The Family Business Network is a not-for-profit network run by family businesses, for family businesses

The Family Business Network GCC, the first in the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East, was launched by H. H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council in a ceremony at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).

Sheikh Hamdan also announced the appointment of Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair, the chairman of the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFCA) as chairman of the new network which will join the Paris-based Family Business Network International (FBNI).

The Family Business Network GCC is the first of its kind in the Middle East and will cover the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and will be based in Dubai.

The board of directors of the Network will be set up and will include owners or presidents of family-owned businesses in GCC countries, according to Al-Ghurair in remarks at the ceremony.

The new network will provide an ideal platform to promote family values through engaging national human resources and expertise, he noted.

It will also promote family owned-companies as a sustainable business model to promote their role in local communities.

Sheikh Hamdan and a host of officials and businessmen were briefed by Thierry Lombard, the chairman of the board of the Family Business Network International (FBNI) who was speaking from France via video link, on the new network.

He described the launch of FBN GCC as a step in the interest of national economies of member countries as well as the global economy.

For his part, Sheikh Hamdan expressed support to any step by the new network that would serve the national economy of the UAE.

FBNI is a not-for-profit international network that is run by family businesses, for family businesses, with the aim of strengthening success over generations. Its members are more than 4,000 family business leaders in 50 countries. It aims at sharing best practice and knowledge within our worldwide network, supporting the Next Generation (aged 18-40) of business-owning families; and promoting the case for family business to governments and tax decision-makers.