Family Business Continuity in the Middle East & Muslim World: Betting Against the Odds

By Fadi Hammadeh

What does it take to ensure family business continuity into future generations? In Family Business Continuity in the Middle East & Muslim World: Betting Against the Odds, Fadi Hammadeh, a seasoned legal professional and intellectual offers a surprising answer to readers. In elegant and delightful prose, the author exposes the enviable role that family business plays in society in the Middle East and its contribution to the area's non-oil GDP. In this book, readers will understand the four pillars of successful succession planning, learn strategies on managing family conflict, discover great leadership skills, and find the tools they need to create an effective family business strategy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543925593

Book preview

References

I

ntroduction

If you are reading this—regardless of your profession, age, gender, or background, the chances are that you have a stake in the survival of a family business in the Middle East. You have also likely realized that there are a growing number of significant challenges facing family firms in this part of the world. Inadequate judicial systems, poor governance models, and cautionary tales of financial failure have spurred you to look for sound advice.

Failure inspires a question: What are we doing wrong? And another: What must we change?

In civil or common law jurisdictions, ensuring that a business survives and thrives beyond the life of its original owner is usually straightforward enough. It may suffice to write a will or establish a trust, depending on the complexity of the assets. A conventional succession planning process would involve drafting a contractual framework to guide the management of family assets and facilitate their smooth transition from one generation to another. This is what is referred to as family business governance.

Yet, under Sharia law, and in jurisdictions influenced by such laws, forced heirship rules make succession planning much more complicated. In these jurisdictions, the concept of a will (or Wasia) is generally not permitted when the heirs are the beneficiaries and a third-party beneficiary may only receive up to a third of the assets of the testator. Trusts, wherein property is held by one party for the benefit of another, are unknown to Sharia law and Sharia-based courts. This is not to mean that established trusts in the Muslim World will be automatically declared Sharia non-compliant, but doubts remain about their enforceability outside the specific jurisdictions or zones in which they are established. These are just some of the questions. So, what then are the solutions?

There are not, at present, many comprehensive studies on the subject of family business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Islamic world in general. This is surprising, given the importance of family firms to the economies of the region. Regional family firms are often woven into the socio-economic fabric of their local communities. Yet the concept of succession planning is relatively alien here.

This book attempts to integrate the legal and structural aspects of succession planning that are often overlooked. And yes, there is a specific reason why publications concerning family firms outside of the Islamic world dedicate little time or effort to the legal and structural dimensions of family business succession planning. Sharia rules of forced heirship must be distinguished from the rather modern and complex structure that is a family business, but to do so requires special expertise.

Although the book is primarily written to address succession planning challenges in the GCC, it’s also relevant and useful for other family firms in the Muslim world in general. This is so because of the similar cultural, social and religious patterns that bind family firms across the Muslim world, from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to Pakistan, Indonesia and India.

As a cross-border corporate counsel and lawyer, I have more than two decades of experience with regional family business conglomerates and international law firms. My professional interest has been in family businesses continuity, corporate governance, succession planning, risk management, and corporate strategy planning. This book represents the accumulation of research I have conducted, insight I have gained, ideas I have exchanged, and talks I have given over the past decade about the survival of family firms in the Middle East and beyond.

This book is not written just for law professionals, but is intended for anyone seeking answers and interested in broadening his or her knowledge of the structure, context, challenges, and strategies of family business succession in the GCC and the Muslim world. Owners and managers of family firms will hopefully find assistance in navigating transition from one generation to the next in a perilous world. The emotional and psychological implications of entangling families and business are also addressed, as well as the importance of leadership, strategy and philanthropy to the success and continuity of family firms. Ultimately, this book is meant to guide you each step of the way, as much as possible, towards a journey of learning, discovery, and transformation regarding family business.

Finally, I believe that knowledge is a flame with willpower as the kindling. No measure of technical knowledge or theoretical insight can ensure success if one does not have the innate desire and the temerity to implement it. I hope this book contributes a spark to the future success of your family business.

