Daaboul Industrial Group

ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND FOUNDING STORY

Mohammed Daaboul was born in Syria in 1950.^[6] He studied mathematics at the University of Damascus,^[7] where he also became interested in entrepreneurship.^[8] Upon graduating, Mohammed decided to embark on an entrepreneurial career, but did not have the necessary initial capital. Instead, he invested his time in broadening his skillset to help him recruit potential partners. He trained in a variety of areas, particularly to improve his language and marketing skills.^[9] Mohammed’s plan proved successful, and with his first partner^[10] he started a small business as a maker of aluminum windows and doors.^[11] In 1976, after two years of operation, he founded a small workshop in the basement of the Daaboul Building in Damascus under the name of General Aluminum.^[12] He married and had a total of six children, five sons — Hassan, Mumtaz, Muhab, Mutassem, and Abdulmunem — and a daughter, Hania.^[13]

GROWTH PHASE

Over the next decade, Daaboul’s business grew as did his knowledge and experience in the field of aluminum production. By 1985, he established the first Syrian plant^[14] for the production of aluminum colored rolling shutters under the name Madar Rolling Shutters.^[15]

By the 1990s, Mohammed was a leading name in the Syrian aluminum industry, and he continued to expand his business lines to include additional related specialties. In 1994, he founded Madar Aluminum Accessories, specializing in aluminum extrusions and anodizing. Further expanding the scope of his construction materials, Mohammed founded Madar Glass, which manufactures architectural glass.^[16]  In 1995, he made his first foray into an entirely different industry with the establishment of Star Animation Production Company, which produces children’s cartoons.^[17] Three years later, Madar Aluminum Co. earned the ISO 9001 certification, making it one of the first Syrian aluminum companies to achieve this benchmark.^{[18] [19]}

Mutassem Daaboul from the family’s second generation to join his father’s business in 2005,^[20] and the following year he was appointed general manager of General Aluminum Company.^[21] The family business was continuing to expand and diversify with the launch of Madar Coil Coating, along with  a dedicated factory,^[22] and the establishment of the firm’s first foreign branch, in Qatar.^[23] In 2007, these developments were reflected in the rebranding of the General Aluminum Company to its new identity: SAMA (Arabic for “sky”).^[24] By the turn of the decade, the company was recognized as the dominant producer of aluminum products, glass, and cable in the Syrian market.^[25] In 2011, Mutassem was appointed CEO of SAMA,^[26] while his father remained as the head of the group.

Shortly after Mutassem’s appointment, civil war broke out in Syria, which was a crucial turning point for the Daaboul business. The family lost the use of much of its assets, new business opportunities became extremely scarce, and the group’s workforce declined by 35%.^[27] The Daabouls, who had always focused on the market in their homeland, were forced to reconsider their position and in 2013, and began a series of attempts of trial and error to expand their operations regionally and internationally until they eventually succeeded.^[28]

TODAY

Today, the Daaboul Industrial Group is still chaired by its founder, Mohammed Daaboul, while his five sons are involved in the business in different capacities or run independent operations in the same field. Hassan Daaboul is a board member of Daaboul Group and a managing director of Canex Aluminum^[29] — a “sister company” of Daaboul’s Madar in Egypt.^[30] Mumtaz is CEO of Orbit Aluminum Industries,^[31] Muhab is general manager of Madar-Egypt,^[32] and Abdulmunem is CEO of Aluminium-Laufen Tunis.^[33]

The business is fully family-owned and run, with ongoing efforts to involve more non-family members in managerial roles. The group is headquartered in Damascus,^[34] with decentralized decision-making on the operational level.^[35] The Group has over 21 subsidiaries^[36] with more than 1,500 employees. It operates in many countries in the region and internationally,^[37] and it exports its manufactured product across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.^[38]