Muscat to host global family business forum

Being held at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel from October 22-24, the fourth Owners Forum Middle East will bring together family businesses and long-term investors from Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

IIFE has previously held Arab-German Family Business summits in Egypt, Bahrain and Jordan which brought together family businesses from throughout the Middle East and German-speaking countries in Europe to exchange ideas regarding family business best practices.

Khalil al Khonji, chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the forum will also help advertise the sultanate as a business destination as well as a tourist destination.

He said, “We are happy to have this forum in Oman because we know there are many successful family businesses. “The forum will introduce families to Oman. This will increase Omani tourism. We were able to bring this forum to Muscat because Oman has many business families.”

The Muscat Owners Forum will broaden the scope of the event from the three previous events to include sovereign wealth funds and family office leaders. The meet will include presentation sessions where businesses can pitch joint investment projects to each other.

Co-organised with the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, the forum will be co-chaired by Khonji, Orascom Development CEO Samih Sawris, Wharton professor Thomas Donaldson and Dr Simone Bagel-Trah, chairwoman of top German family business Henkel Management AG. The theme of this year's forum is ‘Ownership and Responsibility: Investing in Future Generations.’

Topics covered will include regional and global economic outlooks, global risks and psychological biases impacting long-term investment behaviour.