March, 2018

Fadi Hammadeh

Chapter 1:

The Backbone of the Middle

East - The Family Business

Brief is this existence, like a brief visit in strange house. The path to be pursued is poorly lit by a flickering consciousness whose center is the limiting ‘I’. When a group of individuals becomes a ‘we’, a harmonious whole, they have reached as high as humans can reach. Albert Einstein

"Since I was an only child, Masakazu Kongo once confided, my parents often told me not to die young". Masakuzo Kongo followed his parents’ advice. Having refrained from smoking and skydiving, he did not die young, but served as the last president—the fortieth Kongo in a succession of Kongos—to lead the world’s oldest known family corporation. The Kongo Gumi family business survived over 1,400 years, until it was absorbed as a subsidiary of Takamatsu in 2006. Established in 578 CE, the Kongo Gumi family business began when Prince Shotoku invited the skilled carpenter Shigemitsu Kongo and two of his colleagues to build Japan’s first Buddhist temple at Shitenno-ji. Over the centuries, the Kongo Gumi family made a name for itself as the region’s leading construction business, participating in the erection of many famous buildings throughout Japan, including the 16th-century Osaka Castle.

Its longevity has been attributed to several factors, including the essential fusion of conservatism, inclusion, and flexibility. The company had a rule of choosing its leaders open-mindedly, with decisions based on merit rather than entitlement. Talent, accountability, and physical health were more important than age, gender, or birthright. The family was also keen to include sons-in-law in its succession planning and gave them the family name when they joined the business. The business skillfully adapted to the times and the place— for example, during World War II, when it temporarily switched to crafting coffins instead of buildings. The family stuck to the basics. Each generation enlisted its descendants as apprentices (the art of shrine carpentry is not taught in textbooks), while complementing acquired expertise with technological innovation and outstanding management.

Other similarly long-lived family firms continue to this day. In the 700s (CE), Japanese hotel giants Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, Koman, and Hoshi Ryokan emerged. Austria’s Stiftskeller St. Peter restaurant has been around since 803 CE, and Germany still boasts wines from Staffelter Hof, founded in 862 CE. Sean’s Bar in Ireland, Otterton Mill in the UK, and the Marinelli Bell Foundry in Italy were all founded before 1000 CE. You’ve likely enjoyed a sip of mineral water by Cadbury Schweppes (founded in 1783), cleaned your home windows with Windex by SC Johnson & Son (founded in 1886), and savored a chocolate Mars bar by Mars (founded in 1911).

Remarkable? Yes. Coincidental? Not at all. The success of these family firms is no fluke. But first, let us define the family business.

Defining the Family Business

You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family. Anita Baker

To assume James E. Hughes Jr.’s definition from ‘Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family’, a family comprises "two or more individuals who, either because of bonds of affinity or because of genetic or emotional linkage, think of themselves as related to each other." A business, at its most basic, is an organization wherein goods and services are exchanged for a consideration. A family business thus represents the first and most fundamental form of commercial venture, with the bonds of kinship or affinity defining one side of a transaction.

It is impossible to pinpoint when or where the first family business was formed. Certainly, family ventures are as old as the first human communities; they constitute the most basic form of human cooperative endeavors, initiated to overcome adversities, harness natural resources, and gain competitive advantages. Some of the first human companies may have emerged when hunters and gatherers joined their individual efforts for a collective benefit: to improve the wellbeing of their families and the survival of the tribe to which they belonged. After all, companies are economic ventures formed by two or more persons to achieve a common objective. And family members always have something in common.

In their simplest forms, family firms were organized as discrete groupings engaged in agricultural and manual activities, with parents transferring business expertise and technical skills to their children across generations. In the industrial and post-industrial eras, family firms have far surpassed their predecessors in scope, financial revenue, and management complexity. Many have even exploded into multinational conglomerates, including companies like Marriott International Inc., Hermes, Cargill, Ford Motor Company, and BMW.

What do these companies have in common? They are all at least three generations old, for one. They are also successful businesses supported by strong familial ties. And all have capitalized on six key advantages unique to family business continuity:

Cooperation. The success of a family business helps family members grow closer. This proximity and trust generates added momentum for stronger family ties and for a more robust alignment around the business.

Respect. Harmonious family firms command more respect within their communities and exert greater business and social influence as collectives than individuals.

Solidarity. The proverb "blood is thicker than water" could have been coined by the member of a successful family business. Envy, competition, and conflicting personal agendas can exist in families too, but when the family is united around the business then there is no stronger solidarity—especially in the face of a common external adversities. By nature, a family is biologically and behaviorally predisposed to act as a solid team of individuals.

