FAMILY PROFILE

AI GHURAIR FAMILY - Main Contributor to Dubai's economy

Al Ghurair family is No. 1 family in Dubai and main contributor to Dubai's economy.

Background: Since the early decades of 20th century, Al Ghurair family was active in aquaculture industry e.g: pearl and trading, formalized its business activities with the creation of Al Ghurair Group in 1960. At that time, Dubai was undergoing great economic and commercial growth. The development was spearheaded by the Rulers of Dubai, Mohammed Bin Rashid AI Maktoum (Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates) and supported by the Dubai’s famous business families, among these was the Al Ghurair family as the main contributor. It is a well-known and reputable business family, owning leading enterprises in diverse sectors as a conglomerate group. The group has three main lines of business: manufacturing, real estate, and investments, which includes Banking and Finance, Manufacturing, Petrochemicals, Aluminum and Steel, Hotel & Shopping Malls, Medical, Information Technology, Packaging, Real Estate and Construction, Logistics and Warehousing and Trading. In 1967, it established Mashreq Bank as largest private Bank and one of 4 large banks in the Middle East; In 1976, it established of largest aluminium extrusion plant in the Middle East; In 1981, there was the development of the first commercial complex in the Middle East, named as Al Ghurair City. In the early 1980s, these visionary developments gave birth to a strong economy in Dubai. Ahmad Al Ghurair passed on his legacy to his sons Saif, Abdulla, Majid, Marwan and Jomaa. Forbes magazine ranks it as one of the richest families in the world.

The Family’s business covers the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and North America, with Hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide. The Al Ghurair family legacy can be traced back to Ahmad Al Ghurair who founded Al Ghurair Group in 1960. The family name has been a fixture within the UAE business community ever since.

The Al Ghurair Real Estate oversees the group's real estate portfolio and also operates shopping malls, including the luxury BurJurman Centre and Reef Mall. The family has also been involved in Dubai's famous infrastructure projects, such as the construction of Dubai Metro, the supply of all aluminum profiles and electrical equipments for the Burj Khalifa Towner (the world's tallest building). The family's other entities include the first flour mill, first sugar refinery, first oil refinery, first cold-rolled galvanizing center, first cement plant in the Middle East and now majority shareholder of Dubai-based National Cement Company. Its petrochemical subsidiaries under group’s manufacturing business include Taghleef Industries as one of the world's largest manufacturers of polypropylene films used in food packaging and lamination; Adeka Al Ghurair Additives as a chemical additives manufacturer; Aluminum extrusion companies Gulf Extrusions and Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company (TALEX), and the Royal Engineering Fabrication Company (REFCO) as aluminum fabricator for automobile parts which represent the group's aluminum businesses that one of the largest extrusion plants in the Gulf region; The manufacturing division also includes Al Ghurair Iron & Steel, a cold rolling and galvanizing complex located in Mussafah. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, as one of the world's biggest steel producers has a minority stake in Al Ghurair Steel. The group’s packaging businesses include Arabian Packaging (a corrugated packaging manufacturer) and Arabian Can Industry (a manufacturer of multipurpose cans). CAFU a petrol delivery app which was launched in 2018 has seen growth in the market too. In 2017, the family donated $1.14 billion to the education sector in the Middle East which is the third largest donation.