Family disputes are the biggest challenge facing family businesses in GCC – DIFC survey

Family disputes are the biggest challenge facing family businesses in GCC – DIFC survey

Family disputes and insistence on family control regardless of qualification are the biggest challenges facing family businesses, according to a survey carried out at the official launch of the DIFC Family Wealth Centre.

Speaking at the launch, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marr, the UAE’s minister of economy, said apart from succession and managing the legal framework, one of the most important factors for family businesses over the coming decades will be transitioning from the traditional economy, focusing less on real estate and moving more towards the economy of a changing world.

However, a snatch poll taken at the centre’s official launch identified family disputes as the biggest challenge to such businesses. The rest of the top five concerns were talent retention and recruitment, lack of legal structure, digitisation and new technology, and finally tax.

At the launch of the new centre, which offers services to global and regional family-owned businesses, speakers noted that many family businesses in the region had passed to the second generation, often siblings, but more challenges arose when the third generation, known as the “cousin consortium”, became involved.

Essam Kazim, governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre, said, “Globally, we are experiencing the biggest transfer of wealth in modern times,