Delayed gratification. Members of a family firm are more likely to make financial sacrifices—accepting lower or no pay, putting in longer hours, taking on more responsibilities, foregoing liability insurance or delaying monetary reward by reinvesting profits back in the business—all for the common good of the family business. They are also more apt to fight to save a floundering business.

Longevity. Where the goals of the shareholders and the managers are perfectly aligned, decisions can be made more quickly. Thus, family firms tend to enjoy greater management stability and have better tolerance to long term risk taking. The quarterly expectations of shareholders or stock analysts do not dictate their business practices; a family business can instead focus on sustainability.

Legacy. Generational succession allows family firms to draw on the expertise and wisdom of the old as well as tap the energy and innovations of the young. A family business serves as a conduit for family values; a strong work ethic can be passed on to the next generation. Moreover, the ownership structure of family firms promotes a long-term perspective that many public firms cannot cultivate as easily.

As opportune and advantageous as some family business environments may be, they can also be fertile ground for tensions, disappointments, and failure. It is important to understand the risks and challenges that family firm’s face, thereby anticipating and even solving such issues before they arise. Against the six advantages that family businesses may enjoy, they can also suffer from six vulnerabilities.

Difficulty balancing business and family. Finding a work-life balance is essential in every profession and context, but even more so within the family business. Deteriorating business relationships can provoke deteriorating familial bonds, and vice versa. Family members come into contact more often than usual when they interact at work and home. They will also be forced to work together during tense, difficult, pressured, or boring situations; not being able to maintain personal space can lead to increased interpersonal conflict.

Personal and professional disappointments. Family members also run the risk of interpersonal conflicts when professional goals are not realized. Frustrations about family employment, personal growth, eligibility for promotion, equity and fairness, management and strategic decisions involvement, or dividend distribution can sow discontent not just at work but also at home.

Competitive disadvantages.Privately held family firms have several distinct competitive disadvantages. For instance, they may be unable to raise as much funding as public firms, given an inability to access capital markets or reveal as much financial transparency. They might also experience greater difficulties attracting the best talent if they cannot offer the same reward plan as a public company.

Personal vulnerability. Finding themselves in the public eye, family members may feel increased vulnerability due to lack of privacy and susceptibility to criticism from the family as well as the community. Vulnerability leads to insecurity, the mother of all evils.

Business discontinuity. Inability to separate family from business at times can increase the risk of emotion spillover. Feelings of envy, inferiority, and injustice, common in any family, can contaminate the family business and lead to its premature demise if not detected and addressed in a timely fashion.

The threat of family-based plutocracy. Focusing solely on increasing personal monetary wealth and ensuring the survival of the family firm at all costs may, over time, turn the family business into a malignant agent for hoarding wealth and power. Family firms that want to escape such a fate will need to be conscious of maintaining a fair approach towards their stakeholders, maintaining the highest integrity standards, and reinvesting over time part of their prosperity and success in the growth and welfare of the communities in which they operate.

Perhaps the most timeless, universal, and nearly magical attribute of successful family firms is their ability to fuse individual entrepreneurship with corporate discipline. Throughout history, the family has been the most influential catalyst of human behavior: it has always been a fundamental element of individual emotional stability, while serving as a conduit to transfer cultural legacy and behavioral values from one generation to another. Given the natural affiliation derived from common genetics and behavioral foundations, it makes perfect evolutionary sense that family firms have emerged as the pinnacle of economic reward for their members and the embodiment of their prosperity. Family firms have been an engine of the world’s economic progress and have greatly contributed to prosperity around the globe.

The Family Business Cycle

Are family firms essential to the national economy? You’d better believe it. According to Forbes, some 90% of family firms in the United States are either owned or controlled by the family itself. Family firms account for 80% of newly created jobs, contribute to 60% of the country’s employment, and represent 50% of the gross domestic product. Nearly 35% of all Fortune 500 firms are family firms.

Yet only 30% of family firms make it to the second generation. Only 10-15% survive to the third generation. Just 3-4% make it to the fourth.

Here’s a glimpse of what those survivors go through, and what they overcome.

