The wheel has turned a full circle.

In the mid-90s, I used to do a column titled Enterprise for the newspaper I was then working for. The idea behind the column was to spotlight the spirit of enterprise shown by some of the first and second generation Emirati businessmen, which distinguished them from the rest of their countrymen, who were rather content to remain as sleeping partners in expatriate business ventures.

The series was quite well-received, but in a matter of months, it became clear that sustaining such a column was a difficult task. At the first instance, the list of potential candidates was becoming shorter with each passing month, and even within the availability list, there was a certain reluctance to being featured in a newspaper.

Interviews with the featured entrepreneurs, based on which the column was to be written, often produced hilarious exchanges. “Why should I tell you about what my company is doing? How does it matter to your newspaper if my company is making a loss or profit?” These were among the most common refrains. Some others would bluntly ask: “How much is the money that I have to pay?”

Many of those businessmen are still around and have since reached the pinnacle of success. The big difference is that today, they are as media-savvy as anybody else and their companies are engaging highly-paid specialists and PR agencies to promote their brand in the media, in whatever format it is available. They are not secretive about their business any longer.

Exclusive fiefdoms

Family businesses no longer consider themselves to be exclusive fiefdoms that operate in isolation from the rest of the economy and are now beginning to embrace change like everything else in this world. It is heartening that UAE local groups like Al Habtoor and Al Fahim are getting ready to float their companies on the stock exchange and raise funds from the public for their expansion plans and growth.

Al Habtoor chairman Khalaf Al Habtoor recently made a visit to Nasdaq Dubai in connection with the company’s proposed public issue, which according to a company announcement, plans to raise over Dh5 billion some time next year by offloading a 25 per cent stake in the group’s overall business. As one of the biggest family businesses of the country with diversified interests in hospitality, construction, education and automotive sectors, the Al Habtoor move will surely encourage other groups to follow in its footsteps.

Within days of the Al Habtoor IPO announcement came another IPO plan: this time from Abu Dhabi-headquartered Al Fahim Group. Al Fahim was among the first local groups to consider an IPO for its hospitality business, but had postponed the move due to the adverse market conditions in 2008. The group has announced a revival of the plan to float the business on the local stock exchange, although reports suggest the option is now being considered for its high-profile luxury retailing brand Paris Gallery, and not hospitality.

The change in approach by the family businesses may be as much a function of the emerging trends in corporate management as it is an imperative of the changing times and market dynamics. Maybe, the conditions prevailing a decade ago did not quite necessitate sharing, as it was more about opportunities and less about risks. But in today’s market scenario, sharing of risk is as important as any other attribute of business success and as such, the sacrifice required is never too big as long as the net result is a positive for the overall growth of the company.

The writing has been there on the wall and the family groups could have ignored these warnings only at the risk of their own peril. The heightened importance of corporate governance, being promoted through well-considered initiatives at the regulatory as well as administrative levels, has also made the process smoother.

In the change from the self-effacing family business owner to the demonstrative corporate activist, the wheel has indeed turned a full circle.

— The writer is a UAE-based journalist