Al Habtoor Group

About the founder

Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor was born in 1949 in Dubai, youngest of one brother and four sisters.^[6] His father, Ahmad bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Habtoor, was a trader of pearls and gold. His mother was Noura bint Ahmed bin Khalaf bin Abdulla Al Otaiba.^[7]

Khalaf grew up in a one-room barasti (palm frond) dwelling in the Dubai neighborhood of Shindagha. The family experienced financial hardship with the decline of the pearling industry, his father’s main source of income. Khalaf’s sisters were absent for most of his early life, as their parents arranged for their marriages in Qatar and Saudi Arabia to lessen the financial burden on the family.^[8]

Between the ages of three and seven, Khalaf lived in the small fishing village of Al Layyah, a port area of Sharjah, where the family were given the surplus catch of fish by the local fishermen. During that time, Khalaf’s father taught him the basics of commerce and trade. In 1957, Ahmad decided to relocate the family back to Dubai. There, Khalaf received his elementary education at the Al Sha’ab School in Deira.^[9]

While Khalaf was still a child, his father introduced him to the youngest son of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s (then ruler of Dubai): Sheikh Mohammed. The two became friends, and Khalaf would regularly visit the royal palace.^[10] As it was then customary for boys to financially contribute to their families from an early age, Khalaf started working around the age of 14. He was offered a three-month summer job as a helper for an American geological company with a monthly salary of 250 rupees.^[11]

When Khalaf was 16, he married his cousin Hamda Al Habtoor, daughter of Osha Al Suwaidi, a celebrated Abu Dhabi–born poet and businesswoman.^[12] Together, the couple had six children.^[13]

Founding Story

After getting married, Khalaf was eager to make a decent living. He found his opportunity when he met Mohammed Saeed Al Mulla, a prominent Dubai businessman who was acquainted with his family. Around the end of the 1960s, Al Mulla needed someone to represent his company in Abu Dhabi, and Khalaf, who was around 18 years old at the time, was offered the position. Over the next three years while working with Al Mulla, Khalaf gained valuable experience, training and important business contacts.^[14]

Oil was first discovered in Dubai in 1966 at the offshore field named Fateh (“conqueror” in Arabic).^[15] In around 1970, Khalaf quit his job at Al Mulla and returned to Dubai determined to work on his own. Despite limited financial resources, he established his own engineering company, Al Habtoor Engineering, which would ultimately grow into the Al Habtoor Group.^[16]

Growth Phase

In 1977, Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum awarded Al Habtoor one of the company’s first large-scale contracts: building the UAE’s second hospital. The company would subsequently build the headquarters for the country’s department of health.^[17] In 1979, ​​the Al Habtoor Group established its first hotel, Metropolitan Hotel.^[18]

Building on its success in Dubai, the group began to expand. In 1980 the company launched the construction of Gulf University in Bahrain.^[19] Looking beyond the Gulf region, the company first entered the Jordanian market with the construction of the Zarqa’a Ma’een Spa/Ashtar Hotel complex in 1982.^[20] The following year, the group ventured into automotive sales and established Al Habtoor Motors, acquiring the exclusive license to sell Mitsubishi vehicles in Dubai.^[21] In 1991, the Al Habtoor Group established the Emirates International School, with family members among the institution’s leadership.^[22] The first of its kind authorized to provide the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, the school is still owned by the Al Habtoor Group, though no longer under the family’s direct leadership.^[23]

Government contracts remained a crucial factor in the growth of Al Habtoor, which by the turn of the millennium had completed nearly 35 major projects for the state.^[24] In 1993, Khalaf Al Habtoor established Al Habtoor Publishing, which launched Al Shindagah magazine, covering topics from Middle Eastern politics and investments to the arts and sports, while featuring the company’s high-profile construction projects.^[25] In 2000, Al Habtoor Group acquired the Metropolitan Palace Hotel, marking its entrance into the Lebanese market.^[26] In 2007, Al Habtoor – in joint venture with Consolidated Contractors Co. – was awarded the contract to build the Landmark tower on Abu Dhabi Island, one of the tallest buildings in the UAE capital.^[27]

Rashid Al Habtoor, the founder’s eldest son, joined the family business in 1990 but left after three years to establish his own construction company.^[28] His brother Ahmad’s earliest involvement in the family business dates back to 1999, when he joined the Al Habtoor Motor Division.^[29] Ahmad is currently the CEO of group subsidiary Al Habtoor Motors.^[30] Their brother Mohammed became vice chairman and group CEO.^[31] In 2015, Al Habtoor Motors entered the Saudi Arabian market for the first time.^[32] Second-generation Amna Al Habtoor, who joined the business in 2011, currently serves as the group’s marketing director.^[33]

Today

The Al Habtoor Group has grown into a diversified conglomerate with tens of thousands of employees.^[34] Its automotive unit has nine showrooms, nine service centers, four auto repair shops, and ten automotive parts warehouses across the UAE.^[35] The group, which today operates almost exclusively in the Emirates, is still under the management of founder and chairman Khalaf Al Habtoor, supported by members of the second generation in a wide variety of roles.^[36]