Family business focus at Doha conference

FAMILY FOCUS: The third annual corporate governance conference in Doha (pictured) will feature a special session on family owned businesses. (Getty Images)

The third annual corporate governance conference in the Middle East will feature a special session on family owned businesses, it was announced on Thursday.

Family owned firms make up 75 percent of the region’s companies and are an important source of employment, said Nasser Saidi, executive director of Hawkamah, which is hosting the conference.

But few of them survive long enough to be taken over by a third generation of owners.

Corporate governance is also a key issue for the growing number of family owned businesses expected to expand by listing on local stock exchanges.

Hawkamah will host its third annual conference in Doha on November 9-10.

The conference comes at a time when companies in the region are increasingly recognizing the importance of corporate governance in helping the region tap its full potential as an international capital market.

The financial turmoil being experienced by the more developed countries has further underlined the need for sound corporate governance frameworks, Saidi said.

“I don’t believe we would have gotten into the market meltdown we’re seeing now if there had been proper corporate governance at the companies involved,” he said.

Launched in 2006, Hawkamah is an international association of corporate governance practitioners, regulators and institutions whose primary mandate is to develop corporate governance best practices in the Middle East region.

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