ALL IN THE FAMILY
One example is the Ghurair Group companies, owned by one of Dubai’s most prominent business families. The Al Ghurair family now operates in a variety of areas, including banking, infrastructure development, manufacturing, trading, retail, shipping, event management, printing and tourism. The family has a nonprofit arm that operates Al Ghurair University, a school with degree programs including business, engineering and applied science, computing, and design.
The Ghurair family actually began in the pearl-diving business in the 1930s and ’40s. In the ’60s they ventured into aluminum, opened the bank in 1968, and acquired the National Flour Mill in 1976, which led to the creation of Al Ghurair Foods.
Essa Abdulla Al Ghurair, who heads up Al Ghurair Foods, says that the history of the Al Ghurair companies is one of constant growth and innovation. Al Ghurair City, for
example, contains the first shopping mall in Dubai, along with offices and apartments. The mall has recently added a new look, which includes 234 gold-colored meshes weighing 345 kilograms each in the ceiling and a floor designed of 22 tons of terrazzo, handmade and shipped from Italy.
In the area of shipping, the company has just purchased two more oceangoing transport vessels, bringing the total number of ships in its fleet to 20 capable of carrying a total one million DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage). The company also carries an additional 18 million tons as a result of trading and chartering with others .
As for new ventures, Al Ghurair will be involved with the construction of a new underground railroad for Dubai. The company will also be developing a line of non-alcohol-serving hotels to accommodate Muslim visitors (because of Dubai's tourist business, most hotels serve alcohol).
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