Start-Up: The Founders Generation

There is no one way to define a Founder. You could be from any corner of the world, passionate about any sort of profession, with your appearance as singular as your identity. You might be 9 years old or 99. At 65, Colonel Hartland Sanders found himself broke, living off a social security check and looking back at a series of failed ventures. He was determined to change his fortune. The best thing he had going for him was his personal chicken recipe, so he began traveling across the U.S. in hopes of selling his idea for a restaurant. Over 1,000 rejections later, he heard his first yes. Kentucky Fried Chicken, now known as KFC, was born.

The founders of other family firms have followed a similar path; many of them are in the Middle East. What do they all have in common?

Selective focus. At the outset, family business owners are in survival mode. Founders may pay little attention to such big picture matters as the optimal legal structure, risk management, or the best governance model of the business. Naturally, they are focused on more immediate concerns like finding the necessary funds to develop salable products or services and managing the cash flow to stay afloat as long as possible.

Blurred lines. In the Middle East, many family firms are created without clear personal accountability, ring-fencing of personal interests, or proper allocation of roles and responsibilities—as in the case of partnerships and sole proprietors. This can spell trouble for family firm founders during later stages.

Micromanagement. Startup founders tend to be obsessed with details. They can be formidable micromanagers, and their controlling nature may alienate other family members and non-family managers. Their determination to have full and absolute control can lead to conflict later in the life of the family firm.

Growth: From Founders to Siblings

Think of a recently launched local business that appears to be succeeding. It is becoming a bit more popular and acquiring regular customers. Maybe it is that new restaurant that opened a few months ago down the street. Maybe it is a new retail website offering discounted prices, free delivery, and outstanding customer experience to thousands of new subscribers every day. Maybe it is that newly opened school in your neighborhood with a long waiting list of eager parents.

Sales are increasing month upon month; the cash flow is positive, and the business employs a loyal team of ten to twenty people. This is a very exciting phase, because the fruits of this founder’s labor are ripening. On the other hand, this stage also demands more accountability, clearer strategy, and stronger organization structure. The founder/sibling generation typically experiences the following:

Stabilizing. The family firm has identified its niche. It begins to reap what it has sown, having overcome the perils of its formative years. The mentality shifts from survive to thrive. The business will also begin developing the infrastructure and resources (human, technical and financial) needed to meet increasing demand for its products or services.

Persevering. The family firm is now on a sure path of growth. Growth can be horizontal (expanding into adjacent markets), vertical (expanding along the supply chain), geographical, or all the above.

Pacing. The family firm starts to pace itself. High-growth companies naturally yield greater returns, but sustainable growth is just as important. Growth happens in phases as a company navigates internal and external challenges. Transitioning through phases must happen at the right time and with the right strategy to ensure that a successful family business doesn’t stretch itself too thinly and expand just for the sake of growth.

Reflecting. Questions might emerge about the founder’s abilities to continue to fund the family firm using his own money; in time, the family firm takes measures to become more attractive to private equity funds and banks. The family firm will begin holding audited financial accounts (if it has not already) and adopt sound financial management practices.

Restructuring. Discussions begin about whether the existing organizational structure is optimal for both growth and continuity, especially if the legal structure was initially suboptimal. i.e. Not protective enough for shareholders or transparent enough for banks.

Professionalization: From Siblings to Cousins

A family entrepreneur’s successful journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Your joints will ache, thirst will build, and competitors will threaten to overtake you. To win the race, you must constantly be aware of yourself and your surroundings while remaining fixed on your ultimate goal. Various milestones mark the progress of a family business during this phase.

Realignment. Many businesses at this stage plummet from their heights or find themselves backing out, having been acquired by private equity funds, listed on the stock exchange, or pushed out of the game altogether by market forces.

Modernization. A new day dawns with an updated management structure, the upgrading of operating systems, and the coming-of-age of the next generation’s leaders.

Sustainable success. The business will have learned by now that success needs to be sustainable. This generation must forge more relationships, access more clients, seek out more marketing avenues, delegate more low-value tasks and seize more high-value tasks. Those who come after the founder must accept the maxim "you have to let go to grow" while continuously learning and growing.

Generational tensions. External stressors notwithstanding, internal tensions can arise as the business is passed down. The success of a family firm at this stage will be measured by its ability to manage these stressors by institutionalizing the business.

