Business | Banking
Family businesses urged to reap opportunities from financial crisis
The global financial crisis may be an opportunity for family businesses with ample liquidity to make sound investments that fundamentally represent good value.
- Staff Report
- Published: 00:04 November 24, 2008
- Image Credit: Supplied Picture
- From left: Dr Hesham Al Agamy, Executive Director of the Tharawat Family Business Forum; Bin Sulaiman; Hilary Bowker, Principal of Bowker Media + Communications; Dr Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank, and Arif Masood Naqvi, Founder and Group chief executive officer of Abraaj Capital at the DIFC Summit.
Dubai: The global financial crisis may be an opportunity for family businesses with ample liquidity to make sound investments that fundamentally represent good value.
This was the message from leading global and regional business and financial leaders who spoke yesterday at the DIFC Summit organised by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Tharawat Family Business Forum, to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by family businesses in the current global economic environment.
Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and vice-chairman of the UAE Central Bank, said: "The current financial crisis may provide several opportunities for family businesses to make investments both globally and regionally.
"In investing, family businesses should focus on good business value. As long as an investment is a good deal today, it will eventually bring good returns. The global economic cycle will turn and when it turns, it will be a wise and good investment."
While acknowledging the fact that the financial crisis has had an impact on the region, speakers urged the family business community to look at the business environment positively.
All panel members felt that the region was well-equipped to weather the global financial storm because of its strong fundamentals.
"There is a huge scope for growth. Most of the region's population is comprised of young people. Demand growth may slow down but there will always be growth," Bin Sulaiman said.
"The quantum of infrastructure spend, current account surplus and the buoyancy of the private sector, in addition to many other factors, indicate that the economy is in good shape," another panel member pointed out.
"I'm very optimistic about the region. Surpluses from oil revenues were invested in infrastructure and this will pay off," he added.
Family businesses were urged against overreacting to the global crisis. "The real problem with the current perception [of the crisis] is that it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The world today is looking at the crisis negatively. We have worked ourselves into a frenzy. It is important to make a rational and realistic assessment of the situation," a speaker said.
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