Every company founder frets about succession. This issue takes on additional urgency in the Middle East, where not only have personal and corporate assets historically been managed together in family businesses, but where many of these businesses were only founded comparatively recently – in the 1950s and 1960s.
Indeed, six of the top 10 family businesses in the region were formed after 1950, according to Forbes’ Top 100 Arab Family Businesses list. Of the 24 UAE family businesses on that tally, half were formed after 1970, while just two were formed before 1950.
Many families in the UAE are facing their first intergenerational wealth transfer; in Saudi Arabia, many are looking at only their second.
Just 10% to 15% of family businesses worldwide make it to the third generation.
“When I first started advising families in the Gulf, no one spoke about succession planning. Meeting a new client would often include starting at the beginning with questions on what a trust is,” says Kyra Motley, partner, private wealth at law firm Boodle Hatfield.
