma joined the discussion briefly, describing time spent in insurance and international trade banking before coming back to the family group. Aboud also raised the difficulty of moving ownership from a single founder to several heirs, and the legal and governance scaffolding needed to keep disputes out of the business. He named artificial intelligence and nanotechnology as areas of possible future expansion, and announced no specific investments.