Proceeding from the importance of corporate governance in ensuring the continuity of family businesses, The Pearl Initiative hosted a panel discussion at Talabat headquarters in Dubai under the title: The Impact of Commitment to Corporate Governance Standards on Corporate Performance.

A group of family-business representatives participated in the discussion, including; Omar Al Handal, (managing director of Al-Handal International Group) - Michael Chalhoub (Head of Joint Ventures, Strategy, Growth, Innovation and Investment at Chalhoub Group) - Sana Jubaili, (Director of Human Resources for Jubaili Brothers Group) - Ismael Hajjar (Partner at PwC Middle East)

As part of the discussion Omar Al Handal addressed several important points regarding governance and the reasons for the success and failure of family businesses, such as the importance of the family constitution for these companies, which strengthens the cohesion and agreement of the members of the second and third generation, in addition to what can be called the SuccessionPolicy, in which the role is manifested in the event of illness or death, and what is the policy followed in such cases.

Mr. Omar Al Handal also focused on the issue of training and development for the third generation, and the most important thing he needs in order to develop work.

Regarding the value of the wealth that will be transferred, Mr. Omar Al Handal pointed out that a trillion US dollars will be transferred from the third generation to the next generation, which makes a huge burden in the search for the means and tools needed by the next generation to preserve this wealth.

This comes in light of the role of family businesses in enhancing the economic value in the region, where the importance of developing operational procedures and governance policies for these companies is highlighted.