Maturity: Cousins and Beyond

According to Investopedia, a mature firm is "a company that is well-established in its industry, with a well-known product and loyal customer following with average growth." These firms have surpassed the phase of abrupt growth (meaning that their sales have reached a plateau or may be rising incrementally) and have achieved a sustainable growth pattern that tends to parallel that of the overall economy. Think of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co., Microsoft and Apple, Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. Each grew until its idol became its rival.

Streamlined Business. A mature family business is characterized by a superior corporate culture, optimal professional management, and well-developed processes and procedures. It has found its recipe for sustained growth and sustainable success. These businesses optimize their resources, processes, and means of measuring success. They have defined their "best practices" and pursue them religiously.

High engagement. Mature firms enjoy higher levels of engagement from employees and consumers alike such that handholding and continuous supervision are replaced by self-confidence and self-governance. A successful team succeeds even when the leader isn’t there.

Insight and adaptability. Mature family firms are transparent. Visibility is the foundation of managing demand and capacity, enabling leaders to quickly define and solve challenges as well as to anticipate future scenarios and manage risk.

Successful transition. Often, mature family firms have successfully survived at least one generational transition without major conflicts.

Decline or Regeneration

When an apple ceases to grow on the tree, it ripens; if not picked, it will rot and drop to the ground. Likewise, a mature family business will inevitably arrive—many times—at a point of fruition. Flower, fruit, then what? Successful family firms like mature trees will regenerate.

The most successful brands know that the secret to longevity lies in renewal and regeneration. Whether we’re talking about Charl Aznavour (94-year old French singer still performing since 1937 with more than 200 million records sold), the iPhone (with its fourteenth updated model released in 2017) or the National Geographic Society (publishing its magazine since 1888) —the story of sustainable success is faithful to this template: reinvented companies stay fresh, stay true to their tribe, and stay in sync with changing markets.

A family business is vulnerable at any phase of the cycle, and during any generation, if it suffers from one or more of the following:

Ineffective leadership and/or misaligned strategies.

Lack of viable business continuity planning.

Inability to adapt to external factors.

Inefficient use of resources, excessive spending, or unmeasured cash flow.

Me over we (individual agendas trump collective interests).

Subjective rewards and a lack of accountability.

Dull or toxic internal work ethics.

Culture of conformity and conservatism (low-risk mentality and fear of failure).

In contrast, a sustainable family firm can enjoy growth or regrowth by promoting the following:

Effective, authentic leadership and managerial alignment.

Successful succession planning and seamless generational transition.

Awareness of and responsiveness to external factors (creating new products, entering new markets, integrating new business units, reducing costs, embracing new technologies, unlocking synergies and operational efficiencies, etc.).

Effective use of resources, careful spending, and conservative borrowing.

We over I (collective interests reign over individual agendas).

Rewards based on meritocracy and incentives designed against long term objectives.

Corporate mistakes are constantly analyzed and failure viewed as a learning experience.

Pleasant, collaborative, innovative, and encouraging internal work culture.

Calculated risk-taking culture, where risk and return are constantly balanced.

Family Firms in the Middle East

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill

Welcome now to the Middle East, one of the most strategically situated regions in the world, standing at a historic crossroad of society and at the center of what was (and still is) one of the world’s most important trade routes. In the Middle East, nearly 90% of businesses are family owned. Collectively, these businesses contribute 50-60% of national GDP. Family firms employ 70% of the labor force in the region, totaling more than 67 million employees. Fourteen of the world’s 500 largest global family firms are located in the Middle East, employing approximately 500,000 people, with revenues accounting for 3.2% of the entire region’s GDP. And among the Middle East family firms, a projected one trillion dollars is expected to change hands in the coming decade.

GCC Family Business- A Historical Background

In the second half of the 20th century, merchant families managed the very difficult bureaucracies that were either inherited from the Ottomans and the British or were self-generated by the local states. Successful merchant families learned to grow through both vertical and horizontal expansion in order to survive and thrive. This was the strategy adopted by the al-Qusaybi and al-Zami families, which grew as exemplary cross-border enterprises between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. In Qatar, the pearl merchant family begun by Huseyn al-Farman dived into the jewelry, banking, and foreign exchange industries, setting up shops in several Gulf states.

