Family Business Succession Planning

Family businesses play an important role in supporting regional economies all around the world. In the Middle East the situation is magnified, with the largest family-run businesses each constituting many billions of assets in their respective nations. Yet as business ownership passes down through the generations and becomes diluted, these critical regional employers must work harder to maintain profitable growth as well as harmony and a unified direction across all of the family stakeholders.

One of the biggest challenges can be how to navigate intergenerational sensitivities and keep the peace between different branches of a family as second-generation, sibling oriented ownership passes to cousins, multiplying the number of stakeholders and sharers of profit. This has implications for business growth and diversification strategies, requiring room for new entrepreneurship and risk-taking, within managed parameters.

Supporting the future of family businesses has become a strategic priority for governments across the Middle East, perhaps most visibly in the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to date. By providing the right targeted support, these nations can not only de-risk intergenerational handovers, but also optimize opportunities for growth in a range of key industries as GCC countries look to diversify their economies away from oil. 

At the same time, the Gulf region is also attracting family businesses from around the world, as an attractive and well connected global base from which to continue building those enterprises. It follows that targeted advice on succession and strategic sector focus will have broad appeal for these businesses too.

With the right external support, next-generation family businesses can be encouraged to boost their activities and grow their capabilities and connections in strategically important sectors ranging from financial services, tourism and technology, to manufacturing and logistics.