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DUBAI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- An increasing number of large Gulf Arab family-owned business are eager to diversify their revenues by exploring new source markets in East Asia, said Abdulaziz Al-Ghurair, chairman of the Gulf Family Business Council (GFBC).
Speaking at a media conference on Tuesday unveiling the first family business study for the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), which the GFBC produced with global consultancy McKinsey & Company, Al-Ghurair said that 60 percent of family-owned firms derive 75 percent of their revenues from their home countries.
However, Al-Ghurair said, a growing number of Arab family-owned firms are eager to expand to the emerging markets in East Asia and China in particular.
The GCC comprises the six Arab oil states, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
"The share of revenues from foreign source markets will expand," said Al-Ghurair. "Large family conglomerates do have an appetite to expand, but for medium-sized family companies, I do not expect them to do so, rather they continue to focus on markets right at their doorsteps."
Ahmed Youssef, a partner at McKinsey, said 75 percent of all firms in the GCC are family-owned and that they are regarded the backbone of the GCC non-oil economy.
So far, few Arab family-owned businesses have reached out to East Asia, although 76 percent of family groups have some form of activity outside the GCC, Youssef said.
"There is still a lot of potential for Arab entrepreneurs to consolidate in the home market. Some businesses might be better off going to Asia, others are better of going to Africa."
The reason for strong focus on the home market, said Al-Ghurair, is that family businesses prefer to generate income "from a market they know well."
Arab family businesses in the GCC focus firstly on their own country, then the GCC, then the rest of the Arab world and then on markets beyond the Middle East and North Africa.
Mohab Mutfi, CEO of the investment arm of Asiya Investments, an investment company based in Dubai, Kuwait and Hong Kong, shared the views of Al-Ghurair.
Mutfi told Xinhua that many Arab investors are keen on expanding to China and to learn more about business opportunities there.
Al-Ghurair, the GFBC chairman, heads the Dubai-based Al-Ghurair Group, which has business operations in such factors as real estate, hotels, retailing and manufacturing. The group's Mashreq Bank, whose shares are traded on the Dubai stock market, operates in nine markets, including in Hong Kong.
Forbes put the wealth of the Al-Ghurair family at an estimated 6.4 billion U.S. dollars.