In 1981, the Gulf Cooperation Council—commonly known as the GCC—was formed as an intergovernmental politico-economic union encompassing all the Persian Gulf Arab states (except for Iraq): Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (composed of seven-member states), and Saudi Arabia. Extending over 2.5 million square kilometers, the GCC was founded to foster economic progress, establish joint ventures for the region’s collective wealth, encourage the cooperation of the private sector, strengthen ties between member nations, establish a common currency, and formulate similar industrial, cultural, and legal regulations among member nations. Today, 20% of the world’s oil emerges from the Gulf. Oil enabled the Gulf countries to create modern urban infrastructures without the social, economic, and political structures normally associated with fully developed societies. With the recent decline in oil prices, however, many GCC governments have had to become more resourceful in subsidizing the social welfare costs and funding their rising defense budget. Focus has fallen on maximizing recurring income to the state from non-oil activities like tourism and real estate as well as considering the introduction of tax levies.

Historically, merchant families have made a great deal of money and cemented their social status by importing foreign technologies and practices to the Gulf. With the transformation to an industrial (and post-industrial) economy, many merchant families unable to adapt have been forced into the lower social strata of the population. Those who continue to thrive have evolved into industrialists or professional managers of conglomerates and distribution empires.

The Founding Firms

Many great family business stories were written in the Middle East over the past few decades. Below some of the very first family houses that continue to successfully exist to this day:

Alireza Family (Saudi Arabia). Initially a food importer with suppliers from the Indian subcontinent, the House of Alireza entered commercial activities in 1845 and has since expanded its businesses to include real estate, agency rights for shippers, and joint ventures with construction and engineering companies to develop infrastructure.

WJ Towell & Co., LLC (Oman). A Sultan family in Oman founded this firm in 1866. It is one of the oldest family firms in the Gulf region. Shipping was the company’s main strength, and WJ Towell became the agent of British India Steam Navigation (B.I.). The port of Muscat was a busy port in the region at that time and WJ Towell’s business thrived. The company exported dates, pomegranate, dried fish, dry lime, and other agricultural products to countries in the region and in Europe. In 1914, Mohamed Fadhil bought WJ Towell. After his death in 1916, the business was transferred to his eldest son Sultan Mohamed Fadhil, who distributed the business among his sons: Abdul Reda, Qamar, Ali, Ahmad, and Abdul Amir. Each took on a role in managing the company’s business in an attempt to guarantee its continuity. Over the years the Towell business has managed to survive through difficult times and even expanded in different sectors. After World War II the company established branches in Kuwait, Iraq, and Dubai.

During the 1970s, Towell initiated the construction of an integrated housing city called Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos, started the first publishing house, and contributed to establishing the National Bank of Oman as the first private bank in the Sultanate. Today, the Towell Group of Companies is one of the largest companies in the Sultanate. It has a well-articulated governance system with a board of directors that includes members from the fourth and the fifth generation of the Sultan family.

Khimji Family (Oman). Some 147 years ago, Ramdas Thackersey came to Oman from India in 1870; and ever since the Khimjis have prospered. Thackersey had set sail from the coastal town of Mandie to relocate his growing business to Muscat for, seeking faster access to strategic ports. His fore-fathers, dhow merchants from Mendi, had landed in Sur in Omanis in the mid-1800s. As traders, they brought grain, tea, and spices from India and brought back dates, dry lime, and frankincense from the sultanate of Oman.

Thackersey’s son, Khimji Ramdas, followed him. Together they sowed the seeds of a global enterprise that is today one of the largest business groups in Oman. When he became the ruler, Sultan Qaboos granted Omani citizenship to the Khimjis, thanks to their support to the ruling family and the Sultanate over the years.

The Khimji Ramdas Group of Companies passed on from generation to generation, and in 1970 Thackersey’s great-grandson, Kanaksi Khimji, took over from his father, Gokaldas, after finishing his education in Mumbai. Today, with an annual turnover of more than $1 billion, the group is the chosen partner of more than 400 top global brands in consumer products, lifestyle, infrastructure projects, and logistics.

El Rashidi Family (Egypt). The company started in Cairo in 1889 as a small family business, specializing in the halavah and tahini markets. The brand has come to stand for quality and authenticity in over fifty markets worldwide. El Rashidi El Mizan now takes pride of place as a leading food producer in the MENA region, with